Our Genealogy Helper
Introduction ...
We have a couple of goals for our Gazetteer:
- That it be a tool which helps us with planning our trips.
- We're trying to shape our Gazetteer as a tool to help us understand the community in which our ancestors lived, the community that was part of their daily lives.
- On our trips, we try to visit those places where our ancestors left their footprints.
By learning about Griffiths Ferry (and the surrounding area) during the time that our ancestors lived, we hope to have a better understanding of both their community and its relationship to their lifes. We hope that this tool helps to give us an insight into their world.
As we add data and organize our Gazetteer to help with our family research, we will be adding to this our Genealogical Helper for Griffiths Ferry. While we don't have information that is specific to any given person or family, we intend to expand our understanding about where and how people lived.
Name Variations for Griffiths Ferry ...
When searching records, keep in mind that names and their spelling can change over time. Our sources include documents like maps, railroad schedules, Travel, Express and Shipping Guides. Many of these documents date from the 1800's and it's common to find spelling differences.
Although we can't give a definitive list, hopefully the following will give you a feel for the variations that might occur.
While the name of this community is Griffiths Ferry, be aware that it's the common practice of mapmakers to remove the apostrophe from possessive names<1>. So Griffiths Ferry may originally have been Griffith's Ferry.
Sometimes the trailing 's' might be dropped altogether, in which case Griffiths Ferry might be written as Griffith Ferry.
If you have information about these names (such as the reason for the change, date of change, the origin of the name), please Contact Us.
Neighboring Counties ...
When searching for family records, we have frequently made the mistake of not checking the neighboring counties.
For example, we have great-grandparents who lived in the southwest corner of their home county. During their lives, most hospitals and doctors were in the next county to the west. Almost all of the nearby churches and cemeteries were in the county to the south.
So when searching for records, we had our best success by looking in neighboring counties instead of the county in which they lived: their home county contained property and probate records; the county to the west contained birth and death records; the county to the south contained their burial records. If we hadn't included the neighboring counties, we would have missed many valuable sources of information.
If you're in a similar situation, we hope that the following information helps.
Griffiths Ferry is located in Talladega County.
To see how the shape of Alabama's counties may have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.
The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Talladega County: Calhoun, Clay, Cleburne, Coosa, Saint Clair & Shelby.
Below are the counties that are near Griffiths Ferry. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Griffiths Ferry:
- Talladega County (The home county of Griffiths Ferry)
- The following are listed by their distance from Griffiths Ferry, with the one closest to Griffiths Ferry listed first.
- Windsong Island
(5 miles [8 km] to the east)
- Windsong Island is located in Talladega County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Windsong Island
- Colony
(5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
- Colony is located in Talladega County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Colony
- Logan Martin Dam
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
- Logan Martin Dam is located in Talladega County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Logan Martin Dam
- East Bend
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
- East Bend is located in Talladega County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Bend
- Lincoln
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
- Nottingham ‑ Historic
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
- Nottingham is located in Talladega County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nottingham
- Former name for Nottingham:
- Jones Camp Ground
- Alpine
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
- Talladega
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
- Winterboro
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
- Winterboro is located in Talladega County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Winterboro
- Rendalia
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
- Rendalia is located in Talladega County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rendalia
- Childersburg
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
- Abihka ‑ Historic
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
- Abihka is located in Talladega County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Abihka
- Waldo
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
- Waldo is located in Talladega County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Waldo
- Population from the 2020 Census: 272 people
- Blount County
- The following are listed by their distance from Griffiths Ferry, with the one closest to Griffiths Ferry listed first.
- Dale ‑ Historic
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
- Dale is located in Blount County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dale
- Appalachian
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
- Appalachian is located in Blount County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Appalachian
- Straight Mountain
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
- Straight Mountain is located in Blount County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Straight Mountain
- Highland Lake
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
- Highland Lake is located in Blount County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Highland Lake
- Population from the 2020 Census: 410 people
- Remlap
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
- Compton
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
- Compton is located in Blount County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Compton
- Allgood
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
- Allgood is located in Blount County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Allgood
- Population from the 2020 Census: 638 people
- Calhoun County
- The following are listed by their distance from Griffiths Ferry, with the one closest to Griffiths Ferry listed first.
- Bruner ‑ Historic
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
- Bruner is located in Calhoun County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bruner
- Eastaboga
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
- Blue Eye ‑ Historic
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
- Blue Eye is located in Calhoun County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blue Eye
- Boozer ‑ Historic
(18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
- Boozer is located in Calhoun County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Boozer
- Bynum
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
- Bynum is located in Calhoun County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bynum
- Bynum has also been known as:
- Bynum's
- Macon
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
- Macon is located in Calhoun County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Macon
- Cane Creek ‑ Historic
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
- Cane Creek is located in Calhoun County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cane Creek
- Eulaton
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
- Eulaton is located in Calhoun County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eulaton
- Morrisville
(23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
- Morrisville is located in Calhoun County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Morrisville
- Ohatchee
(23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
- Cobb Town
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
- Cobb Town is located in Calhoun County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cobb Town
- Beasley ‑ Historic
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
- Beasley is located in Calhoun County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beasley
- Bera ‑ Historic
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
- Bera is located in Calhoun County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bera
- Clay County
- The following are listed by their distance from Griffiths Ferry, with the one closest to Griffiths Ferry listed first.
- Chambers Springs
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
- Chambers Springs is located in Clay County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chambers Springs
- Erin
(23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
- Erin is located in Clay County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Erin
- Hollins
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
- Hollins is located in Clay County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hollins
- Elder
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
- Elder is located in Clay County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elder
- Millerville
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
- Millerville is located in Clay County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Millerville
- Ashland
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
- Ashland is located in Clay County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ashland
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,872 people
- Harkins Crossroads
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
- Harkins Crossroads is located in Clay County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harkins Crossroads
- Coosa County
- Stewartville
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
- Stewartville is located in Coosa County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stewartville
- Etowah County
- The following are listed by their distance from Griffiths Ferry, with the one closest to Griffiths Ferry listed first.
- Brannon Springs ‑ Historic
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
- Brannon Springs is located in Etowah County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brannon Springs
- Markton
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
- Markton is located in Etowah County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Markton
- Jefferson County
- The following are listed by their distance from Griffiths Ferry, with the one closest to Griffiths Ferry listed first.
- Leeds
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
- Cedar Grove ‑ Historic
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
- Cedar Grove is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Grove
- Scott City
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
- Scott City is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Scott City
- Breakstone Village
(18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
- Breakstone Village is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Breakstone Village
- Roper
(18 miles [29 km] to the west)
- Roper is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roper
- East Trussville ‑ Historic
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
- East Trussville is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Trussville
- Lola City
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
- Lola City is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lola City
- McCombs
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
- McCombs is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for McCombs
- Cahaba Village
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
- Cahaba Village is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cahaba Village
- Trussville
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
- Alton
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
- Rock Ridge
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
- Rock Ridge is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rock Ridge
- Ayres
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
- Ayres is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ayres
- Saint Clair County
- The following are listed by their distance from Griffiths Ferry, with the one closest to Griffiths Ferry listed first.
- Easonville ‑ Historic
(Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
- Easonville is located in Saint Clair County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Easonville
- Cropwell
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
- Fountainrun ‑ Historic
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
- Fountainrun is located in Saint Clair County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fountainrun
- Glen City
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
- Glen City is located in Saint Clair County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glen City
- Avondale Village
(5 miles [8 km] to the north)
- Avondale Village is located in Saint Clair County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Avondale Village
- Pell City
(5 miles [8 km] to the north)
- Seddon
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
- Seddon is located in Saint Clair County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Seddon
- Riverside
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
- Cook's Springs
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
- Cook's Springs is located in Saint Clair County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cook's Springs
- Coal City
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
- Coal City is located in Saint Clair County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coal City
- Wattsville
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
- Wattsville is located in Saint Clair County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wattsville
- Vincent
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
- Brompton
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
- Brompton is located in Saint Clair County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brompton
- Shelby County
- The following are listed by their distance from Griffiths Ferry, with the one closest to Griffiths Ferry listed first.
- Calcis
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
- Calcis is located in Shelby County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Calcis
- Sterrett
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
- Vandiver
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
- Harpersville
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
- Dunavant
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
- Dunavant is located in Shelby County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dunavant
- Dunnavant
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
- Dunnavant is located in Shelby County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dunnavant
- Westover
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
- Westover is located in Shelby County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Westover
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,769 people
- Shoal Creek
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
- Shoal Creek is located in Shelby County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shoal Creek
- Wilsonville
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
- Bridgeton
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
- Bridgeton is located in Shelby County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bridgeton
- Chelsea
(23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
- Lake Purdy
(23 miles [37 km] to the west)
- Lake Purdy is located in Shelby County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Purdy
- Meadowbrook
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
- Meadowbrook is located in Shelby County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadowbrook
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Griffiths Ferry, see our County-by-County Page for Griffiths Ferry.
Cemeteries Near Griffiths Ferry ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Griffiths Ferry.
This is a new section and is likely to have errors. If you find an error, such as a missing cemetery or we have the wrong name, please let us know. If you know of them, we would also appreciate learning about previous or alternate names.
Although we don't have the information ourselves, if you need information about a burial or interment, photos, transcripts, how to contact the cemetery or local authorities, please visit our list of websites on our Genealogy Helper Page for Griffiths Ferry - one of the links might be able to help.
If not found below, our Cemetery List for Griffiths Ferry covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Griffiths Ferry, with the one closest to Griffiths Ferry listed first.
- Old Florence Cemetery
(Less than 2 miles to the south)
- Coosa Valley Baptist Church Cemetery
(Less than 2 miles to the north)
- Mt. Pisgah Cemetery
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
- Hubbard Cemetery
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
- Walkers Family Cemetery
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
- Valley Hill Cemetery
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Valley Hill Cemetery
- To give a relative sense of its location, the Valley Hill Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located 2 miles [3.2 km]<3> to the south of Pell City.
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #26861 <4>
- Mt. Zion Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
- Hepzibah Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
- Robert Chapel Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
- Freeze Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
- Boykin Truitt Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
- Mays Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
- Continue List (290 more) ...
- McCellan Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
- Seddon Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
- Mt. Pleasant Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the west)
Nearby Communities in 1895 ...
We've built the following list with information that came from an Atlas published by Rand McNally in 1895. The Atlas had details such as the population of the community (which appears to have come from the 1890 Census) and whether there was a post office and/or railroad service available. We also indicate if the community no longer exists and is now historic.<5>
While we didn't find Griffiths Ferry in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Griffiths Ferry.
These communities are listed based on their distance from Griffiths Ferry, with the one closest to Griffiths Ferry listed first.
- Easonville ‑ Historic
(Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
- Easonville is located in Saint Clair County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Easonville
- Cropwell
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
- Stemley
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
- Stemley is located in Talladega County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stemley
- Eden
(5 miles [8 km] to the north)
- Eden is located in Saint Clair County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eden
- Pell City
(5 miles [8 km] to the north)
- Seddon
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
- Seddon is located in Saint Clair County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Seddon
- Wolf Creek
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
- Wolf Creek is located in Saint Clair County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wolf Creek
- Renfroe
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
- Renfroe is located in Talladega County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Renfroe
- Eureka
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
- Eureka is located in Talladega County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eureka
- East Bend
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
- East Bend is located in Talladega County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Bend
- Riverside
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
- Cook's Springs
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
- Cook's Springs is located in Saint Clair County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cook's Springs
- Continue List (15 more) ...
- Lincoln
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
- Lowery
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
- Lowery is located in Blount County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lowery
- Nottingham ‑ Historic
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
- Nottingham is located in Talladega County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nottingham
- Former name for Nottingham:
- Jones Camp Ground
We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Griffiths Ferry. See our List of 1890's Communities around Griffiths Ferry.
Newspapers Published in Griffiths Ferry ...
An ongoing effort between the Library of Congress and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) has resulted in the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP).
To share their results, the partnership has created the Chronicling America website. The goal of this partnership is to assemble a database about the current and historic newspapers of the United States. This includes a growing collection of scanned images from selected papers. All of it available to the public on their website.
Using information that we've taken from the Chronicling America website, we've identified 31 newspapers that have been published in the area around Griffiths Ferry.
Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Griffiths Ferry, there are papers which were published within 13 miles [20.9 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Griffiths Ferry.
Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...
When we do our genealogical research, we first turn to the websites from Cyndi's List, FamilySearch and Genealogy Trails. These websites offer the information directly or else point to where you can find it. Their information is open to everyone.
To help you get started, the following links will take you to the pages that are relevant to Griffiths Ferry:
- Websites specific to Alabama
- Pages specific to Talladega County
- Genealogy information for nearby counties
- Blount County
- Calhoun County
- Clay County
- Coosa County
- Etowah County
- Jefferson County
- Saint Clair County
- Shelby County
- Cemetery Information and Directories for Alabama
Footnotes ...
| <1> | It's generally believed that possessive apostrophes are removed to prevent confusion on maps where the apostrophe may be confused with a cartographic symbol. While this is generally true, it's not uncommon to find possessive apostrophes in administrative names (such as towns or counties). |
| <2> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <3> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Griffiths Ferry) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |
| <4> | The Find-a-Grave website is an excellent research tool with information about a cemetery's location and interments. They also offer a forum for their members which can provide additional help. More information about Find-a-Grave can be found on their website: findagrave.com. |
| <5> | We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Griffiths Ferry, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |