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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 Grimes (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 Grimes. 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.

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 southeast corner of their home county. During their lives, most doctors were in the next county to the east. 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 east 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.

Grimes is located in Dale 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 Dale County: Barbour, Coffee, Geneva, Henry, Houston & Pike.

Below are the counties that are near Grimes. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Grimes:

  • Dale County     (The home county of Grimes)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Grimes, with the one closest to Grimes listed first.
    • Napier Field
      (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
      • Napier Field is located in Dale County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Napier Field
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 344 people
    • Midland City
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Pinckard
      (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Newton
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
      • Newton is located in Dale County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Newton
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,451 people
    • Ewell
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Mabson
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Ozark
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Daleville
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
    • Fort Rucker
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
    • Bertha
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
    • Clayhatchee
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
    • Skipperville
      (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
      • Skipperville is located in Dale County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Skipperville
    • Holiday Village
      (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
      • Holiday Village is located in Dale County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holiday Village
  • Barbour County
  • Coffee County
  • Geneva County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Grimes, with the one closest to Grimes listed first.
    • Malvern
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
    • Slocomb
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Dundee
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
    • Hartford
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Bellwood
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Bellwood is located in Geneva County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bellwood
    • Scranton
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
    • Black
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Black is located in Geneva County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Black
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 203 people
    • Chancellor
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
    • Coffee Springs
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
      • Coffee Springs is located in Geneva County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coffee Springs
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 220 people
    • Costilla ‑ Historic
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Costilla is located in Geneva County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Costilla
    • Eunola ‑ Historic
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Henry County
  • Houston County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Grimes, with the one closest to Grimes listed first.
    • Tidwell
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Tidwell is located in Houston County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tidwell
    • Kinsey
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
      • Kinsey is located in Houston County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kinsey
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,293 people
    • Dothan
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Parish
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Webb
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
      • Webb is located in Houston County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Webb
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,479 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Webb <1>
    • Parker Village
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
      • Parker Village is located in Houston County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Parker Village
    • Taylor
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
      • Taylor is located in Houston County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Taylor
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,440 people
    • Cowarts
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Rehobeth
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
      • Rehobeth is located in Houston County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rehobeth
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,699 people
    • Barber
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
    • Keyton's
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
    • Avon
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
      • Avon is located in Houston County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Avon
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 510 people
    • Ashford
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
  • Pike County
  • Holmes County (FL)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Grimes, with the one closest to Grimes listed first.
    • Noma
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Esto
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Esto is located in Holmes County (FL)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Esto
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 358 people
  • Jackson County (FL)
  • Early County (GA)

For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Grimes, see our County-by-County Page for Grimes.

Cemeteries Near Grimes ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Grimes.

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 Grimes - one of the links might be able to help.

If not found below, our Cemetery List for Grimes covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Grimes, with the one closest to Grimes listed first.

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.<3>

While we didn't find Grimes in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Grimes.

These communities are listed based on their distance from Grimes, with the one closest to Grimes listed first.

  • Midland City
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
  • Tidwell
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Tidwell is located in Houston County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tidwell
  • Headland
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Newton
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Newton is located in Dale County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Newton
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,451 people
  • Ewell
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Echo
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
    • Echo is located in Dale County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Echo
  • Keyton's
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
  • Barber
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
  • Ashford
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
  • Asbury
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
    • Asbury is located in Dale County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Asbury
  • Balkum
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Balkum is located in Henry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Balkum
  • Ozark
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
  • Continue List   (13 more) ...
    • Daleville
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
    • Clayhatchee
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
    • Big Creek
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
      • Big Creek is located in Houston County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Big Creek

We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Grimes. See our List of 1890's Communities around Grimes.

Newspapers Published in Grimes ...

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 59 newspapers that have been published in the area around Grimes.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Grimes, there are papers which were published within 16 miles [25.7 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Grimes.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we begin with the websites from Cyndi's List, FamilySearch and Genealogy Trails. These helpful 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 Grimes:

Footnotes ...

<1>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<2>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.
<3>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 Grimes, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Grimes) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.