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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 Harpersville (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 Harpersville. 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 northeast corner of their home county. During their lives, most hospitals and doctors were in the next county to the east. Almost all of the nearby churches and cemeteries were in the county to the north.

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 north 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.

Harpersville is located in Shelby County.

To see how the shape of Alabama's counties have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Shelby County: Bibb, Chilton, Coosa, Jefferson, Saint Clair & Talladega.

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

  • Shelby County     (The home county of Harpersville)
  • Blount County
    • Dale ‑ Historic
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Dale have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dale
      • Dale is located in Blount County
  • Calhoun County
    • Eastaboga
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Eastaboga have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eastaboga
      • Eastaboga is located in Calhoun County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Eastaboga <2>
  • Chilton County
    • Jumbo
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Jumbo. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jumbo
      • Jumbo is located in Chilton County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Jumbo
      • From Harpersville to Jumbo
  • Clay County
  • Coosa County
  • Jefferson County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Harpersville, with the one closest to Harpersville listed first.
    • Cedar Grove ‑ Historic
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cedar Grove have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Grove
      • Cedar Grove is located in Jefferson County
    • Leeds
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Scott City
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Scott City have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Scott City
      • Scott City is located in Jefferson County
    • Cahaba Landing
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Cahaba Heights
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
    • Irondale
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Irondale have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Irondale
      • Irondale is located in Jefferson County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 13,226 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Irondale <2>
    • Lola City
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lola City have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lola City
      • Lola City is located in Jefferson County
    • McCombs
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for McCombs. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for McCombs
      • McCombs is located in Jefferson County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to McCombs
      • From Harpersville to McCombs
    • Rock Ridge
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
    • Alton
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Alton have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alton
      • Alton is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Alton <2>
    • Roper
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Roper. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roper
      • Roper is located in Jefferson County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Roper
      • From Harpersville to Roper
    • Weems
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Weems. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Weems
      • Weems is located in Jefferson County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Weems
      • From Harpersville to Weems
  • Saint Clair County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Harpersville, with the one closest to Harpersville listed first.
    • Vincent
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Vincent have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vincent
      • Vincent is located in Saint Clair County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,223 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Vincent <2>
    • Fountainrun ‑ Historic
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Fountainrun have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fountainrun
      • Fountainrun is located in Saint Clair County
    • Easonville ‑ Historic
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Brompton
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
    • Woodland Village
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Woodland Village have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodland Village
      • Woodland Village is located in Saint Clair County
    • Cook's Springs
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cook's Springs have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cook's Springs
      • Cook's Springs is located in Saint Clair County
    • Moody
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
    • Cropwell
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Glen City
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Glen City have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glen City
      • Glen City is located in Saint Clair County
    • Pell City
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
    • Acmar
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
    • Avondale Village
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Avondale Village have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Avondale Village
      • Avondale Village is located in Saint Clair County
  • Talladega County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Harpersville, with the one closest to Harpersville listed first.
    • East Bend
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for East Bend have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Bend
      • East Bend is located in Talladega County
    • Childersburg
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Logan Martin Dam
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Bon Air
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bon Air have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bon Air
      • Bon Air is located in Talladega County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 109 people
    • Alpine
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Alpine have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alpine
      • Alpine is located in Talladega County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Alpine <2>
    • Zubers
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Nottingham ‑ Historic
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Nottingham. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nottingham
      • Nottingham is located in Talladega County
      • Former name for Nottingham:
      • Jones Camp Ground
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Nottingham
      • From Harpersville to Nottingham
    • Comerdale
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Fayetteville
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
    • Oak Grove
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Oak Grove have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oak Grove
      • Oak Grove is located in Talladega County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 513 people
    • Winterboro
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Winterboro have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Winterboro
      • Winterboro is located in Talladega County
    • Gantts Quarry
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Gantts Quarry have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gantts Quarry
      • Gantts Quarry is located in Talladega County

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

Cemeteries Near Harpersville ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Harpersville.

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.

If you need information about a burial or interment, photos, transcripts, how to contact the cemetery or local authorities, please visit our selection of Genealogy Websites (see below).

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

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

  • Kidd Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Kidd Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Kidd Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Garden of Memories Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Garden of Memories Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Garden of Memories Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Williamson Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Williamson Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Williamson Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Masters Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Masters Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Masters Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Arkwright Church Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
  • Vincent Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Vincent Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Vincent Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Raley Family Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Raley Family Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Raley Family Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Elliott Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Elliott Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Elliott Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Wallace Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
  • Bradford Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Bradford Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Bradford Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Chancellor Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Chancellor Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Chancellor Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Baker Grove Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
  • Continue List   (344 more) ...
    • Bailey Cemetery
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Vincent Cemetery
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Vincent Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Vincent Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Holley Cemetery
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Holley Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Holley Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.

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>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Harpersville had a population of 27 people in 1895 with a post office and no railroad service. In 2020, Harpersville had a population of 1,748 people.

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

  • Vincent
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Vincent have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vincent
    • Vincent is located in Saint Clair County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,223 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Vincent <2>
  • Childersburg
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
  • East Bend
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for East Bend have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Bend
    • East Bend is located in Talladega County
  • Sterrett
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
  • Wilsonville
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
  • Lowery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lowery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lowery
    • Lowery is located in Blount County
  • Vandiver
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Zubers
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Alpine
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Alpine have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alpine
    • Alpine is located in Talladega County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Alpine <2>
  • Nottingham ‑ Historic
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Nottingham. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nottingham
    • Nottingham is located in Talladega County
    • Former name for Nottingham:
    • Jones Camp Ground
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Nottingham
    • From Harpersville to Nottingham
  • Fayetteville
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
  • Dunnavant
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...
    • Wolf Creek
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Wolf Creek have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wolf Creek
      • Wolf Creek is located in Saint Clair County
    • Renfroe
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Renfroe have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Renfroe
      • Renfroe is located in Talladega County
    • Easonville ‑ Historic
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)

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

Newspapers Published in Harpersville ...

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 34 newspapers that have been published in the area around Harpersville.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Harpersville, there are papers which were published within 16 miles [25.7 km]<6>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Harpersville.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we first visit the websites from Cyndi's List, FamilySearch and Genealogy Trails. These websites either 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 Harpersville:

Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Harpersville. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.

The official website for Shelby County: www.shelbycountyalabama.com/

The official website for State of Alabama: https://www.alabama.gov/

Footnotes ...

<1>The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required.
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<3>An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace.
<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 Harpersville, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<6>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 from Point A (ie- Harpersville) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Harpersville. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 33.3440, Longitude: -86.4382    









 

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This page was last modified/updated: 28 Apr 2025