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A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
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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 Leeds (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 Leeds. 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 southwest corner of their home county. During their lives, most doctors and hospitals 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.

Leeds is primarily located in Jefferson County. A portion of Leeds extends into Saint Clair County and Shelby 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 Jefferson County: Bibb, Blount, Saint Clair, Shelby, Tuscaloosa & Walker.

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

  • Jefferson County     (The home county of Leeds)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Leeds, with the one closest to Leeds listed first.
    • Scott City
      (Less than 2 miles to the west)
      • Scott City is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Scott City
    • Cedar Grove ‑ Historic
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Cedar Grove is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Grove
    • Lola City
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Lola City is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lola City
    • Roper
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • McCombs
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Alton
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Breakstone Village
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
      • Breakstone Village is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Breakstone Village
    • East Trussville ‑ Historic
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
      • East Trussville is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Trussville
    • Cahaba Village
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Cahaba Village is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cahaba Village
    • Trussville
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Rock Ridge
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Weems
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Irondale
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
  • Blount County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Leeds, with the one closest to Leeds listed first.
    • Dale ‑ Historic
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Dale is located in Blount County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dale
    • Remlap
      (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
    • Compton
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
    • Selfville
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
      • Selfville is located in Blount County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Selfville
    • Dallas
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
      • Dallas is located in Blount County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dallas
    • County Line
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Adville
      (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
    • Locust Fork
      (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
    • Warrior
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
    • Allgood
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
      • Allgood is located in Blount County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Allgood
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 638 people
    • Appalachian
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
    • Highland Lake
      (24 miles [38.6 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
    • Straight Mountain
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
      • Straight Mountain is located in Blount County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Straight Mountain
  • Calhoun County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Leeds, with the one closest to Leeds listed first.
    • Bruner ‑ Historic
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
      • Bruner is located in Calhoun County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bruner
    • Boozer ‑ Historic
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
      • Boozer is located in Calhoun County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Boozer
    • Eastaboga
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
    • Macon
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Saint Clair County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Leeds, with the one closest to Leeds listed first.
    • Woodland Village
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Woodland Village is located in Saint Clair County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodland Village
    • Moody
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Acmar
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Brompton
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Parsons
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Cook's Springs
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
      • Cook's Springs is located in Saint Clair County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cook's Springs
    • Margaret
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Turnbough Town
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Turnbough Town is located in Saint Clair County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Turnbough Town
    • Argo
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
      • Argo is located in Saint Clair County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Argo
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 4,278 people
    • Odenville
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Fountainrun ‑ Historic
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
      • Fountainrun is located in Saint Clair County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fountainrun
    • Branchville
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
      • Branchville is located in Saint Clair County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Branchville
    • Vincent
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
      • Vincent is located in Saint Clair County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vincent
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,223 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Vincent <1>
  • Shelby County
  • Talladega County

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

Cemeteries Near Leeds ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Leeds.

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

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Leeds, with the one closest to Leeds 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>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Leeds had a population of 250 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Leeds had a population of 12,026 people.

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

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Leeds ...

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 8 newspapers that have been published in the area around Leeds.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Leeds. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Leeds and those printed in the larger area surrounding Leeds.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 10 miles [16.1 km]<4> of Leeds.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we start 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 Leeds:

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 Leeds, 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' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Leeds) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.