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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 Mount Olive (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 Mount Olive. 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 Mount Olive ...

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.

For example, a typical abbreviation for Mount Olive: Mt. Olive

You might be interested in other communities that are also named Mount Olive. More information can be found on our Tidbits & Trivia Page for Mount Olive.

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 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.

Mount Olive is located in Jefferson 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 Mount Olive. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Mount Olive:

  • Jefferson County     (The home county of Mount Olive)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Mount Olive, with the one closest to Mount Olive listed first.
    • Gardendale
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Watson
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Watson is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Watson
    • Fultondale
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Brookside
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Cardiff
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
      • Cardiff is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cardiff
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 55 people
    • New Castle
      (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Morris
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • New Town
      (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
      • New Town is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Town
    • Daisey City
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
      • Daisey City is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Daisey City
    • Pinkney City
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
      • Pinkney City is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pinkney City
    • Scarlet Town
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
      • Scarlet Town is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Scarlet Town
    • Alden
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
      • Alden is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alden
    • Graysville
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
  • Blount County
  • Cullman County
  • Saint Clair County
  • Shelby County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Mount Olive, with the one closest to Mount Olive listed first.
    • Bridgeton
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
      • Bridgeton is located in Shelby County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bridgeton
    • Lake Purdy
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
      • Lake Purdy is located in Shelby County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Purdy
    • Inverness
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Inverness is located in Shelby County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Inverness
    • Meadowbrook
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Meadowbrook is located in Shelby County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadowbrook
    • Dunavant
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Dunnavant
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Shoal Creek
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Indian Springs Village
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
      • Indian Springs Village is located in Shelby County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian Springs Village
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,628 people
    • Vandiver
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Pelham
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
    • Tacoa
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
      • Tacoa is located in Shelby County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tacoa
    • Falliston
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
      • Falliston is located in Shelby County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Falliston
    • Chelsea
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
  • Tuscaloosa County
    • Bull City
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Bull City is located in Tuscaloosa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bull City
  • Walker County

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

Cemeteries Near Mount Olive ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Mount Olive.

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 Mount Olive - one of the links might be able to help.

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Mount Olive, with the one closest to Mount Olive 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 Mount Olive in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Mount Olive.

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

  • Cardiff
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Cardiff is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cardiff
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 55 people
  • Brookside
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
  • Blossburg
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Blossburg is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blossburg
  • Coalburg
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Coalburg is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coalburg
    • Former name for Coalburg:
    • Coalburgh
  • New Castle
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
  • Cunningham
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Cunningham is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cunningham
  • Morris
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
  • Lewisburg
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Lewisburg is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lewisburg
  • Linn Crossing
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Linn Crossing is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Linn Crossing
  • Adamsville
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Bartonville
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Sandusky
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
  • Continue List   (19 more) ...
    • North Birmingham
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
      • North Birmingham is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Birmingham
    • Pratt Mines ‑ Historic
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Thomas
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
      • Thomas is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Thomas

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

Newspapers Published in Mount Olive ...

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 12 newspapers that have been published in the area around Mount Olive.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Mount Olive, there are papers which were published within 9 miles [14.5 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Mount Olive.

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 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 Mount Olive:

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 Mount Olive, 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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Mount Olive) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.