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 Oak Lawn (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 Oak Lawn. 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 and hospitals 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.
Oak Lawn 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 Oak Lawn. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Oak Lawn:
- Jefferson County (The home county of Oak Lawn)
- The following are listed by their distance from Oak Lawn, with the one closest to Oak Lawn listed first.
- Tarrant
(Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
- Tarrant is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tarrant
- Population from the 2020 Census: 6,081 people
- Tarrant has also been known as:
- Tarrant City
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Tarrant <1>
- Zion City
(Less than 2 miles to the east)
- Zion City is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Zion City
- Bartonville
(Less than 2 miles to the west)
- Bartonville is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bartonville
- Gate City
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
- Gate City is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gate City
- Vulcan City
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
- Vulcan City is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vulcan City
- Huffman
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
- Huffman is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Huffman
- Fultondale
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
- Marks Village
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
- Marks Village is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marks Village
- East Birmingham
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
- East Birmingham is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Birmingham
- New Castle
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
- New Castle is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Castle
- Avondale
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
- Avondale is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Avondale
- Birmingham
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
- Center Point
(5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
- Blount County
- The following are listed by their distance from Oak Lawn, with the one closest to Oak Lawn listed first.
- Dale ‑ Historic
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
- Dale is located in Blount County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dale
- County Line
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
- County Line is located in Blount County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for County Line
- Population from the 2020 Census: 241 people
- Warrior
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
- Selfville
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
- Selfville is located in Blount County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Selfville
- Compton
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
- Compton is located in Blount County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Compton
- Remlap
(18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
- Dallas
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
- Dallas is located in Blount County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dallas
- Red Hill
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
- Red Hill is located in Blount County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Red Hill
- Adville
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
- Adville is located in Blount County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Adville
- Hayden
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
- Locust Fork
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
- Reid's
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
- Reid's is located in Blount County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Reid's
- Smoke Rise
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
- Smoke Rise is located in Blount County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Smoke Rise
- Cullman County
- The following are listed by their distance from Oak Lawn, with the one closest to Oak Lawn listed first.
- Baltimore ‑ Historic
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
- Baltimore is located in Cullman County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Baltimore
- Arkadelphia
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
- Arkadelphia is located in Cullman County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Arkadelphia
- Black Bottom
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
- Black Bottom is located in Cullman County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Black Bottom
- Colony
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
- Colony is located in Cullman County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Colony
- Estimated population in 2015: 273 people
- The Colony
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
- The Colony is located in Cullman County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for The Colony
- Population from the 2020 Census: 291 people
- Damascus
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
- Damascus is located in Cullman County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Damascus
- Garden City
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
- Garden City is located in Cullman County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Garden City
- Population from the 2020 Census: 506 people
- Saint Clair County
- The following are listed by their distance from Oak Lawn, with the one closest to Oak Lawn listed first.
- Woodland Village
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
- Woodland Village is located in Saint Clair County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodland Village
- Moody
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
- Moody is located in Saint Clair County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Moody
- Population from the 2020 Census: 13,292 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Moody <1>
- Parsons
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
- Parsons is located in Saint Clair County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Parsons
- Acmar
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
- Acmar is located in Saint Clair County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Acmar
- Brompton
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
- Brompton is located in Saint Clair County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brompton
- Argo
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
- Argo is located in Saint Clair County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Argo
- Population from the 2020 Census: 4,278 people
- Margaret
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
- Turnbough Town
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
- Turnbough Town is located in Saint Clair County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Turnbough Town
- Cook's Springs
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
- Cook's Springs is located in Saint Clair County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cook's Springs
- Springville
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
- Odenville
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
- Branchville
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
- Branchville is located in Saint Clair County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Branchville
- Saint Clair Springs
(23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
- Saint Clair Springs is located in Saint Clair County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saint Clair Springs
- Shelby County
- The following are listed by their distance from Oak Lawn, with the one closest to Oak Lawn listed first.
- Bridgeton
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
- Bridgeton is located in Shelby County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bridgeton
- Lake Purdy
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
- Lake Purdy is located in Shelby County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Purdy
- Inverness
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
- Inverness is located in Shelby County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Inverness
- Meadowbrook
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
- Meadowbrook is located in Shelby County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadowbrook
- Shoal Creek
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
- Shoal Creek is located in Shelby County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shoal Creek
- Dunnavant
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
- Dunnavant is located in Shelby County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dunnavant
- Dunavant
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
- Dunavant is located in Shelby County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dunavant
- Indian Springs Village
(15 miles [24.1 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
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
- Pelham
(18 miles [29 km] to the south)
- Chelsea
(18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
- Sterrett
(18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
- Tacoa
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
- Tacoa is located in Shelby County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tacoa
- Talladega County
- The following are listed by their distance from Oak Lawn, with the one closest to Oak Lawn listed first.
- East Bend
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
- East Bend is located in Talladega County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Bend
- Logan Martin Dam
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
- Logan Martin Dam is located in Talladega County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Logan Martin Dam
- Childersburg
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
- Tuscaloosa County
- The following are listed by their distance from Oak Lawn, with the one closest to Oak Lawn listed first.
- Tannehill
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
- Tannehill is located in Tuscaloosa County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tannehill
- Lake View
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
- Lake View is located in Tuscaloosa County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake View
- Population from the 2020 Census: 2,732 people
- Walker County
- The following are listed by their distance from Oak Lawn, with the one closest to Oak Lawn listed first.
- Quinton
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
- Oakahalla
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
- Oakahalla is located in Walker County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oakahalla
- Sumiton
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
- Sumiton is located in Walker County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sumiton
- Population from the 2020 Census: 2,330 people
- Former names for Sumiton:
- Commercial
- Democrat
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Sumiton <1>
- Wyatt
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
- Wyatt is located in Walker County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wyatt
- Twilley Town
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
- Twilley Town is located in Walker County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Twilley Town
- Yerkwood
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
- Yerkwood is located in Walker County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Yerkwood
- Burnwell
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
- Burnwell is located in Walker County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Burnwell
- Creel
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
- Creel is located in Walker County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Creel
- Dora
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
- Empire
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
- Empire is located in Walker County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Empire
- Reeds Ferry
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
- Reeds Ferry is located in Walker County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Reeds Ferry
- Black Warrior Town ‑ Historic
(23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
- Black Warrior Town is located in Walker County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Black Warrior Town
- Red Star
(23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
- Red Star is located in Walker County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Red Star
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Oak Lawn, see our County-by-County Page for Oak Lawn.
Cemeteries Near Oak Lawn ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Oak Lawn.
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 Oak Lawn - one of the links might be able to help.
If not found below, our Cemetery List for Oak Lawn covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Oak Lawn, with the one closest to Oak Lawn listed first.
- Inglenook Cemetery
(Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
- Greenwood Cemetery
(Less than 2 miles to the south)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenwood Cemetery
- To give a relative sense of its location, the Greenwood Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located in Birmingham.
- The Greenwood Cemetery has also been known as:
- Woodlawn Cemetery
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #23140 <2>
- Mt. Zion Cemetery
(Less than 2 miles to the east)
- Higgins Cemetery
(Less than 2 miles to the east)
- Sheritt Cemetery
(Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
- Forest Hill Cemetery
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
- East Lake Cemetery
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
- McElwain Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
- Bush Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
- Bass Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
- Walkers Chapel Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
- Oak Hill Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
- Continue List (328 more) ...
- Bass Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
- Earltown Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
- Reed Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
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 Oak Lawn in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Oak Lawn.
These communities are listed based on their distance from Oak Lawn, with the one closest to Oak Lawn listed first.
- Bartonville
(Less than 2 miles to the west)
- Bartonville is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bartonville
- East Lake
(Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
- East Lake is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Lake
- Vanderbilt
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
- Vanderbilt is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vanderbilt
- Woodlawn
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
- Woodlawn is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodlawn
- Gate City
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
- Gate City is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gate City
- East Birmingham
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
- East Birmingham is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Birmingham
- Ruffner
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
- Ruffner is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ruffner
- Huffman
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
- Huffman is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Huffman
- Lewisburg
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
- Lewisburg is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lewisburg
- North Birmingham
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
- North Birmingham is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Birmingham
- Birmingham
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
- Avondale
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
- Avondale is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Avondale
- Continue List (15 more) ...
- New Castle
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
- New Castle is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Castle
- Irondale
(5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
- Weems
(5 miles [8 km] to the east)
- Weems is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Weems
We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Oak Lawn. See our List of 1890's Communities around Oak Lawn.
Newspapers Published in Oak Lawn ...
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 188 newspapers that have been published in the area around Oak Lawn.
Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Oak Lawn, there are papers which were published within 6 miles [9.7 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Oak Lawn.
Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...
When we do our genealogical research, we like to start with the websites from Cyndi's List, FamilySearch and Genealogy Trails. These professional and volunteer 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 Oak Lawn:
- Websites specific to Alabama
- Pages specific to Jefferson County
- Genealogy information for nearby counties
- Blount County
- Cullman County
- Saint Clair County
- Shelby County
- Talladega County
- Tuscaloosa County
- Walker County
- Cemetery Information and Directories for Alabama
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 Oak Lawn, 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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Oak Lawn) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |