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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 Orange Beach (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 Orange Beach. 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 Orange Beach ...

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.

Although we can't give a definitive list, hopefully the following will give you a feel for the variations that might occur.

For example, a typical abbreviation for Orange Beach: Orange Bch.

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 southeast 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 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.

Orange Beach is located in Baldwin 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 Baldwin County: Clarke, Escambia, Mobile, Monroe, Washington & Escambia (FL).

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

  • Baldwin County     (The home county of Orange Beach)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Orange Beach, with the one closest to Orange Beach listed first.
    • Perdido Beach
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
      • Perdido Beach is located in Baldwin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Perdido Beach
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 652 people
    • Gulf Shores
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Elberta
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Bon Secour
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Foley
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Foley is located in Baldwin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Foley
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 21,446 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Foley <1>
    • Oyster Bay
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
      • Oyster Bay is located in Baldwin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oyster Bay
    • Lillian
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Lillian is located in Baldwin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lillian
    • Magnolia Springs
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Summerdale
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Gasque
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
    • Seminole
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Seminole is located in Baldwin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Seminole
    • Yupon
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Yupon is located in Baldwin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Yupon
    • Marlow
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Marlow is located in Baldwin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marlow
  • Mobile County
    • Fort Gaines ‑ Historic
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
      • Fort Gaines is located in Mobile County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fort Gaines
  • Escambia County (FL)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Orange Beach, with the one closest to Orange Beach listed first.
    • Gulf Beach Heights
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
      • Gulf Beach Heights is located in Escambia County (FL)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gulf Beach Heights
    • Gulf Beach ‑ Historic
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
      • Gulf Beach is located in Escambia County (FL)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gulf Beach
    • Perdido Key
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Sand Cut ‑ Historic
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Sand Cut is located in Escambia County (FL)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sand Cut
    • Myrtle Grove
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
      • Myrtle Grove is located in Escambia County (FL)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Myrtle Grove
    • Warrington
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
      • Warrington is located in Escambia County (FL)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Warrington
    • Bellview
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
      • Bellview is located in Escambia County (FL)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bellview
    • West Pensacola
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
      • West Pensacola is located in Escambia County (FL)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Pensacola
    • Sanders Beach
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
      • Sanders Beach is located in Escambia County (FL)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sanders Beach
    • Tristan Village
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Tristan Village is located in Escambia County (FL)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tristan Village
    • Brent
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
      • Brent is located in Escambia County (FL)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brent
    • Goulding
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
      • Goulding is located in Escambia County (FL)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Goulding
    • Pensacola
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
      • Pensacola is located in Escambia County (FL)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pensacola
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 53,142 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Pensacola <1>
  • Santa Rosa County (FL)
    • Gulf Breeze
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)

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

Cemeteries Near Orange Beach ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Orange Beach.

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 Orange Beach - one of the links might be able to help.

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Orange Beach, with the one closest to Orange Beach 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.<4>

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

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

  • Josephine
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Josephine is located in Baldwin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Josephine
  • Swift
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Swift is located in Baldwin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Swift
  • Bon Secour
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
  • Perdido Key
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
  • Magnolia Springs
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
  • Gasque
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
  • Millview
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Millview is located in Escambia County (FL)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Millview
  • Marlow
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Marlow is located in Baldwin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marlow
  • Warrington
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
    • Warrington is located in Escambia County (FL)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Warrington
  • Rosinton
    (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
    • Rosinton is located in Baldwin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rosinton
  • Pensacola
    (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
    • Pensacola is located in Escambia County (FL)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pensacola
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 53,142 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Pensacola <1>
  • Goulding
    (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
    • Goulding is located in Escambia County (FL)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Goulding
  • Continue List   (11 more) ...
    • Brent
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
      • Brent is located in Escambia County (FL)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brent
    • Point Clear
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
    • Olive
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
      • Olive is located in Escambia County (FL)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Olive

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

Newspapers Published in Orange Beach ...

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 72 newspapers that have been published in the area around Orange Beach.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Orange Beach, there are papers which were published within 29 miles [46.7 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Orange Beach.

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 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 Orange Beach:

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>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- Orange Beach) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<4>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 Orange Beach, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.