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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 Oswichee (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 Oswichee. 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 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.

Oswichee is located in Russell 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 Russell County: Barbour, Bullock, Lee, Macon, Chattahoochee (GA), Muscogee (GA) & Stewart (GA).

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

  • Russell County     (The home county of Oswichee)
  • Barbour County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Oswichee, with the one closest to Oswichee listed first.
    • Big Eddy ‑ Historic
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
      • Big Eddy is located in Barbour County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Big Eddy
    • Hawkinsville
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Spring Hill
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
      • Spring Hill is located in Barbour County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spring Hill
    • Eufaula
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
    • Comer
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
  • Lee County
  • Macon County
  • Chattahoochee County (GA)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Oswichee, with the one closest to Oswichee listed first.
    • Fort Benning
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Central Springs
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Ochillee
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Ochillee is located in Chattahoochee County (GA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ochillee
      • Estimated population in 2019: 680 people
    • Cusseta
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
    • Halloca ‑ Historic
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
      • Halloca is located in Chattahoochee County (GA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Halloca
    • Heineburg Village ‑ Historic
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Heineburg Village is located in Chattahoochee County (GA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Heineburg Village
      • Estimated population in 2014: 2,893 people
    • Ida Vesper
      (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
  • Harris County (GA)
  • Marion County (GA)
  • Muscogee County (GA)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Oswichee, with the one closest to Oswichee listed first.
    • Baker Village
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
      • Baker Village is located in Muscogee County (GA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Baker Village
    • Cusseta Heights
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
      • Cusseta Heights is located in Muscogee County (GA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cusseta Heights
      • Estimated population in 2018: 10,684 people
    • Columbus
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
    • Saint Marys Hills
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
      • Saint Marys Hills is located in Muscogee County (GA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saint Marys Hills
      • Estimated population in 2019: 18,567 people
    • Sunset Terrace
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
      • Sunset Terrace is located in Muscogee County (GA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunset Terrace
      • Population from the 2010 Census: 846 people
    • Wynnton
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
    • Bibb City
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
      • Bibb City is located in Muscogee County (GA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bibb City
    • City Village
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
      • City Village is located in Muscogee County (GA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for City Village
    • East Edgewood
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
      • East Edgewood is located in Muscogee County (GA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Edgewood
      • Estimated population in 2019: 569 people
    • Hilton Heights
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
      • Hilton Heights is located in Muscogee County (GA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hilton Heights
      • Estimated population in 2018: 324 people
    • Branton Woods
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
      • Branton Woods is located in Muscogee County (GA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Branton Woods
      • Estimated population in 2019: 12,961 people
    • Maridale Estates
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
      • Maridale Estates is located in Muscogee County (GA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maridale Estates
      • Estimated population in 2019: 60,867 people
    • Glenns
      (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
      • Glenns is located in Muscogee County (GA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glenns
      • Estimated population in 2019: 5,020 people
  • Quitman County (GA)
  • Stewart County (GA)
  • Talbot County (GA)
  • Webster County (GA)

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

Cemeteries Near Oswichee ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Oswichee.

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

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

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

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Oswichee had a population of 70 people in 1895 with a post office and no railroad service.

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

  • Fort Mitchell
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
  • Loflin
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
  • Orletta ‑ Historic
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Orletta is located in Stewart County (GA)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Orletta
  • Cottage Mills ‑ Historic
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Cottage Mills is located in Chattahoochee County (GA)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cottage Mills
  • Omaha
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
  • Union
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Union is located in Stewart County (GA)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Union
  • Jamestown
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Jamestown is located in Chattahoochee County (GA)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jamestown
  • Jernigan
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
  • Seale
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
  • Esquiline ‑ Historic
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Esquiline is located in Muscogee County (GA)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Esquiline
  • Girard
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
    • Girard is located in Russell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Girard
  • Louvale
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...
    • Ochillee
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Ochillee is located in Chattahoochee County (GA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ochillee
      • Estimated population in 2019: 680 people
    • Muscogee
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
      • Muscogee is located in Muscogee County (GA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Muscogee
    • Green Hill ‑ Historic
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
      • Green Hill is located in Stewart County (GA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Hill

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

Newspapers Published in Oswichee ...

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 59 newspapers that have been published in the area around Oswichee.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Oswichee, there are papers which were published within 13 miles [20.9 km]<2>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Oswichee.

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 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 Oswichee:

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>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Oswichee) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>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.
<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 Oswichee, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.