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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 Palmerdale (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 Palmerdale. 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 Palmerdale ...

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.

Palmerdale was originally named Palmer Station

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 northeast 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 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.

Palmerdale 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 Palmerdale. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Palmerdale:

  • Jefferson County     (The home county of Palmerdale)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Palmerdale, with the one closest to Palmerdale listed first.
    • Village Springs
      (Less than 2 miles to the north)
      • Village Springs is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Village Springs
    • Clay
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Pinson
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Bradford
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Ayres
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Masseyline
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Masseyline is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Masseyline
    • Crosston
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
      • Crosston is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crosston
    • Chalkville
      (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Center Point
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Grayson Valley
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
      • Grayson Valley is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grayson Valley
    • Majestic
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
      • Majestic is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Majestic
    • Cahaba Village
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
      • Cahaba Village is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cahaba Village
    • Breakstone Village
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
      • Breakstone Village is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Breakstone Village
  • Blount County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Palmerdale, with the one closest to Palmerdale listed first.
    • Compton
      (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Selfville
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
      • Selfville is located in Blount County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Selfville
    • Remlap
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Dallas
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
      • Dallas is located in Blount County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dallas
    • County Line
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Dale ‑ Historic
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
      • Dale is located in Blount County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dale
    • Locust Fork
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Adville
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Little Warrior
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
    • Warrior
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Hayden
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Deavers
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
      • Deavers is located in Blount County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Deavers
    • Allgood
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
      • Allgood is located in Blount County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Allgood
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 638 people
  • Cullman County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Palmerdale, with the one closest to Palmerdale listed first.
    • Baltimore ‑ Historic
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
      • Baltimore is located in Cullman County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Baltimore
    • Garden City
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
    • Black Bottom
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Colony
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
    • The Colony
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
      • The Colony is located in Cullman County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for The Colony
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 291 people
    • Damascus
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Arkadelphia
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Hanceville
      (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
    • White City
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
      • White City is located in Cullman County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for White City
    • Bremen
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Dodge City
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Dodge City is located in Cullman County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dodge City
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 621 people
    • Good Hope
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Good Hope is located in Cullman County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Good Hope
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,393 people
    • Baileytown
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
  • Etowah County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Palmerdale, with the one closest to Palmerdale listed first.
    • Nix ‑ Historic
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Nix is located in Etowah County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nix
    • Altoona
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Clear Springs ‑ Historic
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Clear Springs is located in Etowah County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clear Springs
    • Gallant
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Walnut Grove
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Saint Clair County
  • Shelby County
  • Talladega County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Palmerdale, with the one closest to Palmerdale listed first.
    • Colony
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Colony is located in Talladega County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Colony
    • East Bend
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
      • East Bend is located in Talladega County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Bend
    • Logan Martin Dam
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Windsong Island
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Lincoln
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
  • Walker County

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

Cemeteries Near Palmerdale ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Palmerdale.

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

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

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

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

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

Newspapers Published in Palmerdale ...

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 10 newspapers that have been published in the area around Palmerdale.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Palmerdale, there are papers which were published within 10 miles [16.1 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Palmerdale.

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 Palmerdale:

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 Palmerdale, 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- Palmerdale) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.