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 Thompsons Old Ferry (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 Thompsons Old Ferry. 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 Thompsons Old Ferry ...
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.
While the name of this community is Thompsons Old Ferry, be aware that it's the common practice of mapmakers to remove the apostrophe from possessive names<1>. So Thompsons Old Ferry may originally have been Thompson's Old Ferry.
Sometimes the trailing 's' might be dropped altogether, in which case Thompsons Old Ferry might be written as Thompson Old Ferry.
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.
Thompsons Old Ferry is located in Elmore 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 Elmore County: Autauga, Chilton, Coosa, Macon, Montgomery & Tallapoosa.
Below are the counties that are near Thompsons Old Ferry. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Thompsons Old Ferry:
- Elmore County (The home county of Thompsons Old Ferry)
- The following are listed by their distance from Thompsons Old Ferry, with the one closest to Thompsons Old Ferry listed first.
- Lightwood
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
- Lightwood is located in Elmore County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lightwood
- Titus
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
- Holtville
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
- Holtville is located in Elmore County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holtville
- Holtville has also been known as:
- Slapout
- Adkin Hill
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
- Adkin Hill is located in Elmore County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Adkin Hill
- Adkin Hill has also been known as:
- Atkins Hill
- Deatsville
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
- Elmore
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
- Seman
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
- Seman is located in Elmore County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Seman
- Central
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
- Central is located in Elmore County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Central
- Robinson Springs
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
- Robinson Springs is located in Elmore County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Robinson Springs
- Coosada
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
- Wetumpka
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
- Prattville Junction
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
- Prattville Junction is located in Elmore County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prattville Junction
- Autauga County
- The following are listed by their distance from Thompsons Old Ferry, with the one closest to Thompsons Old Ferry listed first.
- Marbury
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
- Pine Level
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
- Pine Level is located in Autauga County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine Level
- White City
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
- White City is located in Autauga County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for White City
- Millbrook
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
- Melmar
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
- Melmar is located in Autauga County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Melmar
- Gibbons ‑ Historic
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
- Gibbons is located in Autauga County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gibbons
- Haynes
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
- Haynes is located in Autauga County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Haynes
- Prattville
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
- Booth
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
- Booth is located in Autauga County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Booth
- Billingsley
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
- Independence
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
- Independence is located in Autauga County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Independence
- Autaugaville
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
- Autaugaville is located in Autauga County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Autaugaville
- Population from the 2020 Census: 882 people
- Chilton County
- The following are listed by their distance from Thompsons Old Ferry, with the one closest to Thompsons Old Ferry listed first.
- Mountain Creek
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
- Mountain Creek is located in Chilton County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mountain Creek
- Verbena
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
- Verbena is located in Chilton County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Verbena
- Clanton
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
- Jumbo
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
- Jumbo is located in Chilton County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jumbo
- Thorsby
(23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
- Jemison
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
- Adams
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
- Adams is located in Chilton County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Adams
- Maplesville
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
- Stanton
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
- Stanton is located in Chilton County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stanton
- Clay County
- Hollins
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
- Hollins is located in Clay County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hollins
- Coosa County
- The following are listed by their distance from Thompsons Old Ferry, with the one closest to Thompsons Old Ferry listed first.
- Dollar
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
- Dollar is located in Coosa County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dollar
- Pentonville
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
- Pentonville is located in Coosa County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pentonville
- Rockford
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
- Equality
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
- Equality is located in Coosa County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Equality
- Hissop
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
- Hissop is located in Coosa County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hissop
- Nixburg
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
- Nixburg is located in Coosa County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nixburg
- Cottage Grove
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
- Cottage Grove is located in Coosa County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cottage Grove
- Weogufka
(18 miles [29 km] to the north)
- Weogufka is located in Coosa County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Weogufka
- Aucheucaula ‑ Historic
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
- Aucheucaula is located in Coosa County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Aucheucaula
- Fishpond
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
- Fishpond is located in Coosa County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fishpond
- Ray
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
- Ray is located in Coosa County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ray
- Stewartville
(23 miles [37 km] to the north)
- Stewartville is located in Coosa County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stewartville
- Lowndes County
- Burkville
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
- Burkville is located in Lowndes County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Burkville
- Montgomery County
- The following are listed by their distance from Thompsons Old Ferry, with the one closest to Thompsons Old Ferry listed first.
- Boylston
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
- Boylston is located in Montgomery County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Boylston
- Madison
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
- Madison is located in Montgomery County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Madison
- New Town
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
- New Town is located in Montgomery County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Town
- Capitol Heights
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
- Capitol Heights is located in Montgomery County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Capitol Heights
- Highland Village
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
- Highland Village is located in Montgomery County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Highland Village
- Montgomery
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
- Sunshine Village
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
- Sunshine Village is located in Montgomery County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunshine Village
- Gibbs Village
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
- Gibbs Village is located in Montgomery County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gibbs Village
- Stone's
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
- Stone's is located in Montgomery County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stone's
- Young Forte Village
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
- Young Forte Village is located in Montgomery County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Young Forte Village
- Catoma
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
- Catoma is located in Montgomery County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Catoma
- English Village
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
- English Village is located in Montgomery County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for English Village
- Shelby County
- The following are listed by their distance from Thompsons Old Ferry, with the one closest to Thompsons Old Ferry listed first.
- Pine Grove Village
(23 miles [37 km] to the north)
- Pine Grove Village is located in Shelby County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine Grove Village
- Merrell Beach
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
- Merrell Beach is located in Shelby County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Merrell Beach
- Shelby
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
- Talladega County
- The following are listed by their distance from Thompsons Old Ferry, with the one closest to Thompsons Old Ferry listed first.
- Talladega Springs
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
- Talladega Springs is located in Talladega County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Talladega Springs
- Population from the 2020 Census: 156 people
- Fayetteville
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
- Fayetteville is located in Talladega County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fayetteville
- Gantts Quarry
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
- Gantts Quarry is located in Talladega County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gantts Quarry
- Mignon
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
- Mignon is located in Talladega County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mignon
- Oak Grove
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
- Oak Grove is located in Talladega County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oak Grove
- Population from the 2020 Census: 513 people
- Sylacauga
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
- Tallapoosa County
- The following are listed by their distance from Thompsons Old Ferry, with the one closest to Thompsons Old Ferry listed first.
- Our Town
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
- Our Town is located in Tallapoosa County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Our Town
- Alkehatchee ‑ Historic
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
- Alkehatchee is located in Tallapoosa County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alkehatchee
- Alexander City
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
- Benson ‑ Historic
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
- Benson is located in Tallapoosa County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Benson
- Susannah ‑ Historic
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
- Susannah is located in Tallapoosa County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Susannah
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Thompsons Old Ferry, see our County-by-County Page for Thompsons Old Ferry.
Cemeteries Near Thompsons Old Ferry ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Thompsons Old Ferry.
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 Thompsons Old Ferry - one of the links might be able to help.
If not found below, our Cemetery List for Thompsons Old Ferry covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Thompsons Old Ferry, with the one closest to Thompsons Old Ferry listed first.
- New Harmony Cemetery
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
- New Hope Cemetery
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
- Proctor Creek Cemetery
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
- Jo Anna Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
- Canaan Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the west)
- Mt. Sinai Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the north)
- Wayside Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the east)
- Swamp Creek Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
- Corinth Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the west)
- Midway Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
- Memorial Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Memorial Cemetery
- To give a relative sense of its location, the Memorial Cemetery is located outside and to the northeast of Mountain Creek.
- Mountain Creek Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
- Continue List (401 more) ...
- Marbury Baptist Church Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
- St. Paul Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
- Wadsworth Baptist Church Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
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 Thompsons Old Ferry in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Thompsons Old Ferry.
These communities are listed based on their distance from Thompsons Old Ferry, with the one closest to Thompsons Old Ferry listed first.
- Lightwood
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
- Lightwood is located in Elmore County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lightwood
- Titus
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
- Travelers Rest
(5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
- Travelers Rest is located in Coosa County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Travelers Rest
- Mountain Creek
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
- Mountain Creek is located in Chilton County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mountain Creek
- Wadsworth
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
- Wadsworth is located in Autauga County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wadsworth
- Coosa River
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
- Coosa River is located in Elmore County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coosa River
- Buyck
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
- Buyck is located in Elmore County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Buyck
- Holtville
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
- Holtville is located in Elmore County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holtville
- Holtville has also been known as:
- Slapout
- Speed
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
- Speed is located in Coosa County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Speed
- Verbena
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
- Verbena is located in Chilton County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Verbena
- Dollar
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
- Dollar is located in Coosa County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dollar
- Pentonville
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
- Pentonville is located in Coosa County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pentonville
- Continue List (16 more) ...
- Cooper
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
- Cooper is located in Chilton County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cooper
- Deatsville
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
- Weoka
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
- Weoka is located in Elmore County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Weoka
We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Thompsons Old Ferry. See our List of 1890's Communities around Thompsons Old Ferry.
Newspapers Published in Thompsons Old Ferry ...
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 43 newspapers that have been published in the area around Thompsons Old Ferry.
Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Thompsons Old Ferry, there are papers which were published within 21 miles [33.8 km]<5>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Thompsons Old Ferry.
Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...
When we do our genealogical research, we first visit 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 Thompsons Old Ferry:
- Websites specific to Alabama
- Pages specific to Elmore County
- Genealogy information for nearby counties
- Autauga County
- Chilton County
- Clay County
- Coosa County
- Lowndes County
- Montgomery County
- Shelby County
- Talladega County
- Tallapoosa County
- Cemetery Information and Directories for Alabama
Footnotes ...
| <1> | It's generally believed that possessive apostrophes are removed to prevent confusion on maps where the apostrophe may be confused with a cartographic symbol. While this is generally true, it's not uncommon to find possessive apostrophes in administrative names (such as towns or counties). |
| <2> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <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 Thompsons Old Ferry, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <5> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a '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- Thompsons Old Ferry) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |