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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 Tompkinsville (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 Tompkinsville. 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 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.

Tompkinsville is located in Choctaw 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 Choctaw County: Clarke, Marengo, Sumter, Washington, Clarke (MS), Lauderdale (MS) & Wayne (MS).

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

  • Choctaw County     (The home county of Tompkinsville)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Tompkinsville, with the one closest to Tompkinsville listed first.
    • Pennington
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
      • Pennington is located in Choctaw County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pennington
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 202 people
    • Choctaw City
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
      • Choctaw City is located in Choctaw County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Choctaw City
    • Lavaca
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Cedahoma ‑ Historic
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
      • Cedahoma is located in Choctaw County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedahoma
    • Pelham
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Pelham is located in Choctaw County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pelham
    • Jachin
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
      • Jachin is located in Choctaw County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jachin
    • Butler
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Cromwell
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
      • Cromwell is located in Choctaw County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cromwell
    • Lisman
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
    • Red Springs
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
    • Pushmataha
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
    • Needham
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
      • Needham is located in Choctaw County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Needham
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 79 people
    • Toxey
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Toxey is located in Choctaw County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Toxey
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 121 people
  • Clarke County
  • Hale County
  • Marengo County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Tompkinsville, with the one closest to Tompkinsville listed first.
    • Myrtlewood
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
      • Myrtlewood is located in Marengo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Myrtlewood
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 115 people
    • Barrons ‑ Historic
      (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
      • Barrons is located in Marengo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Barrons
    • Half Acre
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Nanafalia
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Beckleys ‑ Historic
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Beckleys is located in Marengo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beckleys
    • Aimwell
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Griffins ‑ Historic
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
      • Griffins is located in Marengo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Griffins
    • Blue Lock ‑ Historic
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Blue Lock is located in Marengo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blue Lock
    • Sweet Water
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Putnam
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
    • Moss ‑ Historic
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Moss is located in Marengo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Moss
    • Linden
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Pin Hook
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
  • Sumter County
  • Wilcox County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Tompkinsville, with the one closest to Tompkinsville listed first.
    • Arlington
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
    • Lamison
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
    • Anne Manie
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
      • Anne Manie is located in Wilcox County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Anne Manie
    • Kimbrough
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Kimbrough is located in Wilcox County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kimbrough
    • Pine Hill
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Pine Hill is located in Wilcox County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine Hill
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 834 people
  • Lauderdale County (MS)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Tompkinsville, with the one closest to Tompkinsville listed first.
    • Whynot
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
    • Smith
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)

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

Cemeteries Near Tompkinsville ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Tompkinsville.

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

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

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

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that in 1895, Tompkinsville had a post office and no railroad service.

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

  • Myrtlewood
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Myrtlewood is located in Marengo County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Myrtlewood
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 115 people
  • Nanafalia
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
  • Robjohn
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Robjohn is located in Choctaw County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Robjohn
  • Aimwell
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
  • Rembert
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Rembert is located in Marengo County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rembert
  • Mount Sterling
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Mount Sterling is located in Choctaw County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Sterling
  • Sweet Water
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Putnam
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
  • Moss ‑ Historic
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Moss is located in Marengo County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Moss
  • Butler
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
  • Linden
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
  • Jefferson
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Jefferson is located in Marengo County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jefferson
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...
    • Morvin
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
      • Morvin is located in Clarke County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Morvin
    • Nicholsville
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Nicholsville is located in Marengo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nicholsville
    • Octagon
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
      • Octagon is located in Marengo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Octagon

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

Newspapers Published in Tompkinsville ...

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 40 newspapers that have been published in the area around Tompkinsville.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Tompkinsville, there are papers which were published within 23 miles [37 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Tompkinsville.

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 helpful 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 Tompkinsville:

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 Tompkinsville, 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 drawn from Point A (ie- Tompkinsville) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.