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A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
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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 Bay View (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 Bay View. 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 Bay View ...

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.

Another variation: Bayview.

  • A typical abbreviation for Bay View: Bay Vw.

You might be interested in other communities that are also named Bay View. More information can be found on our Tidbits & Trivia Page for Bay View.

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 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.

Bay View is located in Walton County.

To see how the shape of Florida's counties may have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Walton County: Covington (AL), Geneva (AL), Bay, Holmes, Okaloosa & Washington.

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

  • Walton County     (The home county of Bay View)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Bay View, with the one closest to Bay View listed first.
    • Portland
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
      • Portland is located in Walton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Portland
    • Freeport
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Santa Rosa Beach
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Point Washington
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Blue Mountain Beach
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Grayton Beach
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Seaside
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Seagrove Beach
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
    • Four Mile Village
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Four Mile Village is located in Walton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Four Mile Village
    • Sandestin
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
    • The Village of Baytowne Wharf
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Miramar Beach
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Bay County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Bay View, with the one closest to Bay View listed first.
    • Sunnyside
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Laguna Beach
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Panama City Beach
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
    • West Panama City Beach
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Holmes County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Bay View, with the one closest to Bay View listed first.
    • Ponce de Leon
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
    • Westville
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Cerrogordo
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Cerrogordo is located in Holmes County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cerrogordo
  • Okaloosa County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Bay View, with the one closest to Bay View listed first.
    • Destin
      (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
      • Destin is located in Okaloosa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Destin
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 14,284 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Destin <1>
    • Niceville
      (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
    • Valparaiso
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
    • Eglin Village
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
      • Eglin Village is located in Okaloosa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eglin Village
    • Lake Lorraine
      (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
      • Lake Lorraine is located in Okaloosa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Lorraine
    • Shalimar
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
    • Cinco Bayou
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
      • Cinco Bayou is located in Okaloosa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cinco Bayou
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 447 people
    • Fort Walton Beach
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
    • Ocean City
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
      • Ocean City is located in Okaloosa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ocean City
    • Wright
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
      • Wright is located in Okaloosa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wright
    • Mary Esther
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
    • Hurlburt Field
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
  • Washington County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Bay View, with the one closest to Bay View listed first.
    • Ebro
      (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
      • Ebro is located in Washington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ebro
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 285 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Ebro <1>
    • Coosada Old Town ‑ Historic
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Coosada Old Town is located in Washington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coosada Old Town
    • Millers Ferry
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Millers Ferry is located in Washington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Millers Ferry
    • Vernon
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Caryville
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Five Points
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Five Points is located in Washington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Five Points

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

Cemeteries Near Bay View ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Bay View.

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 Bay View - one of the links might be able to help.

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Bay View, with the one closest to Bay View listed first.

  • Hatcher Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
  • Brown Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
  • Hewas Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Santa Rosa Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Black Oak Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
  • New Home Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
  • Antioch Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
  • Dead River Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
  • Rocky Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
  • Redbay Cemetery
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
  • Early Cemetery
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
  • Ebro Cemetery
    (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
  • Continue List   (22 more) ...
    • Oak Ridge Cemetery
      (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
    • Magnolia Cemetery
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
    • Sweeney Cemetery
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)

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 Bay View in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Bay View.

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

  • Portland
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Portland is located in Walton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Portland
  • Freeport
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
  • Eucheeanna
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Eucheeanna is located in Walton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eucheeanna
  • Redbay
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Redbay is located in Walton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Redbay
  • Knox Hill
    (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
    • Knox Hill is located in Walton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Knox Hill
  • Argyle
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
  • Mossy Head
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
  • Millers Ferry
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Millers Ferry is located in Washington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Millers Ferry
  • Ponce de Leon
    (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
  • Union
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
    • Union is located in Walton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Union
  • Ealum
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
    • Ealum is located in Walton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ealum
  • Westville
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)

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

Newspapers Published in Bay View ...

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 20 newspapers that have been published in the area around Bay View.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Bay View, there are papers which were published within 26 miles [41.8 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Bay View.

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 either 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 Bay View:

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