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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 Bells Mill (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 Bells Mill. 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 Bells Mill ...

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 have occurred.

  • A typical abbreviation for Bells Mill: Bells Ml. (or less commonly used: Bells Mll.)
  • While the name of this community is Bells Mill, be aware that it's the common practice of mapmakers to remove the apostrophe from possessive names<1>. So Bells Mill may originally have been Bell's Mill.

    Sometimes the trailing 's' might be dropped altogether, in which case Bells Mill might be written as Bell Mill.

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 southwest corner of their home county. During their lives, most hospitals were in the next county to the west. 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 west 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.

Bells Mill is located in Washington County.

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

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Washington County: Bay, Holmes, Jackson & Walton.

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

  • Washington County     (The home county of Bells Mill)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Bells Mill, with the one closest to Bells Mill listed first.
    • Wausau
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Brock Crossroad
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brock Crossroad
      • Brock Crossroad is located in Washington County
    • Chipley
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Vernon
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Five Points
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Five Points
      • Five Points is located in Washington County
    • Caryville
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Millers Ferry
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Millers Ferry. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Millers Ferry
      • Millers Ferry is located in Washington County
    • Coosada Old Town ‑ Historic
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Coosada Old Town have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coosada Old Town
      • Coosada Old Town is located in Washington County
    • Ebro
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ebro
      • Ebro is located in Washington County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 285 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Ebro <2>
  • Bay County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Bells Mill, with the one closest to Bells Mill listed first.
    • Fountain
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Youngstown
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
    • Vicksburg ‑ Historic
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Vicksburg. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vicksburg
      • Vicksburg is located in Bay County
      • Former name for Vicksburg:
      • Vickerburg
    • Southport
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
    • Lynn Haven
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
    • Cedar Grove
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cedar Grove have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Grove
      • Cedar Grove is located in Bay County
  • Calhoun County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Bells Mill, with the one closest to Bells Mill listed first.
    • Altha
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
    • Clarksville
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Chipola
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Chipola. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chipola
      • Chipola is located in Calhoun County
  • Holmes County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Bells Mill, with the one closest to Bells Mill listed first.
    • Bonifay
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Westville
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
    • Cerrogordo
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Cerrogordo. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cerrogordo
      • Cerrogordo is located in Holmes County
    • Esto
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Esto have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Esto
      • Esto is located in Holmes County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 358 people
    • Noma
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
    • Ponce de Leon
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
    • Izagora
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Izagora. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Izagora
      • Izagora is located in Holmes County
  • Jackson County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Bells Mill, with the one closest to Bells Mill listed first.
    • Alford
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
    • Steele City
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Steele City have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Steele City
      • Steele City is located in Jackson County
    • Cottondale
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Jacob City
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jacob City
      • Jacob City is located in Jackson County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 247 people
    • Graceville
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
    • Marianna
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
    • Campbellton
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Greenwood
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Cypress
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
  • Walton County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Bells Mill, with the one closest to Bells Mill listed first.
    • Knox Hill
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Knox Hill
      • Knox Hill is located in Walton County
    • Argyle
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
    • Union
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Union. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Union
      • Union is located in Walton County
  • Geneva County (AL)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Bells Mill, with the one closest to Bells Mill listed first.
    • Black
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Black have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Black
      • Black is located in Geneva County (AL)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 203 people
    • Slocomb
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Slocomb have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Slocomb
      • Slocomb is located in Geneva County (AL)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,929 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Slocomb <2>
    • Eunola ‑ Historic
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eunola
      • Eunola is located in Geneva County (AL)
  • Houston County (AL)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Bells Mill, with the one closest to Bells Mill listed first.
    • Madrid
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Madrid have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Madrid
      • Madrid is located in Houston County (AL)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 293 people
    • Merritts Crossroads
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Merritts Crossroads
      • Merritts Crossroads is located in Houston County (AL)

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

Cemeteries Near Bells Mill ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Bells Mill.

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.

If you need information about a burial or interment, photos, transcripts, how to contact the cemetery or local authorities, please visit our selection of Genealogy Websites (see below).

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

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

  • Wood Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Wood Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Wood Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Everett Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Everett Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Everett Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Lay Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Lay Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Lay Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Barfield Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Barfield Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Barfield Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Scarlett Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Scarlett Cemetery
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for the Scarlett Cemetery. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2293088 <5>
  • Potter Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Potter Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Potter Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • White Oak Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the White Oak Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the White Oak Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Limestone Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Limestone Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Limestone Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Tiller Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Tiller Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Tiller Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Kent Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Kent Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Kent Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Rock Hill Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Rock Hill Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Rock Hill Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located 5 miles [8 km]<6> to the west of Chipley.
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2243193 <5>
  • Deadening Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Deadening Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Deadening Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (103 more) ...
    • Greenhead Cemetery
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Greenhead Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Greenhead Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Weeks Cemetery
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Weeks Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Weeks Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Sandy Mtn. Cemetery
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)

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.<7>

While we didn't find Bells Mill in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Bells Mill.

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

  • Chipley
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
  • Bonifay
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
  • Cottondale
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
  • Caryville
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
  • Millers Ferry
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Millers Ferry. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Millers Ferry
    • Millers Ferry is located in Washington County
  • Westville
    (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
  • Graceville
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
  • Cerrogordo
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Cerrogordo. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cerrogordo
    • Cerrogordo is located in Holmes County
  • Redbay
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Redbay have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Redbay
    • Redbay is located in Walton County
  • Marianna
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
  • Campbellton
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
  • Ponce de Leon
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
  • Continue List   (12 more) ...
    • Knox Hill
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Knox Hill
      • Knox Hill is located in Walton County
    • Izagora
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Izagora. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Izagora
      • Izagora is located in Holmes County
    • Warwick ‑ Historic
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Warwick have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Warwick
      • Warwick is located in Geneva County (AL)

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

Newspapers Published in Bells Mill ...

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 30 newspapers that have been published in the area around Bells Mill.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Bells Mill, there are papers which were published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<6>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Bells Mill.

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 Bells Mill:

Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Bells Mill. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.

The official website for Washington County: www.washingtonfl.com/

The official website for State of Florida: https://www.myflorida.com/

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>An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace.
<4>The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required.
<5>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.
<6>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Bells Mill) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Bells Mill. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 30.6621, Longitude: -85.5747       In this case, the coordinates for Bells Mill have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<7>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 Bells Mill, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 28 Mar 2025