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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 Chaires (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 Chaires. 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 northeast 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 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.

Chaires is located in Leon 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 Leon County: Gadsden, Jefferson, Liberty, Wakulla, Grady (GA) & Thomas (GA).

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

  • Leon County     (The home county of Chaires)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Chaires, with the one closest to Chaires listed first.
    • Capitola
      (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
      • Capitola is located in Leon County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Capitola
    • Tallahassee
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Bradfordville
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Bradfordville is located in Leon County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bradfordville
    • Miccosukee
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
    • Woodville
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Iamonia
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
      • Iamonia is located in Leon County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Iamonia
    • Ocklockonee ‑ Historic
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
      • Ocklockonee is located in Leon County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ocklockonee
  • Gadsden County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Chaires, with the one closest to Chaires listed first.
    • Midway
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
    • Havana
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Quincy
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
  • Jefferson County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Chaires, with the one closest to Chaires listed first.
    • Lloyd
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Waukeenah
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Wacissa
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Thomas City
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Thomas City is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Thomas City
    • Monticello
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Lamont
      (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
    • Aucilla
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
      • Aucilla is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Aucilla
  • Madison County
    • Greenville
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
  • Taylor County
  • Wakulla County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Chaires, with the one closest to Chaires listed first.
    • Wakulla Springs
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Saint Marks
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
    • Crawfordville
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
  • Decatur County (GA)
    • Attapulgus
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Grady County (GA)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Chaires, with the one closest to Chaires listed first.
    • Good Hope ‑ Historic
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
      • Good Hope is located in Grady County (GA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Good Hope
      • Estimated population in 2019: 300 people
    • Calvary
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Reno
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Reno is located in Grady County (GA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Reno
      • Estimated population in 2019: 285 people
    • Midway
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
      • Midway is located in Grady County (GA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Midway
  • Thomas County (GA)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Chaires, with the one closest to Chaires listed first.
    • Dewey City
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
      • Dewey City is located in Thomas County (GA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dewey City
    • Thomasville
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
    • Newark
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Newark is located in Thomas County (GA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Newark
      • Estimated population in 2019: 783 people

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

Cemeteries Near Chaires ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Chaires.

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

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

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

  • Skipper Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
  • Chaires Family Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
  • Jones Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
  • Barrow Hill Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
  • Lott Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
  • Greater Elizabeth Missionary Baptist Church Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
  • Munree Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Munree Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Munree Cemetery is located 5 miles [8 km]<3> to the northeast of Tallahassee.
    • The Munree Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Fleischmann Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2395019 <2>
  • Broomsage Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Willie Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Soda Field Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
  • Godwin Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
  • St. Philips Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
  • Continue List   (193 more) ...
    • Wiliams Cemetery
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Rhodes Cemetery
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Runner Cemetery
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)

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>

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

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

  • Lloyd
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Wacissa
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
  • Waukeenah
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
  • Tallahassee
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
  • Bradfordville
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Bradfordville is located in Leon County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bradfordville
  • Woodville
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Miccosukee
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
  • Wakulla
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Wakulla is located in Wakulla County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wakulla
  • Newport
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
    • Newport is located in Wakulla County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Newport
  • Monticello
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Iamonia
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
    • Iamonia is located in Leon County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Iamonia
  • Lamont
    (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
  • Continue List   (15 more) ...
    • Saint Marks
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
    • Metcalf
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
      • Metcalf is located in Thomas County (GA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Metcalf
    • Ocklockonee ‑ Historic
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
      • Ocklockonee is located in Leon County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ocklockonee

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

Newspapers Published in Chaires ...

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 72 newspapers that have been published in the area around Chaires.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Chaires, there are papers which were published within 22 miles [35.4 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Chaires.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we begin with 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 Chaires:

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