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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 Chipley (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 Chipley. 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 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.

Chipley is located in Washington County and is the County Seat.

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 Chipley. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Chipley:

  • Washington County     (The home county of Chipley)
  • Bay County
  • Calhoun County
  • Holmes County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Chipley, with the one closest to Chipley listed first.
    • Bonifay
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Noma
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
    • Esto
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Esto have been provided by the GNIS.<2> 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
    • Westville
      (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
    • Izagora
      (19 miles [30.6 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
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Izagora
      • From Chipley to Izagora
    • Cerrogordo
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
      • 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
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Cerrogordo
      • From Chipley to Cerrogordo
    • Ponce de Leon
      (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
  • Jackson County
  • Walton County
  • Geneva County (AL)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Chipley, with the one closest to Chipley listed first.
    • Black
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Black have been provided by the GNIS.<2> 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
      (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Slocomb have been provided by the GNIS.<2> 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 <1>
    • Dundee
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
    • Hartford
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Malvern
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Malvern have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Malvern
      • Malvern is located in Geneva County (AL)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,462 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Malvern <1>
    • Eunola ‑ Historic
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Geneva
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Geneva have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Geneva
      • Geneva is located in Geneva County (AL)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 4,262 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Geneva <1>
    • Costilla ‑ Historic
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Costilla have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Costilla
      • Costilla is located in Geneva County (AL)
  • Houston County (AL)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Chipley, with the one closest to Chipley listed first.
    • Madrid
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Madrid have been provided by the GNIS.<2> 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
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
    • Cottonwood
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
    • Rehobeth
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rehobeth have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rehobeth
      • Rehobeth is located in Houston County (AL)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,699 people
    • Keyton's
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Keyton's. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Keyton's
      • Keyton's is located in Houston County (AL)
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Keyton's
      • From Chipley to Keyton's
    • Taylor
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Taylor have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Taylor
      • Taylor is located in Houston County (AL)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,440 people
    • Parker Village
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Parker Village have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Parker Village
      • Parker Village is located in Houston County (AL)
    • Parish
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Parish have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Parish
      • Parish is located in Houston County (AL)
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Parish <1>

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

Cemeteries Near Chipley ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Chipley.

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 Chipley covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Chipley, with the one closest to Chipley 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.<6>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Chipley had a population of 354 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Chipley had a population of 3,685 people.

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

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Chipley ...

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 Chipley.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Chipley. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Chipley and those printed in the larger area surrounding Chipley.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 28 miles [45.1 km]<4> of Chipley.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we like to start with the websites from Cyndi's List, FamilySearch and Genealogy Trails. These 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 Chipley:

The official website for Chipley: www.cityofchipley.com/

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

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

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 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.
<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>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 drawn from Point A (ie- Chipley) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Chipley. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 30.7796, Longitude: -85.5384    
<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>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 Chipley, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 28 Mar 2025