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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 Hays Place (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 Hays Place. 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 Hays Place ...

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 Hays Place: Hays Pl. (or less commonly used: Hays Plc.)
  • While the name of this community is Hays Place, be aware that it's the common practice of mapmakers to remove the apostrophe from possessive names<1>. So Hays Place may originally have been Hay's Place.

    Sometimes the trailing 's' might be dropped altogether, in which case Hays Place might be written as Hay Place.

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 northeast corner of their home county. During their lives, most doctors and 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.

Hays Place is located in Franklin 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 Franklin County: Gulf, Liberty & Wakulla.

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

  • Franklin County     (The home county of Hays Place)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Hays Place, with the one closest to Hays Place listed first.
    • Bay City
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bay City have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bay City
      • Bay City is located in Franklin County
    • Apalachicola
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Eastpoint
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Carrabelle
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
    • Lanark Village
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
    • Saint Teresa
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
  • Bay County
    • Mexico Beach
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
  • Gulf County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Hays Place, with the one closest to Hays Place listed first.
    • White City
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for White City have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for White City
      • White City is located in Gulf County
    • Port Saint Joe
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
    • Wewahitchka
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
  • Liberty County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Hays Place, with the one closest to Hays Place listed first.
    • Sumatra
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
    • Central City
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Central City have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Central City
      • Central City is located in Liberty County
    • Lewis
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Lewis. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<4>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lewis
      • Lewis is located in Liberty County
  • Wakulla County
    • Curtis Mill
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Curtis Mill. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<4>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Curtis Mill
      • Curtis Mill is located in Wakulla County

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

Cemeteries Near Hays Place ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Hays Place.

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

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

  • Magnolia Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
  • Chestnut Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
  • Eastpoint Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
  • Porters Bar Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Porters Bar Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Porters Bar Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Brown & Smith Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Brown & Smith Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Brown & Smith Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Robertson Cemetery
    (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Robertson Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Robertson Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Forest Hill Cemetery
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
  • Roberts Cemetery
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Roberts Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Roberts Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located 4 miles [6.4 km]<6> to the north of Wewahitchka.
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #72523 <5>
  • Old Saint Joseph Cemetery
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
  • Saint Joseph Cemetery
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
  • Williamsburg Cemetery
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Williamsburg Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Williamsburg Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Nixon Garden Cemetery
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Nixon Garden Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Nixon Garden Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (7 more) ...
    • Jehu Cemetery
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Jehu Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Jehu Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Sanborn McKenzie Cemetery
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Sanborn McKenzie Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Sanborn McKenzie Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Orange Cemetery
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Orange Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Orange Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.

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

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

  • Apalachicola
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
  • Carrabelle
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
  • Wewahitchka
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
  • Lewis
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Lewis. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<4>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lewis
    • Lewis is located in Liberty County
  • Orange
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Orange have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Orange
    • Orange is located in Liberty County
  • Curtis Mill
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Curtis Mill. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<4>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Curtis Mill
    • Curtis Mill is located in Wakulla County
  • Smith Creek
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Smith Creek have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Smith Creek
    • Smith Creek is located in Wakulla County

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

Newspapers Published in Hays Place ...

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 16 newspapers that have been published in the area around Hays Place.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Hays Place, there are papers which were published within 24 miles [38.6 km]<6>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Hays Place.

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 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 Hays Place:

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

The official website for Franklin County: www.franklincountyflorida.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>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>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<4>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.
<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 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Hays Place) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Hays Place. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 29.8410, Longitude: -84.9457       In this case, the coordinates for Hays Place 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 Hays Place, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 12 Jul 2025