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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 Johnstown (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 Johnstown. 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 southeast 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 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.

Johnstown is located in Union 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 Union County: Alachua, Baker, Bradford & Columbia.

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

  • Union County     (The home county of Johnstown)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Johnstown, with the one closest to Johnstown listed first.
    • Raiford
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Lake Butler
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Worthington Springs
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Alachua County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Johnstown, with the one closest to Johnstown listed first.
    • La Crosse
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Waldo
      (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
    • Hague
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Hague is located in Alachua County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hague
    • Alachua
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Burnetts Lake
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Burnetts Lake is located in Alachua County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Burnetts Lake
    • Earleton
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
    • High Springs
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Rutledge
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
      • Rutledge is located in Alachua County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rutledge
    • Melrose
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Campville
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
      • Campville is located in Alachua County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Campville
    • Gainesville
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
    • Windsor
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
      • Windsor is located in Alachua County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Windsor
    • Jonesville
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Baker County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Johnstown, with the one closest to Johnstown listed first.
    • Sanderson
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
    • Olustee
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Glen Saint Mary
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
    • MacClenny
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
    • Taylor
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
      • Taylor is located in Baker County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Taylor
  • Bradford County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Johnstown, with the one closest to Johnstown listed first.
    • Brooker
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
    • Starke
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Lawtey
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
    • Graham
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
    • Hampton
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
  • Clay County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Johnstown, with the one closest to Johnstown listed first.
    • Kingsley Lake
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
      • Kingsley Lake is located in Clay County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kingsley Lake
    • Kingsley Village
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
      • Kingsley Village is located in Clay County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kingsley Village
    • Kingsley
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
      • Kingsley is located in Clay County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kingsley
    • Keystone Heights
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Middleburg
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
    • Lake Geneva
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Asbury Lake
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
      • Asbury Lake is located in Clay County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Asbury Lake
    • Penney Farms
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
    • Doctors Inlet
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
    • Lakeside
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
      • Lakeside is located in Clay County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lakeside
  • Columbia County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Johnstown, with the one closest to Johnstown listed first.
    • Lulu
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
    • McColskey
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
      • McColskey is located in Columbia County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for McColskey
    • Watertown
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Watertown is located in Columbia County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Watertown
    • Five Points
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
      • Five Points is located in Columbia County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Five Points
    • Lake City
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Fort White
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
  • Duval County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Johnstown, with the one closest to Johnstown listed first.
    • Maxville
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
      • Maxville is located in Duval County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maxville
    • Baldwin
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
  • Nassau County
  • Putnam County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Johnstown, with the one closest to Johnstown listed first.
    • Putnam Hall
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Grandin
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)

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

Cemeteries Near Johnstown ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Johnstown.

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

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

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

  • Little Rock Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
  • Sapp Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
  • Varnes Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
  • McKinney Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
  • Dyal Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dyal Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Dyal Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located 2 miles [3.2 km]<3> to the southeast of Raiford.
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #71915 <2>
  • Conner Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
  • Dekle Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
  • Evergreen Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
  • Prison Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
  • New River Baptist Church Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
  • Brown Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Markey Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
  • Continue List   (136 more) ...
    • Bob Lov Cemetery
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • DeSue Cemetery
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Elzey Chapel Cemetery
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)

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>

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

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

  • Lake Butler
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
  • New River
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • New River is located in Bradford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New River
  • Starke
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Lawtey
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
  • Lulu
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
  • Sanderson
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
  • Hampton
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
  • Highland
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
    • Highland is located in Clay County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Highland
  • Olustee
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
  • La Crosse
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Kingsley
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
    • Kingsley is located in Clay County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kingsley
  • Glen Saint Mary
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...
    • Mount Carrie
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Mount Carrie is located in Columbia County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Carrie
    • Waldo
      (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
    • Theressa
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
      • Theressa is located in Bradford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Theressa

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

Newspapers Published in Johnstown ...

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 67 newspapers that have been published in the area around Johnstown.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Johnstown, there are papers which were published within 27 miles [43.5 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Johnstown.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we start 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 Johnstown:

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 drawn from Point A (ie- Johnstown) 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 Johnstown, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.