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A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
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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 Kern (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 Kern. 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 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.

Kern is located in Liberty 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 Liberty County: Calhoun, Franklin, Gadsden, Gulf, Leon & Wakulla.

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

  • Liberty County     (The home county of Kern)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Kern, with the one closest to Kern listed first.
    • Central City
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
      • Central City is located in Liberty County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Central City
    • Lewis
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Lewis is located in Liberty County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lewis
    • Sumatra
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Estiffanulga
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
      • Estiffanulga is located in Liberty County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Estiffanulga
    • Telogia
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
    • Bristol
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
    • Hosford
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
  • Bay County
    • Mexico Beach
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
  • Calhoun County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Kern, with the one closest to Kern listed first.
    • Marysville
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
      • Marysville is located in Calhoun County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marysville
    • Kinard
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
    • McNeal ‑ Historic
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
      • McNeal is located in Calhoun County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for McNeal
    • Blountstown
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
    • Clarksville
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Chipola
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
      • Chipola is located in Calhoun County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chipola
    • Ocheesee
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
      • Ocheesee is located in Calhoun County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ocheesee
  • Franklin County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Kern, with the one closest to Kern listed first.
    • Bay City
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
      • Bay City is located in Franklin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bay City
    • Carrabelle
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Apalachicola
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
    • Eastpoint
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
    • Lanark Village
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Gulf County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Kern, with the one closest to Kern listed first.
    • Wewahitchka
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
    • Wetappo
      (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
      • Wetappo is located in Gulf County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wetappo
    • White City
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
      • White City is located in Gulf County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for White City
    • Port Saint Joe
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
  • Wakulla County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Kern, with the one closest to Kern listed first.
    • Curtis Mill
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
      • Curtis Mill is located in Wakulla County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Curtis Mill
    • Sopchoppy
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)

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

Cemeteries Near Kern ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Kern.

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

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

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

  • Nixon Garden Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Orange Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
  • Humility Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
  • Roberts Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Robertson Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Brown & Smith Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
  • Jehu Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
  • Williamsburg Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
  • Woods Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
  • St. Marys Cemetery
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
  • Kemp Cemetery
    (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
  • Wetappo Cemetery
    (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
  • Continue List   (40 more) ...
    • Evans Cemetery
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Old Burnoff Cemetery
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
    • McNair Cemetery
      (20 miles [32.2 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>

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

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

  • Orange
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Orange is located in Liberty County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Orange
  • Lewis
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Lewis is located in Liberty County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lewis
  • Estiffanulga
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
    • Estiffanulga is located in Liberty County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Estiffanulga
  • Wewahitchka
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
  • Marysville
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Marysville is located in Calhoun County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marysville
  • Abe Springs
    (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
    • Abe Springs is located in Calhoun County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Abe Springs
  • Smith Creek
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
    • Smith Creek is located in Wakulla County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Smith Creek
  • Bristol
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
  • Blountstown
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
  • Carrabelle
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
  • Chipola
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
    • Chipola is located in Calhoun County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chipola
  • Apalachicola
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
  • Continue List   (4 more) ...
    • Bloxham
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Bloxham is located in Leon County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bloxham
    • Curtis Mill
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
      • Curtis Mill is located in Wakulla County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Curtis Mill
    • Rock Bluff
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
      • Rock Bluff is located in Liberty County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rock Bluff

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

Newspapers Published in Kern ...

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 26 newspapers that have been published in the area around Kern.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Kern, there are papers which were published within 28 miles [45.1 km]<2>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Kern.

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 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 Kern:

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>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Kern) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>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.
<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 Kern, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.