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 Laird (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 Laird. 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 southwest corner of their home county. During their lives, most hospitals and doctors were in the next county to the west. 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 west 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.
Laird is located in Bay 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 Bay County: Calhoun, Gulf, Jackson, Walton & Washington.
Below are the counties that are near Laird. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Laird:
- Bay County (The home county of Laird)
- The following are listed by their distance from Laird, with the one closest to Laird listed first.
- Laguna Beach
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
- Sunnyside
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
- Panama City Beach
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
- West Panama City Beach
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
- Upper Grand Lagoon
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
- Upper Grand Lagoon is located in Bay County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Upper Grand Lagoon
- Vicksburg ‑ Historic
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
- Vicksburg is located in Bay County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vicksburg
- Former name for Vicksburg:
- Vickerburg
- Lower Grand Lagoon
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
- Lower Grand Lagoon is located in Bay County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lower Grand Lagoon
- Magnolia Beach
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
- Magnolia Beach is located in Bay County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Magnolia Beach
- Pretty Bayou
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
- Pretty Bayou is located in Bay County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pretty Bayou
- Lynn Haven
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
- Southport
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
- Panama City
(18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
- Hiland Park
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
- Hiland Park is located in Bay County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hiland Park
- Holmes County
- Ponce de Leon
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
- Walton County
- The following are listed by their distance from Laird, with the one closest to Laird listed first.
- Inlet Beach
(5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
- Alys Beach
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
- Rosemary Beach
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
- Point Washington
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
- Seagrove Beach
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
- Seaside
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
- Grayton Beach
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
- Blue Mountain Beach
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
- Freeport
(18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
- Santa Rosa Beach
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
- Portland
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
- Portland is located in Walton County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Portland
- Knox Hill
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
- Knox Hill is located in Walton County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Knox Hill
- Four Mile Village
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
- Four Mile Village is located in Walton County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Four Mile Village
- Washington County
- The following are listed by their distance from Laird, with the one closest to Laird listed first.
- Ebro
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
- Millers Ferry
(18 miles [29 km] to the north)
- Millers Ferry is located in Washington County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Millers Ferry
- Coosada Old Town ‑ Historic
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
- Coosada Old Town is located in Washington County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coosada Old Town
- Vernon
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
- Five Points
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
- Five Points is located in Washington County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Five Points
- Wausau
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Laird, see our County-by-County Page for Laird.
Cemeteries Near Laird ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Laird.
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 Laird - one of the links might be able to help.
If not found below, our Cemetery List for Laird covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Laird, with the one closest to Laird listed first.
- Ebro Cemetery
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
- Antioch Cemetery
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
- Dead River Cemetery
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
- Sand Hill Community Church Cemetery
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sand Hill Community Church Cemetery
- The Sand Hill Community Church Cemetery has also been known as:
- Kingdom Life Ministries Cemetery
- Victory Faith Tabernacle Cemetery
- Victory of Faith Fellowship Cemetery
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2267647 <2>
- Greenwood Cemetery
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
- Evergreen Memorial Gardens
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
- Bay Memorial Park
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
- Oakland Cemetery
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
- Wilcox Cemetery
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
- Lynn Haven Cemetery
(18 miles [29 km] to the east)
- Miller Cemetery
(18 miles [29 km] to the north)
- Santa Rosa Cemetery
(18 miles [29 km] to the west)
- Continue List (28 more) ...
- Redwood Cemetery
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
- Evergreen Memorial Gardens
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
- Dunn - Raley Cemetery
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
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 Laird in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Laird.
These communities are listed based on their distance from Laird, with the one closest to Laird listed first.
- Millers Ferry
(18 miles [29 km] to the north)
- Millers Ferry is located in Washington County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Millers Ferry
- Freeport
(18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
- Redbay
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
- Redbay is located in Walton County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Redbay
- Portland
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
- Portland is located in Walton County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Portland
- Knox Hill
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
- Knox Hill is located in Walton County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Knox Hill
- Eucheeanna
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
- Eucheeanna is located in Walton County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eucheeanna
- Argyle
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
- Ponce de Leon
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Laird. See our List of 1890's Communities around Laird.
Newspapers Published in Laird ...
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 24 newspapers that have been published in the area around Laird.
Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Laird, there are papers which were published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Laird.
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 Laird:
- Websites specific to Florida
- Pages specific to Bay County
- Genealogy information for nearby counties
- Holmes County
- Walton County
- Washington County
- Cemetery Information and Directories for Florida
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 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Laird) 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 Laird, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |