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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 McCaln (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 McCaln. 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 northwest corner of their home county. During their lives, most hospitals were in the next county to the west. 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 west 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.

McCaln is located in Leon 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 Leon County: Gadsden, Jefferson, Liberty, Wakulla, Grady (GA) & Thomas (GA).

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

  • Leon County     (The home county of McCaln)
    • The following are listed by their distance from McCaln, with the one closest to McCaln listed first.
    • Tallahassee
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Bradfordville
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
      • Bradfordville is located in Leon County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bradfordville
    • Woodville
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Ocklockonee ‑ Historic
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
      • Ocklockonee is located in Leon County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ocklockonee
    • Capitola
      (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
      • Capitola is located in Leon County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Capitola
    • Iamonia
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Iamonia is located in Leon County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Iamonia
    • Miccosukee
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
  • Gadsden County
    • The following are listed by their distance from McCaln, with the one closest to McCaln listed first.
    • Midway
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Havana
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
    • Quincy
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Douglas City
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Douglas City is located in Gadsden County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Douglas City
    • Gretna
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Greensboro
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
    • Mount Pleasant
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Sycamore
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
      • Sycamore is located in Gadsden County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sycamore
    • River Junction
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
      • River Junction is located in Gadsden County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for River Junction
  • Jefferson County
    • The following are listed by their distance from McCaln, with the one closest to McCaln listed first.
    • Lloyd
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
    • Wacissa
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
    • Thomas City
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
      • Thomas City is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Thomas City
    • Waukeenah
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
  • Liberty County
    • The following are listed by their distance from McCaln, with the one closest to McCaln listed first.
    • Hosford
      (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
    • Telogia
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
  • Wakulla County
    • The following are listed by their distance from McCaln, with the one closest to McCaln listed first.
    • Wakulla Springs
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
    • Crawfordville
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
    • Saint Marks
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
    • Sopchoppy
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
    • Panacea
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
  • Decatur County (GA)
    • The following are listed by their distance from McCaln, with the one closest to McCaln listed first.
    • Attapulgus
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
    • Fowlstown
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
    • Faceville
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Faceville is located in Decatur County (GA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Faceville
    • Climax
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
      • Climax is located in Decatur County (GA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Climax
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 262 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Climax <1>
    • Recovery
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Recovery is located in Decatur County (GA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Recovery
      • Population from the 2010 Census: 33,015 people
  • Grady County (GA)
    • The following are listed by their distance from McCaln, with the one closest to McCaln listed first.
    • Calvary
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
    • Reno
      (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
      • Reno is located in Grady County (GA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Reno
      • Estimated population in 2019: 285 people
    • Good Hope ‑ Historic
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
      • Good Hope is located in Grady County (GA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Good Hope
      • Estimated population in 2019: 300 people
    • Midway
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Midway is located in Grady County (GA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Midway
    • Whigham
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)

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

Cemeteries Near McCaln ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of McCaln.

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

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from McCaln, with the one closest to McCaln 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.<3>

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

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

  • Midway
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
  • Holland
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Holland is located in Leon County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holland
  • Tallahassee
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
  • Scotland
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Scotland is located in Gadsden County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Scotland
  • Woodville
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
  • Bradfordville
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Bradfordville is located in Leon County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bradfordville
  • Wetumpka
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
    • Wetumpka is located in Gadsden County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wetumpka
  • Bloxham
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
    • Bloxham is located in Leon County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bloxham
  • Concord
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
    • Concord is located in Gadsden County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Concord
  • Quincy
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Ocklockonee ‑ Historic
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
    • Ocklockonee is located in Leon County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ocklockonee
  • Crawfordville
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
  • Continue List   (13 more) ...
    • Wakulla
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Wakulla is located in Wakulla County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wakulla
    • Chaires
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
      • Chaires is located in Leon County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chaires
    • Iamonia
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Iamonia is located in Leon County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Iamonia

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

Newspapers Published in McCaln ...

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 82 newspapers that have been published in the area around McCaln.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of McCaln, there are papers which were published within 21 miles [33.8 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for McCaln.

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 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 McCaln:

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>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 McCaln, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or 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- McCaln) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.