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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 McPherson (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 McPherson. 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.

McPherson is located in Baker 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 Baker County: Bradford, Clay, Columbia, Duval, Nassau, Union, Charlton (GA), Clinch (GA) & Ware (GA).

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

  • Baker County     (The home county of McPherson)
    • The following are listed by their distance from McPherson, with the one closest to McPherson listed first.
    • MacClenny
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Glen Saint Mary
      (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Sanderson
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Taylor
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
      • Taylor is located in Baker County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Taylor
    • Olustee
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
  • Bradford County
    • The following are listed by their distance from McPherson, with the one closest to McPherson listed first.
    • Lawtey
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
    • Starke
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
    • Hampton
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
    • Graham
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
    • Brooker
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Clay County
    • The following are listed by their distance from McPherson, with the one closest to McPherson listed first.
    • Middleburg
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Kingsley Lake
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
      • Kingsley Lake is located in Clay County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kingsley Lake
    • Kingsley Village
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
      • Kingsley Village is located in Clay County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kingsley Village
    • Kingsley
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
      • Kingsley is located in Clay County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kingsley
    • Bellair - Meadowbrook Terrace
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
    • Asbury Lake
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Asbury Lake is located in Clay County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Asbury Lake
    • Doctors Inlet
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Lakeside
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Lakeside is located in Clay County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lakeside
    • Orange Park
      (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
    • Penney Farms
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Green Cove Springs
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Columbia County
    • The following are listed by their distance from McPherson, with the one closest to McPherson listed first.
    • Lulu
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
    • McColskey
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
      • McColskey is located in Columbia County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for McColskey
  • Duval County
    • The following are listed by their distance from McPherson, with the one closest to McPherson listed first.
    • Maxville
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
      • Maxville is located in Duval County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maxville
    • Baldwin
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Jacksonville Heights
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
      • Jacksonville Heights is located in Duval County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jacksonville Heights
    • Normandy Village
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
    • Magnolia Gardens
      (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
      • Magnolia Gardens is located in Duval County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Magnolia Gardens
    • Brooklyn
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
      • Brooklyn is located in Duval County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brooklyn
    • Jacksonville
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
    • San Marco
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
      • San Marco is located in Duval County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for San Marco
    • Biscayne Village
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Biscayne Village is located in Duval County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Biscayne Village
    • Mandarin
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
      • Mandarin is located in Duval County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mandarin
    • Saint Nicholas
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
      • Saint Nicholas is located in Duval County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saint Nicholas
    • Garden City
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Garden City is located in Duval County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Garden City
    • Bowden
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
      • Bowden is located in Duval County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bowden
  • Nassau County
    • The following are listed by their distance from McPherson, with the one closest to McPherson listed first.
    • Bryceville
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Crawford
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Crawford is located in Nassau County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crawford
    • Callahan
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Nassau Village
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Nassau Village is located in Nassau County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nassau Village
    • Dyal
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Dyal is located in Nassau County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dyal
  • Saint Johns County
    • The following are listed by their distance from McPherson, with the one closest to McPherson listed first.
    • Fruit Cove
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
    • Saint Johns
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
  • Union County
    • The following are listed by their distance from McPherson, with the one closest to McPherson listed first.
    • Raiford
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Lake Butler
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Worthington Springs
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Charlton County (GA)

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

Cemeteries Near McPherson ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of McPherson.

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

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

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

  • Woodlawn Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
  • Mantown Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
  • Macedonia Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Macedonia Cemetery
    • The Macedonia Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Macedonia Independent Methodist Church Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #187891 <2>
  • Long Branch Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
  • Deese Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
  • Manning Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
  • South Prong Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
  • Whitker Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
  • Motes Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
  • Turner Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
  • Sanderson Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
  • Cedar Creek Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
  • Continue List   (106 more) ...
    • Lawtey Cemetery
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
    • Sellers Cemetery
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Prison Cemetery
      (14 miles [22.5 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.<3>

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

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

  • MacClenny
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
  • Maxville
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Maxville is located in Duval County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maxville
  • Glen Saint Mary
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
  • Baldwin
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Highland
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Highland is located in Clay County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Highland
  • Sanderson
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
  • Bryceville
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Lawtey
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
  • Middleburg
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
  • Sweetwater
    (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
    • Sweetwater is located in Duval County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sweetwater
  • Marietta
    (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
    • Marietta is located in Duval County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marietta
  • Kingsley
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
    • Kingsley is located in Clay County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kingsley
  • Continue List   (18 more) ...
    • Lakeside
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Lakeside is located in Clay County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lakeside
    • Lake Butler
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Starke
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)

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

Newspapers Published in McPherson ...

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 20 newspapers that have been published in the area around McPherson.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of McPherson, there are papers which were published within 23 miles [37 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for McPherson.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we first visit 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 McPherson:

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 McPherson, 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' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- McPherson) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.