RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Florida >> Columbia County >> Wilburn >> Genealogy HelperIndex...

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 Wilburn (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 Wilburn. 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 doctors 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.

Wilburn is located in Columbia 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 Columbia County: Alachua, Baker, Gilchrist, Hamilton, Suwannee, Union, Clinch (GA) & Echols (GA).

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

  • Columbia County     (The home county of Wilburn)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Wilburn, with the one closest to Wilburn listed first.
    • McColskey
      (Less than 2 miles to the east)
      • McColskey is located in Columbia County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for McColskey
    • Watertown
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
      • Watertown is located in Columbia County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Watertown
    • Five Points
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Five Points is located in Columbia County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Five Points
    • Lake City
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Lulu
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Fort White
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
  • Alachua County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Wilburn, with the one closest to Wilburn listed first.
    • High Springs
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
    • La Crosse
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Alachua
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
    • Burnetts Lake
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
      • Burnetts Lake is located in Alachua County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Burnetts Lake
    • Hague
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
      • Hague is located in Alachua County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hague
  • Baker County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Wilburn, with the one closest to Wilburn listed first.
    • Olustee
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Sanderson
      (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
    • Taylor
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
      • Taylor is located in Baker County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Taylor
    • Glen Saint Mary
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
    • MacClenny
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
  • Bradford County
    • Brooker
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
  • Hamilton County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Wilburn, with the one closest to Wilburn listed first.
    • White Springs
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Marion
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Marion is located in Hamilton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marion
  • Suwannee County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Wilburn, with the one closest to Wilburn listed first.
    • Wellborn
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
    • McAlpin
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
    • Padlock
      (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
      • Padlock is located in Suwannee County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Padlock
    • O'Brien
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Rixford
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Rixford is located in Suwannee County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rixford
    • Live Oak
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
    • Branford
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
  • Union County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Wilburn, with the one closest to Wilburn listed first.
    • Lake Butler
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
    • Worthington Springs
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Raiford
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)

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

Cemeteries Near Wilburn ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Wilburn.

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

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

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

  • Truvine Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
  • Price Creek Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
  • Forest Lawn Memorial Gardens
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
  • Oak Lawn Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
  • Forest Lawn Memorial Gardens Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
  • Memorial Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
  • Hopeful Church Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
  • Ebenezer Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
  • Hope Henry Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Pleasant Grove Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Kerce Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Gillen Allen Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Continue List   (115 more) ...
    • Lulu Baptist Church Cemetery
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • East Rest Cemetery
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Jerusalem Cemetery
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)

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.<2>

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

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

  • Watertown
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Watertown is located in Columbia County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Watertown
  • Lake City
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
  • Mount Carrie
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Mount Carrie is located in Columbia County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Carrie
  • Lulu
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Olustee
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
  • Winfield
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Winfield is located in Columbia County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Winfield
  • Columbia
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Columbia is located in Columbia County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Columbia
  • Suwannee Valley
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Suwannee Valley is located in Columbia County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Suwannee Valley
  • White Springs
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Wellborn
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
  • Mikesville
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
    • Mikesville is located in Columbia County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mikesville
  • Lake Butler
    (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
  • Continue List   (13 more) ...
    • Sanderson
      (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
    • Houston
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
      • Houston is located in Suwannee County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Houston
    • Fort White
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)

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

Newspapers Published in Wilburn ...

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 32 newspapers that have been published in the area around Wilburn.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Wilburn, 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 Wilburn.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we first turn to 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 Wilburn:

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>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 Wilburn, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<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 from Point A (ie- Wilburn) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.