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The Commemorative Quarter for Georgia





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 Americus (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 Americus. 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.

Americus is located in Sumter County and is the County Seat.

To see how the shape of Georgia's counties have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Sumter County: Crisp, Dooly, Lee, Macon, Marion, Schley, Terrell & Webster.

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

  • Sumter County     (The home county of Americus)
  • Crisp County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Americus, with the one closest to Americus listed first.
    • Milldale ‑ Historic
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Milldale have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Milldale
      • Milldale is located in Crisp County
      • Estimated population in 2019: 18,704 people
    • Cordele
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
    • Lamb Town
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lamb Town have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lamb Town
      • Lamb Town is located in Crisp County
  • Dooly County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Americus, with the one closest to Americus listed first.
    • Lilly
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lilly have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lilly
      • Lilly is located in Dooly County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 192 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Lilly <2>
    • Byromville
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Dooling
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Dooling have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dooling
      • Dooling is located in Dooly County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 134 people
    • Vienna
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
    • Pinehurst
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
  • Lee County
  • Macon County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Americus, with the one closest to Americus listed first.
    • Oglethorpe
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
    • Montezuma
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Ideal
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ideal have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ideal
      • Ideal is located in Macon County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 430 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Ideal <2>
  • Marion County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Americus, with the one closest to Americus listed first.
    • Putnam
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Putnam have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Putnam
      • Putnam is located in Marion County
      • Population from the 2010 Census: 2,898 people
    • Draneville
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Draneville. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Draneville
      • Draneville is located in Marion County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Draneville
      • From Americus to Draneville
    • Buena Vista
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Tazewell
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Glen Alta
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Glen Alta. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glen Alta
      • Glen Alta is located in Marion County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Glen Alta
      • From Americus to Glen Alta
  • Randolph County
    • Brooksville
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Brooksville have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brooksville
      • Brooksville is located in Randolph County
      • Estimated population in 2019: 559 people
  • Schley County
  • Stewart County
    • Richland
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Richland have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Richland
      • Richland is located in Stewart County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,655 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Richland <2>
  • Taylor County
    • Rupert
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rupert have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rupert
      • Rupert is located in Taylor County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Rupert <2>
  • Terrell County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Americus, with the one closest to Americus listed first.
    • Olivers Mill
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Olivers Mill have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Olivers Mill
      • Olivers Mill is located in Terrell County
      • Estimated population in 2019: 230 people
    • Bronwood
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
    • Parrott
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Parrott have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Parrott
      • Parrott is located in Terrell County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 136 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Parrott <2>
    • Yeomans
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Yeomans have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Yeomans
      • Yeomans is located in Terrell County
      • Population from the 2010 Census: 507 people
    • Dawson
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Sasser
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sasser have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sasser
      • Sasser is located in Terrell County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 257 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Sasser <2>
    • Herod
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Herod have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Herod
      • Herod is located in Terrell County
      • Population from the 2010 Census: 3,384 people
  • Webster County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Americus, with the one closest to Americus listed first.
    • Preston
      (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
    • Leveretts
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Leveretts. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leveretts
      • Leveretts is located in Webster County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Leveretts
      • From Americus to Leveretts
    • Weston
      (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Weston have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Weston
      • Weston is located in Webster County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Weston <2>
  • Worth County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Americus, with the one closest to Americus listed first.
    • Warwick
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Oakfield
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Oakfield have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oakfield
      • Oakfield is located in Worth County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Oakfield <2>

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

Cemeteries Near Americus ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Americus.

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.

If you need information about a burial or interment, photos, transcripts, how to contact the cemetery or local authorities, please visit our selection of Genealogy Websites (see below).

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

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

  • Oak Grove Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Oak Grove Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Oak Grove Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • East Forsyth Street Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the East Forsyth Street Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the East Forsyth Street Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • East View Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the East View Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the East View Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Sunset Memorial Gardens
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Sunset Memorial Gardens
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Sunset Memorial Gardens have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Staley Memorial Gardens
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Staley Memorial Gardens
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Staley Memorial Gardens have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Benevolence Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Benevolence Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Benevolence Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Bradley Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Bradley Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Bradley Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Daniel Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Daniel Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Daniel Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Salem Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Salem Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Salem Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Antioch Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Antioch Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Antioch Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Anthony Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Anthony Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Anthony Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Oak Grove Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Oak Grove Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Oak Grove Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (177 more) ...
    • Blackshire Cemetery
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Blackshire Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Blackshire Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Mt. Olive Cemetery
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Mt. Olive Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Mt. Olive Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Shiloh Cemetery
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Shiloh Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Shiloh Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.

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>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Americus had a population of 6,398 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Americus had a population of 14,987 people.

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

  • New Point
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for New Point have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Point
    • New Point is located in Sumter County
  • Gatewood
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Gatewood have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gatewood
    • Gatewood is located in Sumter County
  • Maddox
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Maddox have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maddox
    • Maddox is located in Sumter County
  • Huntington
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Huntington have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Huntington
    • Huntington is located in Sumter County
  • Sumter
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Sumter. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sumter
    • Sumter is located in Sumter County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Sumter
    • From Americus to Sumter
  • La Crosse
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for La Crosse. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for La Crosse
    • La Crosse is located in Schley County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to La Crosse
    • From Americus to La Crosse
  • Parkers ‑ Historic
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Parkers have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Parkers
    • Parkers is located in Sumter County
  • Lamar
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lamar have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lamar
    • Lamar is located in Sumter County
  • Andersonville
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
  • Plains
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
  • Smithville
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
  • Leslie
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Continue List   (16 more) ...

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Americus ...

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 68 newspapers that have been published in the area around Americus.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Americus. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Americus and those printed in the larger area surrounding Americus.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 26 miles [41.8 km]<5> of Americus.

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 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 Americus:

The official website for Americus: www.americus-online.com/

The official website for Sumter County: www.sumter-ga.com/

The official website for State of Georgia: https://georgia.gov/

Footnotes ...

<1>An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace.
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<3>The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required.
<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 Americus, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<5>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- Americus) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Americus. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 32.0715, Longitude: -84.2242    









 

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This page was last modified/updated: 28 Apr 2025