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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 Bowens Mill (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 Bowens Mill. 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.

Name Variations for Bowens Mill ...

When searching records, keep in mind that names and their spelling can change over time. Our sources include documents like maps, railroad schedules, Travel, Express and Shipping Guides. Many of these documents date from the 1800's and it's common to find spelling differences.

Although we can't give a definitive list, hopefully the following will give you a feel for the variations that might occur.

  • A typical abbreviation for Bowens Mill: Bowens Ml. (or less commonly used: Bowens Mll.)
  • While the name of this community is Bowens Mill, be aware that it's the common practice of mapmakers to remove the apostrophe from possessive names<1>. So Bowens Mill may originally have been Bowen's Mill.

    Sometimes the trailing 's' might be dropped altogether, in which case Bowens Mill might be written as Bown Mill.

You might be interested in other communities that are also named Bowens Mill. More information can be found on our Tidbits & Trivia Page for Bowens Mill.

If you have information about these names (such as the reason for the change, date of change, the origin of the name), please Contact Us.

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 northeast corner of their home county. During their lives, most doctors and hospitals were in the next county to the east. 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 east 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.

Bowens Mill is located in Ben Hill County.

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

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Ben Hill County: Coffee, Irwin, Telfair, Turner & Wilcox.

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

  • Ben Hill County     (The home county of Bowens Mill)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Bowens Mill, with the one closest to Bowens Mill listed first.
    • Fitzgerald
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Abba
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Abba is located in Ben Hill County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Abba
  • Berrien County
    • Enigma
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
  • Coffee County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Bowens Mill, with the one closest to Bowens Mill listed first.
    • Ambrose
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Broxton
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
  • Crisp County
    • McKenzie
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
      • McKenzie is located in Crisp County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for McKenzie
  • Dodge County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Bowens Mill, with the one closest to Bowens Mill listed first.
    • Rhine
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Chauncey
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Eastman
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
  • Irwin County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Bowens Mill, with the one closest to Bowens Mill listed first.
    • Arp
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
      • Arp is located in Irwin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Arp
    • Ocilla
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
    • Irwinville
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Mystic
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Wray
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
  • Jeff Davis County
    • Kirkland
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
      • Kirkland is located in Jeff Davis County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kirkland
  • Pulaski County
    • Finleyson
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Finleyson is located in Pulaski County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Finleyson
  • Telfair County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Bowens Mill, with the one closest to Bowens Mill listed first.
    • Jacksonville
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
    • Milan
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Helena
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
    • McRae - Helena
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
    • McRae
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
      • McRae is located in Telfair County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for McRae
    • Scotland
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
  • Tift County
  • Turner County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Bowens Mill, with the one closest to Bowens Mill listed first.
    • Rebecca
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
    • Sycamore
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Ashburn
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
  • Wilcox County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Bowens Mill, with the one closest to Bowens Mill listed first.
    • Abbeville
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Owensboro
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
      • Owensboro is located in Wilcox County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Owensboro
    • Rochelle
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Pitts
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
    • Seville
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
    • Pineview
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)

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

Cemeteries Near Bowens Mill ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Bowens Mill.

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 Bowens Mill - one of the links might be able to help.

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

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

  • Dixon Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
  • Evergreen Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
  • Tanner Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
  • Wilcox - Reid Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
  • Mt. Zion Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
  • Tomberlin Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
  • Bethlehem Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
  • Dorminy Mill Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
  • Sharon Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
  • Reid Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
  • Mims Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
  • Fairview Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
  • Continue List   (297 more) ...
    • Penn Cemetery
      (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Union Cemetery
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Vaughn Tabernacle Cemetery
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)

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 Bowens Mill in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Bowens Mill.

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

  • Temperance
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Temperance is located in Telfair County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Temperance
  • Sibbie
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Sibbie is located in Wilcox County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sibbie
  • China Hill
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • China Hill is located in Telfair County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for China Hill
  • Rhine
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
  • Copeland
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Copeland is located in Dodge County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Copeland
  • Abba
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Abba is located in Ben Hill County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Abba
  • Abbeville
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Jacksonville
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
  • Cobbville
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
    • Cobbville is located in Telfair County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cobbville
  • Milan
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
  • Irwinville
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Rochelle
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Continue List   (13 more) ...
    • Chauncey
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Godwinsville
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
      • Godwinsville is located in Dodge County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Godwinsville
    • Pitts
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)

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

Newspapers Published in Bowens Mill ...

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 Bowens Mill.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Bowens Mill, there are papers which were published within 27 miles [43.5 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Bowens Mill.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we begin 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 Bowens Mill:

Footnotes ...

<1>It's generally believed that possessive apostrophes are removed to prevent confusion on maps where the apostrophe may be confused with a cartographic symbol. While this is generally true, it's not uncommon to find possessive apostrophes in administrative names (such as towns or counties).
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 Bowens Mill, 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 drawn from Point A (ie- Bowens Mill) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.