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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 Columbus (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 Columbus. 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 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 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.

Columbus is located in Muscogee County and is the County Seat.

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 Muscogee County: Lee (AL), Russell (AL), Chattahoochee, Harris & Talbot.

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

  • Muscogee County     (The home county of Columbus)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Columbus, with the one closest to Columbus listed first.
    • Bibb City
      (Less than 2 miles to the north)
      • Bibb City is also located in Muscogee County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bibb City
    • City Village
      (Less than 2 miles to the north)
      • City Village is also located in Muscogee County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for City Village
    • Wynnton
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Hilton Heights
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Hilton Heights is also located in Muscogee County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hilton Heights
      • Estimated population in 2018: 324 people
    • Maridale Estates
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
      • Maridale Estates is also located in Muscogee County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maridale Estates
      • Estimated population in 2019: 60,867 people
    • Saint Marys Hills
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Saint Marys Hills is also located in Muscogee County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saint Marys Hills
      • Estimated population in 2019: 18,567 people
    • East Edgewood
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
      • East Edgewood is also located in Muscogee County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Edgewood
      • Estimated population in 2019: 569 people
    • Sunset Terrace
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
      • Sunset Terrace is also located in Muscogee County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunset Terrace
      • Population from the 2010 Census: 846 people
    • Glenns
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Glenns is also located in Muscogee County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glenns
      • Estimated population in 2019: 5,020 people
    • Lincoln Hills
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Lincoln Hills is also located in Muscogee County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lincoln Hills
      • Population from the 2010 Census: 833 people
    • Baker Village
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Baker Village is also located in Muscogee County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Baker Village
    • Cusseta Heights
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Cusseta Heights is also located in Muscogee County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cusseta Heights
      • Estimated population in 2018: 10,684 people
  • Chattahoochee County
  • Harris County
  • Marion County
  • Stewart County
  • Talbot County
  • Troup County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Columbus, with the one closest to Columbus listed first.
    • Pioneer Village
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
      • Pioneer Village is located in Troup County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pioneer Village
    • West Point
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
  • Chambers County (AL)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Columbus, with the one closest to Columbus listed first.
    • Osanippa
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
    • River View
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
    • Valley
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Valley is located in Chambers County (AL)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Valley
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 9,077 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Valley <1>
    • Eady City
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Eady City is located in Chambers County (AL)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eady City
    • Cusseta
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Huguley
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Huguley is located in Chambers County (AL)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Huguley
    • Plant City
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Plant City is located in Chambers County (AL)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plant City
    • Lanett
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Lee County (AL)
  • Macon County (AL)
  • Russell County (AL)

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

Cemeteries Near Columbus ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Columbus.

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

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Columbus, with the one closest to Columbus 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>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Columbus had a population of 17,303 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Columbus had a population of 196,442 people.

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

  • Girard
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Girard is located in Russell County (AL)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Girard
  • Muscogee
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Muscogee is also located in Muscogee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Muscogee
  • Esquiline ‑ Historic
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Esquiline is also located in Muscogee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Esquiline
  • Ladonia
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
  • Schatulga
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Schatulga is also located in Muscogee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Schatulga
  • Flat Rock
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Flat Rock is also located in Muscogee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flat Rock
  • Smith's Station
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
  • Fort Mitchell
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
  • Ochillee
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Ochillee is located in Chattahoochee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ochillee
    • Estimated population in 2019: 680 people
  • Fortson
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
  • Midland
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Crawford
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
  • Continue List   (16 more) ...
    • Acton ‑ Historic
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
      • Acton is located in Harris County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Acton
    • Oswichee
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
    • Cottage Mills ‑ Historic
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
      • Cottage Mills is located in Chattahoochee County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cottage Mills

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Columbus ...

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 78 newspapers that have been published in the area around Columbus.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Columbus. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Columbus and those printed in the larger area surrounding Columbus.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 2 miles [3.2 km]<4> of Columbus.

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 either 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 Columbus:

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