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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 Griffin (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 Griffin. 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 Griffin ...

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.

In past government published Postal Guides, Griffin was referred to as Griffin Courthouse.

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

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.

For more information about how community names might have been affected by the Board of Geographic Names (BGN), see our page about Placename Rules.

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.

Griffin is located in Spalding 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 Spalding County: Butts, Clayton, Coweta, Fayette, Henry, Lamar, Meriwether & Pike.

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

  • Spalding County     (The home county of Griffin)
  • Butts County
  • Clayton County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Griffin, with the one closest to Griffin listed first.
    • Lovejoy
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
    • Bonanza
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
      • Bonanza is located in Clayton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bonanza
    • Irondale
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
      • Irondale is located in Clayton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Irondale
    • Jonesboro
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
    • Clayton Ridge
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Clayton Ridge is located in Clayton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clayton Ridge
      • Estimated population in 2019: 2,193 people
    • Fox Run
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
    • Riverdale Acres
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Riverdale Acres is located in Clayton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Riverdale Acres
      • Estimated population in 2019: 15,594 people
    • Dartmouth Estates
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
      • Dartmouth Estates is located in Clayton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dartmouth Estates
      • Estimated population in 2019: 1,015 people
    • Wilkshire Estates
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
      • Wilkshire Estates is located in Clayton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wilkshire Estates
      • Estimated population in 2019: 1,354 people
    • Morrow
      (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
    • Rex
      (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
    • Shangri-La on the Lake
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
      • Shangri-La on the Lake is located in Clayton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shangri-La on the Lake
      • Population from the 2010 Census: 1,862 people
    • Oak Village
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
      • Oak Village is located in Clayton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oak Village
  • Coweta County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Griffin, with the one closest to Griffin listed first.
    • Haralson
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
    • Senoia
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
    • Jade Lake Village
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
      • Jade Lake Village is located in Coweta County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jade Lake Village
    • Turin
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
    • Sharpsburg
      (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
    • Bexton
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
      • Bexton is located in Coweta County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bexton
    • Smith City
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
      • Smith City is located in Coweta County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Smith City
    • Moreland
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
    • East Newnan
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
      • East Newnan is located in Coweta County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Newnan
  • DeKalb County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Griffin, with the one closest to Griffin listed first.
    • East Glen
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
      • East Glen is located in DeKalb County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Glen
      • Population from the 2010 Census: 1,451 people
    • Klondike
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
    • Pine Mountain
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
      • Pine Mountain is located in DeKalb County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine Mountain
      • Estimated population in 2019: 1,417 people
    • Pinehurst
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
      • Pinehurst is located in DeKalb County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pinehurst
      • Estimated population in 2019: 355 people
  • Fayette County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Griffin, with the one closest to Griffin listed first.
    • Woolsey Woods
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Woolsey
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Woolsey is located in Fayette County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woolsey
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 167 people
    • Brooks
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Inman
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Keyland Woods
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Keyland Woods is located in Fayette County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Keyland Woods
      • Estimated population in 2019: 332 people
    • Harp
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
    • McIntosh Village
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
      • McIntosh Village is located in Fayette County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for McIntosh Village
    • Fayetteville
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Foreston Place
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Foreston Place is located in Fayette County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Foreston Place
      • Estimated population in 2019: 20,020 people
    • Blakely Woods
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
      • Blakely Woods is located in Fayette County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blakely Woods
      • Estimated population in 2019: 4,571 people
    • Hamptons Corner
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
      • Hamptons Corner is located in Fayette County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hamptons Corner
      • Estimated population in 2019: 8,073 people
    • Winterthur Woods
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Fayette Villa Estates
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Fayette Villa Estates is located in Fayette County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fayette Villa Estates
      • Estimated population in 2019: 17,991 people
  • Fulton County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Griffin, with the one closest to Griffin listed first.
    • Fife
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Rebecca Lake Estates
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Rebecca Lake Estates is located in Fulton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rebecca Lake Estates
      • Estimated population in 2019: 165 people
    • Biscayne Club
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Biscayne Club is located in Fulton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Biscayne Club
      • Estimated population in 2019: 274 people
    • Blair Village
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
      • Blair Village is located in Fulton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blair Village
    • Doral Park
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
      • Doral Park is located in Fulton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Doral Park
      • Estimated population in 2019: 10,265 people
    • Plunket Town
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
      • Plunket Town is located in Fulton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plunket Town
    • Fairburn
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Hapeville
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
    • Palmetto
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Red Oak
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Union City
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
    • College Park
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
    • Carlton Woods
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Carlton Woods is located in Fulton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carlton Woods
      • Estimated population in 2019: 260 people
  • Henry County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Griffin, with the one closest to Griffin listed first.
    • Hampton
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Locust Grove
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Blacksville
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Blacksville is located in Henry County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blacksville
    • McDonough
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Oakwood Manor
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
      • Oakwood Manor is located in Henry County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oakwood Manor
      • Estimated population in 2019: 4,156 people
    • Tunis ‑ Historic
      (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
      • Tunis is located in Henry County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tunis
      • Estimated population in 2019: 910 people
    • Highland Village
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
      • Highland Village is located in Henry County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Highland Village
    • Stockbridge
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
    • Stockbridge North
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
      • Stockbridge North is located in Henry County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stockbridge North
      • Estimated population in 2019: 29,904 people
    • Whitehouse
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
      • Whitehouse is located in Henry County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Whitehouse
      • Population from the 2010 Census: 6,792 people
  • Lamar County
  • Meriwether County
  • Monroe County
  • Newton County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Griffin, with the one closest to Griffin listed first.
    • Salem Branch
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Salem Branch is located in Newton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Salem Branch
      • Population from the 2010 Census: 310 people
    • Salem Village
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Salem Village is located in Newton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Salem Village
  • Pike County
  • Upson County

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

Cemeteries Near Griffin ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Griffin.

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

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Griffin, with the one closest to Griffin 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.<4>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Griffin had a population of 4,503 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Griffin had a population of 22,665 people.

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

  • Experiment
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
  • Rover
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Rover is located in Spalding County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rover
  • Pomona
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Pomona is located in Spalding County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pomona
  • Sunny Side
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
  • Zetella
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Zetella is located in Spalding County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Zetella
  • Williamson
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Vaughn
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Vaughn is located in Spalding County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vaughn
  • Luella
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Luella is located in Henry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Luella
  • Lowry
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Lowry is located in Fayette County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lowry
  • Beeks ‑ Historic
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Beeks is located in Pike County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beeks
  • Hampton
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
  • Zebulon
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...
    • Weaver ‑ Historic
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
      • Weaver is located in Pike County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Weaver
    • Jolly
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Jolly is located in Pike County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jolly
    • Towaliga ‑ Historic
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
      • Towaliga is located in Butts County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Towaliga

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Griffin ...

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 76 newspapers that have been published in the area around Griffin.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Griffin. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Griffin and those printed in the larger area surrounding Griffin.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 17 miles [27.4 km]<3> of Griffin.

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 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 Griffin:

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