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 Harpers Ferry (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 Harpers Ferry. 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 Harpers Ferry ...
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 Harpers Ferry: Harpers Fry. (or less commonly used: Harpers Frry.)
- While the name of this community is Harpers Ferry, be aware that it's the common practice of mapmakers to remove the apostrophe from possessive names<1>. So Harpers Ferry may originally have been Harper's Ferry.
Sometimes the trailing 's' might be dropped altogether, in which case Harpers Ferry might be written as Harper Ferry.
You might be interested in other communities that are also named Harpers Ferry. More information can be found on our Tidbits & Trivia Page for Harpers Ferry.
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 northwest corner of their home county. During their lives, most hospitals and 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.
Harpers Ferry is located in Elbert 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 Elbert County: Hart, Lincoln, Madison, Oglethorpe, Wilkes, Abbeville (SC), Anderson (SC) & McCormick (SC).
Below are the counties that are near Harpers Ferry. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Harpers Ferry:
- Elbert County (The home county of Harpers Ferry)
- The following are listed by their distance from Harpers Ferry, with the one closest to Harpers Ferry listed first.
- Bowman Ferry
(Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
- Bowman Ferry is located in Elbert County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bowman Ferry
- Estimated population in 2019: 808 people
- Edinburg ‑ Historic
(Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
- Edinburg is located in Elbert County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Edinburg
- Estimated population in 2019: 1,396 people
- Harmony
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
- Harmony is located in Elbert County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harmony
- Silk Mills
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
- Silk Mills is located in Elbert County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Silk Mills
- Estimated population in 2019: 277 people
- Elberton
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
- Centerville
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
- Centerville is located in Elbert County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Centerville
- Goss
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
- Goss is located in Elbert County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Goss
- Dewy Rose
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
- Harper
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
- Harper is located in Elbert County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harper
- Bowman
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
- Franklin County
- The following are listed by their distance from Harpers Ferry, with the one closest to Harpers Ferry listed first.
- Royston
(23 miles [37 km] to the west)
- Canon
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
- Franklin Springs
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
- Lavonia
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
- Hart County
- The following are listed by their distance from Harpers Ferry, with the one closest to Harpers Ferry listed first.
- Dooleys Ferry
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
- Dooleys Ferry is located in Hart County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dooleys Ferry
- Estimated population in 2019: 136 people
- Hartwell
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
- Cooleys Ferry
(18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
- Cooleys Ferry is located in Hart County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cooleys Ferry
- Estimated population in 2019: 529 people
- Flat Shoals
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
- Flat Shoals is located in Hart County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flat Shoals
- Crawfords Ferry
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
- Crawfords Ferry is located in Hart County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crawfords Ferry
- Estimated population in 2019: 473 people
- Reed Creek
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
- Reed Creek is located in Hart County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Reed Creek
- Maretts
(23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
- Maretts is located in Hart County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maretts
- Bowersville
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
- Lincoln County
- The following are listed by their distance from Harpers Ferry, with the one closest to Harpers Ferry listed first.
- Lisbon ‑ Historic
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
- Lisbon is located in Lincoln County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lisbon
- Hesters Ferry
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
- Hesters Ferry is located in Lincoln County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hesters Ferry
- Estimated population in 2019: 911 people
- Midway
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
- Midway is located in Lincoln County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Midway
- Goshen
(23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
- Goshen is located in Lincoln County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Goshen
- Lincolnton
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
- Madison County
- The following are listed by their distance from Harpers Ferry, with the one closest to Harpers Ferry listed first.
- Carlton
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
- Harrison
(23 miles [37 km] to the west)
- Harrison is located in Madison County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harrison
- Estimated population in 2019: 442 people
- Comer
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
- Dalton
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
- Dalton is located in Madison County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dalton
- Estimated population in 2019: 33,665 people
- Madison Springs
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
- Madison Springs is located in Madison County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Madison Springs
- Estimated population in 2019: 4,210 people
- Former name for Madison Springs:
- Alexanderville
- Danielsville
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
- Colbert
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
- Shiloh
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
- Shiloh is located in Madison County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shiloh
- Oglethorpe County
- The following are listed by their distance from Harpers Ferry, with the one closest to Harpers Ferry listed first.
- Palmetto
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
- Palmetto is located in Oglethorpe County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Palmetto
- Veribest
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
- Veribest is located in Oglethorpe County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Veribest
- Estimated population in 2019: 124 people
- Lexington
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
- Wilkes County
- The following are listed by their distance from Harpers Ferry, with the one closest to Harpers Ferry listed first.
- Tignall
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
- New Town
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
- New Town is located in Wilkes County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Town
- Rayle
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
- Centerville
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
- Centerville is located in Wilkes County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Centerville
- Washington
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
- Abbeville County (SC)
- The following are listed by their distance from Harpers Ferry, with the one closest to Harpers Ferry listed first.
- Lowndesville
(5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
- Latimer
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
- Latimer is located in Abbeville County (SC)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Latimer
- Calhoun Falls
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
- Monterey ‑ Historic
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
- Monterey is located in Abbeville County (SC)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Monterey
- Lake Secession
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
- Lake Secession is located in Abbeville County (SC)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Secession
- Antreville
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
- Antreville is located in Abbeville County (SC)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Antreville
- Level Land
(18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
- Level Land is located in Abbeville County (SC)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Level Land
- Abbeville
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
- Due West
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
- Cana ‑ Historic
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
- Cana is located in Abbeville County (SC)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cana
- Donalds
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
- Honea Path
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
- Anderson County (SC)
- The following are listed by their distance from Harpers Ferry, with the one closest to Harpers Ferry listed first.
- Iva
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
- Iva is located in Anderson County (SC)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Iva
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,341 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Iva <2>
- Starr
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
- Deans
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
- Deans is located in Anderson County (SC)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Deans
- Holland Store
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
- Holland Store is located in Anderson County (SC)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holland Store
- Holland Store has also been known as:
- Hollands
- Andersonville ‑ Historic
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
- Andersonville is located in Anderson County (SC)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Andersonville
- Homeland Park
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
- Homeland Park is located in Anderson County (SC)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Homeland Park
- Anderson
(23 miles [37 km] to the north)
- Caldwell Village
(23 miles [37 km] to the north)
- Caldwell Village is located in Anderson County (SC)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Caldwell Village
- Price ‑ Historic
(23 miles [37 km] to the north)
- Price is located in Anderson County (SC)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Price
- Centerville Terrace Estates
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
- Centerville
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
- Centerville is located in Anderson County (SC)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Centerville
- Anderson Village
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
- Anderson Village is located in Anderson County (SC)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Anderson Village
- Leisure Village
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
- Leisure Village is located in Anderson County (SC)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leisure Village
- Greenwood County (SC)
- The following are listed by their distance from Harpers Ferry, with the one closest to Harpers Ferry listed first.
- Promised Land
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
- Promised Land is located in Greenwood County (SC)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Promised Land
- Verdery
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
- Verdery is located in Greenwood County (SC)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Verdery
- Troy
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
- Troy is located in Greenwood County (SC)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Troy
- Population from the 2020 Census: 101 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Troy <2>
- Bradley
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
- Hodges
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
- Cokesbury
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
- Cokesbury is located in Greenwood County (SC)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cokesbury
- McCormick County (SC)
- The following are listed by their distance from Harpers Ferry, with the one closest to Harpers Ferry listed first.
- Mount Carmel
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
- Willington
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
- Willington is located in McCormick County (SC)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Willington
- McCormick
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
- Oconee County (SC)
- Fair Play
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Harpers Ferry, see our County-by-County Page for Harpers Ferry.
Cemeteries Near Harpers Ferry ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Harpers Ferry.
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 Harpers Ferry - one of the links might be able to help.
If not found below, our Cemetery List for Harpers Ferry covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Harpers Ferry, with the one closest to Harpers Ferry listed first.
- Harpers Cemetery
(Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
- Ridge Cemetery
(Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
- Old McCalla Cemetery
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
- Bethel Grove Cemetery
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
- Gods Acre Cemetery
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
- Vans Creek Cemetery
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
- Vans Creek Cemetery
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
- Tucker Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
- Ruckersville Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ruckersville Cemetery
- The Ruckersville Cemetery has also been known as:
- Ruckersville UMC Cemetery
- Dye Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the south)
- Providence Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
- Smyrna Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
- Continue List (335 more) ...
- Smyrna Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
- Bethel Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
- St. Johns Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
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>
While we didn't find Harpers Ferry in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Harpers Ferry.
These communities are listed based on their distance from Harpers Ferry, with the one closest to Harpers Ferry listed first.
- Heardmont
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
- Heardmont is located in Elbert County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Heardmont
- Ruckersville
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
- Ruckersville is located in Elbert County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ruckersville
- Middleton
(5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
- Middleton is located in Elbert County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Middleton
- Concordia ‑ Historic
(5 miles [8 km] to the north)
- Concordia is located in Elbert County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Concordia
- Lowndesville
(5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
- Stansell ‑ Historic
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
- Stansell is located in Elbert County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stansell
- Coldwater
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
- Coldwater is located in Elbert County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coldwater
- Latimer
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
- Latimer is located in Abbeville County (SC)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Latimer
- Calhoun Falls
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
- Moffitsville
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
- Moffitsville is located in Anderson County (SC)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Moffitsville
- Elberton
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
- Hester
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
- Hester is located in Abbeville County (SC)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hester
- Continue List (14 more) ...
- Montevideo
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
- Montevideo is located in Elbert County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Montevideo
- Monterey ‑ Historic
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
- Monterey is located in Abbeville County (SC)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Monterey
- Iva
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
- Iva is located in Anderson County (SC)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Iva
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,341 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Iva <2>
We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Harpers Ferry. See our List of 1890's Communities around Harpers Ferry.
Newspapers Published in Harpers Ferry ...
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 44 newspapers that have been published in the area around Harpers Ferry.
Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Harpers Ferry, there are papers which were published within 19 miles [30.6 km]<5>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Harpers Ferry.
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 helpful 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 Harpers Ferry:
- Websites specific to Georgia
- Pages specific to Elbert County
- Genealogy information for nearby counties
- Franklin County
- Hart County
- Lincoln County
- Madison County
- Oglethorpe County
- Wilkes County
- Abbeville County
- Anderson County
- Greenwood County
- McCormick County
- Oconee County
- Cemetery Information and Directories for Georgia
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> | 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. |
| <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 Harpers Ferry, 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 from Point A (ie- Harpers Ferry) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |