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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 Madison (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 Madison. 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 Madison ...

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, Madison was referred to as Madison Courthouse.

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

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.

Madison is located in Morgan 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 Morgan County: Greene, Jasper, Newton, Oconee, Putnam & Walton.

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

  • Morgan County     (The home county of Madison)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Madison, with the one closest to Madison listed first.
    • Smyrna
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Buckhead
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Rutledge
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Bostwick
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Braswell
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Braswell is located in Morgan County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Braswell
      • Estimated population in 2019: 383 people
  • Barrow County
  • Butts County
  • Clarke County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Madison, with the one closest to Madison listed first.
    • Chamberlin
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
      • Chamberlin is located in Clarke County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chamberlin
      • Estimated population in 2019: 30,307 people
    • Cedar Shoals Estates
      (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
      • Cedar Shoals Estates is located in Clarke County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Shoals Estates
      • Population from the 2010 Census: 74 people
    • Pine Lake
      (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
      • Pine Lake is located in Clarke County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine Lake
      • Estimated population in 2019: 754 people
    • Riverside
      (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
      • Riverside is located in Clarke County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Riverside
      • Estimated population in 2016: 35 people
    • Cleveland Station
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
      • Cleveland Station is located in Clarke County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cleveland Station
      • Estimated population in 2019: 4,165 people
    • Athens
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
    • Lexington Heights
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
      • Lexington Heights is located in Clarke County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lexington Heights
      • Estimated population in 2019: 228 people
    • Jefferson Valley
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
      • Jefferson Valley is located in Clarke County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jefferson Valley
      • Estimated population in 2019: 939 people
    • Winterville
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
  • Greene County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Madison, with the one closest to Madison listed first.
    • Scull Shoals ‑ Historic
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Greensboro
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
    • Woodville
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
      • Woodville is located in Greene County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodville
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 397 people
    • Siloam
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
    • Union Point
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
    • Comfort ‑ Historic
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
      • Comfort is located in Greene County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Comfort
      • Estimated population in 2019: 7,085 people
    • Durham Town
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
      • Durham Town is located in Greene County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Durham Town
    • Jacksonville
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
    • Swaggy Valley
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
      • Swaggy Valley is located in Greene County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Swaggy Valley
      • Estimated population in 2019: 7,542 people
    • White Plains
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
    • Daniel Springs
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
      • Daniel Springs is located in Greene County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Daniel Springs
      • Estimated population in 2019: 594 people
  • Gwinnett County
    • Loganville
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Hancock County
    • Gum Hill
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Gum Hill is located in Hancock County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gum Hill
      • Population from the 2010 Census: 2,146 people
  • Jackson County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Madison, with the one closest to Madison listed first.
    • Attica
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
    • Talasee ‑ Historic
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
      • Talasee is located in Jackson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Talasee
      • Estimated population in 2019: 848 people
  • Jasper County
  • Madison County
  • Newton County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Madison, with the one closest to Madison listed first.
    • Newborn
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Hub Junction
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
    • Mansfield
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
    • Dixie Village
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
      • Dixie Village is located in Newton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dixie Village
    • Dixie
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
    • East Wood
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
      • East Wood is located in Newton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Wood
      • Estimated population in 2019: 6,725 people
    • Mansfield Estates
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
      • Mansfield Estates is located in Newton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mansfield Estates
      • Estimated population in 2019: 442 people
    • Covington
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
    • Essex Village
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
      • Essex Village is located in Newton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Essex Village
    • Oxford
      (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
    • Porterdale
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
    • Newton Woods
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
      • Newton Woods is located in Newton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Newton Woods
      • Estimated population in 2019: 575 people
  • Oconee County
  • Oglethorpe County
  • Putnam County
  • Rockdale County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Madison, with the one closest to Madison listed first.
    • Milstead
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
      • Milstead is located in Rockdale County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Milstead
      • Estimated population in 2018: 39,217 people
    • Zingara
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
  • Taliaferro County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Madison, with the one closest to Madison listed first.
    • Springfield
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
    • Carters Grove
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
      • Carters Grove is located in Taliaferro County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carters Grove
      • Estimated population in 2019: 21,760 people
  • Walton County

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

Cemeteries Near Madison ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Madison.

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

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Madison, with the one closest to Madison 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 Madison had a population of 2,313 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Madison had a population of 4,258 people.

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

  • Dorsey
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Dorsey is located in Morgan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dorsey
  • Buckhead
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
  • Greshamville
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Greshamville is located in Greene County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greshamville
  • Rutledge
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
  • Reese
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Reese is located in Morgan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Reese
  • Pennington
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Pennington is located in Morgan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pennington
  • Fairplay
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Fairplay is located in Morgan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fairplay
  • Bostwick
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
  • Godfrey
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
    • Godfrey is located in Morgan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Godfrey
  • Carey
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
    • Carey is located in Greene County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carey
  • Farmington
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
  • Rehoboth ‑ Historic
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
    • Rehoboth is located in Morgan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rehoboth
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...
    • Farrar
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
      • Farrar is located in Jasper County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Farrar
    • Elder
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
      • Elder is located in Oconee County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elder
    • Newborn
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Madison ...

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 41 newspapers that have been published in the area around Madison.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Madison. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Madison and those printed in the larger area surrounding Madison.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 19 miles [30.6 km]<3> of Madison.

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 Madison:

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 '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- Madison) 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 Madison, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.