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 Martinsville (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 Martinsville. 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 northwest corner of their home county. During their lives, most hospitals 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.
Martinsville is located in Knott County .
To see how the shape of Kentucky's counties may have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries .
The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Knott County : Breathitt , Floyd , Letcher , Magoffin , Perry & Pike .
Below are the counties that are near Martinsville. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Martinsville:
Knott County (The home county of Martinsville)
The following are listed by their distance from Martinsville, with the one closest to Martinsville listed first.
Kite (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
Kite is located in Knott County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kite Pippa Passes (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
Pippa Passes is located in Knott County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pippa Passes Population from the 2020 Census: 606 people
Pine Top (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
Pine Top is located in Knott County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine Top Raven (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
Raven is located in Knott County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Raven Garner (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
Garner is located in Knott County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Garner Leburn (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
Littcarr (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
Littcarr is located in Knott County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Littcarr Redfox (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
Redfox is located in Knott County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Redfox Mousie (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
Mousie is located in Knott County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mousie Hindman (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
Tina (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
Tina is located in Knott County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tina Carrie (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
Carrie is located in Knott County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carrie Vest (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
Breathitt County
The following are listed by their distance from Martinsville, with the one closest to Martinsville listed first.
Hardshell (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
Hardshell is located in Breathitt County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hardshell Clayhole (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
Clayhole is located in Breathitt County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clayhole Flintville (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
Flintville is located in Breathitt County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flintville Floyd County
The following are listed by their distance from Martinsville, with the one closest to Martinsville listed first.
Bypro (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
Wheelwright Junction (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
Wheelwright (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
Wheelwright is located in Floyd County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wheelwright Population from the 2020 Census: 487 people
Melvin (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
Melvin is located in Floyd County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Melvin Weeksbury (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
Weeksbury is located in Floyd County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Weeksbury Hi Hat (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
Dema (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
Dema is located in Floyd County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dema Wayland (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
Wayland is located in Floyd County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wayland Population from the 2020 Census: 373 people
Beaver (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
Beaver is located in Floyd County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beaver Lackey (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
Lackey is located in Floyd County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lackey McDowell (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
Drift (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
Drift is located in Floyd County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Drift Garrett (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
Garrett is located in Floyd County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Garrett Harlan County
The following are listed by their distance from Martinsville, with the one closest to Martinsville listed first.
Benham (23 miles [37 km] to the south)
Lynch (23 miles [37 km] to the south)
Cumberland (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
Chad (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
Chad is located in Harlan County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chad Totz (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
Holmes Mill (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
Holmes Mill is located in Harlan County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holmes Mill Big Laurel (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
Big Laurel is located in Harlan County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Big Laurel Closplint (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
Closplint is located in Harlan County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Closplint Louellen (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
Louellen is located in Harlan County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Louellen Leslie County
The following are listed by their distance from Martinsville, with the one closest to Martinsville listed first.
Cutshin (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
Cutshin is located in Leslie County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cutshin Yeaddiss (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
Yeaddiss is located in Leslie County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Yeaddiss Smilax (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
Smilax is located in Leslie County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Smilax Wooton (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
Wooton is located in Leslie County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wooton Letcher County
The following are listed by their distance from Martinsville, with the one closest to Martinsville listed first.
Deane (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
Deane is located in Letcher County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Deane Colson (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
Colson is located in Letcher County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Colson Hemphill (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
Hemphill is located in Letcher County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hemphill Hemphill has also been known as:
Jackhorn Farraday (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
Farraday is located in Letcher County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Farraday Millstone (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
Millstone is located in Letcher County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Millstone Thornton (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
Thornton is located in Letcher County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Thornton Fleming - Neon (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
Fleming - Neon is located in Letcher County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fleming - Neon Population from the 2020 Census: 610 people
Neon (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
Isom (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
Isom is located in Letcher County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Isom Sergent (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
Sergent is located in Letcher County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sergent Cromona (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
Cromona is located in Letcher County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cromona McRoberts (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
McRoberts is located in Letcher County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for McRoberts Seco (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
Seco is located in Letcher County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Seco Magoffin County
The following are listed by their distance from Martinsville, with the one closest to Martinsville listed first.
Gunlock (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
Gunlock is located in Magoffin County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gunlock Gapville (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
Gapville is located in Magoffin County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gapville Gypsy (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
Gypsy is located in Magoffin County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gypsy Marshallville (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
Marshallville is located in Magoffin County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marshallville Royalton (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
Royalton is located in Magoffin County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Royalton Sublett (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
Sublett is located in Magoffin County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sublett Ivyton (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
Ivyton is located in Magoffin County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ivyton Perry County
The following are listed by their distance from Martinsville, with the one closest to Martinsville listed first.
Vicco (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
Vicco is located in Perry County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vicco Population from the 2020 Census: 295 people
Acup (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
Acup is located in Perry County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Acup Happy (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
Happy is located in Perry County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Happy Scuddy (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
Dwarf (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
Dwarf is located in Perry County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dwarf Hardburly (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
Hardburly is located in Perry County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hardburly Cornettsville (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
Cornettsville is located in Perry County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cornettsville Jeff (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
Tribbey (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
Tribbey is located in Perry County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tribbey Ary (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
Bulan (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
Bulan is located in Perry County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bulan Viper (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
Viper is located in Perry County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Viper Hazard (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
Pike County
The following are listed by their distance from Martinsville, with the one closest to Martinsville listed first.
Myra (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
Myra is located in Pike County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Myra Dorton (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
Jonancy (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
Jonancy is located in Pike County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jonancy Virgie (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
Virgie is located in Pike County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Virgie Robinson Creek (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
Robinson Creek is located in Pike County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Robinson Creek Yeager (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
Yeager is located in Pike County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Yeager Hellier (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
Hellier is located in Pike County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hellier Lookout (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
Lookout is located in Pike County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lookout Rockhouse (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
Rockhouse is located in Pike County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rockhouse Fords Branch (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
Fords Branch is located in Pike County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fords Branch Mayo Village (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
Mayo Village is located in Pike County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mayo Village Owsley (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
Owsley is located in Pike County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Owsley Shelbiana (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
Shelbiana is located in Pike County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shelbiana Dickenson County (VA)
The following are listed by their distance from Martinsville, with the one closest to Martinsville listed first.
Clintwood (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
Darwin (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
Darwin is located in Dickenson County (VA) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Darwin Omaha (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
Omaha is located in Dickenson County (VA) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Omaha Clinchco (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
Tarpon (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
Tarpon is located in Dickenson County (VA) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tarpon Haysi (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
Haysi is located in Dickenson County (VA) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Haysi Population from the 2020 Census: 460 people
Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Haysi <1>
Nora (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
Nora is located in Dickenson County (VA) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nora Herald (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
Herald is located in Dickenson County (VA) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Herald Lee County (VA)
The following are listed by their distance from Martinsville, with the one closest to Martinsville listed first.
Darnell Town (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
Darnell Town is located in Lee County (VA) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Darnell Town Keokee (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
Keokee is located in Lee County (VA) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Keokee Rawhide (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
Rawhide is located in Lee County (VA) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rawhide Norton City (VA)
Norton (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
Wise County (VA)
The following are listed by their distance from Martinsville, with the one closest to Martinsville listed first.
Almira (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
Almira is located in Wise County (VA) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Almira Haddonfield (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
Haddonfield is located in Wise County (VA) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Haddonfield Pound (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
Osaka (23 miles [37 km] to the south)
Osaka is located in Wise County (VA) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Osaka Wise (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
Blackwood (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
Blackwood is located in Wise County (VA) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blackwood Kent Junction (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
Kent Junction is located in Wise County (VA) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kent Junction Esserville (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
Esserville is located in Wise County (VA) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Esserville Hamilton town (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
Hamilton town is located in Wise County (VA) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hamilton town Appalachia (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
Big Stone Gap (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
Exeter (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
Exeter is located in Wise County (VA) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Exeter East Stone Gap (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
East Stone Gap is located in Wise County (VA) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Stone Gap
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Martinsville, see our County-by-County Page for Martinsville .
Cemeteries Near Martinsville ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Martinsville.
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 Martinsville - one of the links might be able to help.
If not found below, our Cemetery List for Martinsville covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Martinsville, with the one closest to Martinsville listed first.
Hall Cemetery (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
Cook Cemetery (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
Collins Cemetery (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
Bald Hill Cemetery (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
Hall Cemetery (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
Reynolds Cemetery (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
Cody Cemetery (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
Cook Cemetery (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
Ison Cemetery (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
Burke Cemetery (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
W.R. Hall Cemetery (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
Carr Fork Memorial Cemetery (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
Continue List (607 more) ...
Christon Cemetery (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
Gibson Cemetery (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
Arthur Adams Cemetery (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
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 Martinsville in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Martinsville.
These communities are listed based on their distance from Martinsville, with the one closest to Martinsville listed first.
Hall (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
Hall is located in Knott County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hall Deane (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
Deane is located in Letcher County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Deane Pine Top (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
Pine Top is located in Knott County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine Top Raven (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
Raven is located in Knott County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Raven Smoot Creek (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
Smoot Creek is located in Letcher County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Smoot Creek Millstone (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
Millstone is located in Letcher County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Millstone Craftsville (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
Craftsville is located in Letcher County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Craftsville Sergent (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
Sergent is located in Letcher County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sergent Hindman (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
Jeremiah (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
Beefhide (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
Beefhide is located in Letcher County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beefhide Whitesburg (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
Continue List (15 more) ...
Beaver (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
Beaver is located in Floyd County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beaver Dorton (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
McDowell (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Martinsville. See our List of 1890's Communities around Martinsville .
Newspapers Published in Martinsville ...
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 10 newspapers that have been published in the area around Martinsville.
Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Martinsville, there are papers which were published within 12 miles [19.3 km]<2> Extended Newspaper List for Martinsville.
Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...
When we do our genealogical research, we like to start with the websites from Cyndi's List, FamilySearch and Genealogy Trails. These 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 Martinsville:
Websites specific to Kentucky Pages specific to Knott County Genealogy information for nearby counties
Breathitt County Floyd County Harlan County Leslie County Letcher County Magoffin County Perry County Pike County Dickenson County Lee County Norton City Wise County Cemetery Information and Directories for Kentucky Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Martinsville. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page .
The official website for State of Kentucky: https://www.kentucky.gov/
Footnotes ...
<1> While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a '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- Martinsville) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. 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 . 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 Martinsville, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.