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A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
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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 Rella (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 Rella. 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 southwest corner of their home county. During their lives, most doctors were in the next county to the west. 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 west 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.

Rella is located in Bell 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 Bell County: Clay, Harlan, Knox, Leslie, Whitley, Claiborne (TN) & Lee (VA).

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

  • Bell County     (The home county of Rella)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Rella, with the one closest to Rella listed first.
    • Sims Fork
      (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Arjay
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Kettle Island
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Kettle Island is located in Bell County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kettle Island
    • Jenson
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Straight Creek
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Straight Creek is located in Bell County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Straight Creek
    • Stoney Fork
      (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
      • Stoney Fork is located in Bell County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stoney Fork
    • Callaway
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Miracle
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
      • Miracle is located in Bell County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Miracle
    • Dorton Branch
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
      • Dorton Branch is located in Bell County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dorton Branch
    • Varilla
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Fourmile
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Fourmile is located in Bell County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fourmile
    • Pineville
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Wasioto
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Clay County
  • Harlan County
  • Knox County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Rella, with the one closest to Rella listed first.
    • Walker
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
      • Walker is located in Knox County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Walker
    • Dewitt
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Dewitt is located in Knox County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dewitt
    • Scalf
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Scalf is located in Knox County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Scalf
    • Flat Lick
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Trosper
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
      • Trosper is located in Knox County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Trosper
    • Hinkle
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Hinkle is located in Knox County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hinkle
    • Artemus
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
      • Artemus is located in Knox County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Artemus
    • Bimble
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Warren
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Cannon
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
      • Cannon is located in Knox County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cannon
    • Girdler
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Wheeler
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Heidrick
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
  • Laurel County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Rella, with the one closest to Rella listed first.
    • Bush
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Bush is located in Laurel County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bush
    • Lake
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Marydell
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Hopewell
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Lily
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Dorthae
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
    • Maplesville
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Sublimity City
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Sublimity City is located in Laurel County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sublimity City
  • Leslie County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Rella, with the one closest to Rella listed first.
    • Warbranch
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
      • Warbranch is located in Leslie County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Warbranch
    • Roark
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Helton
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Helton is located in Leslie County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Helton
    • Mozelle
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Essie
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
      • Essie is located in Leslie County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Essie
    • Asher
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Chappell
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Hoskinston
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Hoskinston is located in Leslie County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hoskinston
    • Stinnett
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Stinnett is located in Leslie County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stinnett
    • Bear Branch
      (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
      • Bear Branch is located in Leslie County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bear Branch
    • Wendover
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Hyden
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Thousandsticks
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Thousandsticks is located in Leslie County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Thousandsticks
  • Whitley County
  • Campbell County (TN)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Rella, with the one closest to Rella listed first.
    • Morley
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
    • White Oak
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Claiborne County (TN)
  • Hancock County (TN)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Rella, with the one closest to Rella listed first.
    • Alanthus Hill
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Alanthus Hill is located in Hancock County (TN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alanthus Hill
      • Estimated population in 2014: 2,498 people
    • Xenophon
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Xenophon is located in Hancock County (TN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Xenophon
  • Lee County (VA)

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

Cemeteries Near Rella ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Rella.

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

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

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

While we didn't find Rella in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Rella.

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

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

Newspapers Published in Rella ...

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 40 newspapers that have been published in the area around Rella.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Rella, there are papers which were published within 17 miles [27.4 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Rella.

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 Rella:

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 Rella, 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' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Rella) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.