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 Sunshine (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 Sunshine. 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 southeast corner of their home county. During their lives, most doctors and 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.
Sunshine is located in Harlan 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 Harlan County : Bell , Leslie , Letcher , Perry , Lee (VA) & Wise (VA) .
Below are the counties that are near Sunshine. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Sunshine:
Harlan County (The home county of Sunshine)
The following are listed by their distance from Sunshine, with the one closest to Sunshine listed first.
Harlan (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
Baxter (Less than 2 miles to the north)
Loyall (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
Loyall is located in Harlan County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Loyall Population from the 2020 Census: 585 people
Coxton (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
Coxton is located in Harlan County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coxton Rosspoint (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
Rosspoint is located in Harlan County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rosspoint Mary Alice (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
Mary Alice is located in Harlan County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mary Alice Ages (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
Ages is located in Harlan County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ages South Wallins (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
South Wallins is located in Harlan County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Wallins Wallins Creek (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
Wallins Creek is located in Harlan County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wallins Creek Estimated population in 2016: 146 people
Verda (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
Verda is located in Harlan County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Verda Bobs Creek (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
Bobs Creek is located in Harlan County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bobs Creek Twila (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
Twila is located in Harlan County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Twila Bledsoe (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
Bledsoe is located in Harlan County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bledsoe Bell County
The following are listed by their distance from Sunshine, with the one closest to Sunshine listed first.
Stoney Fork (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
Stoney Fork is located in Bell County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stoney Fork Beverly (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
Beverly is located in Bell County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beverly Callaway (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
Callaway is located in Bell County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Callaway Kettle Island (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
Kettle Island is located in Bell County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kettle Island Miracle (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
Miracle is located in Bell County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Miracle Varilla (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
Varilla is located in Bell County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Varilla Rella (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
Rella is located in Bell County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rella Sims Fork (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
Sims Fork is located in Bell County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sims Fork Arjay (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
Arjay is located in Bell County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Arjay Jenson (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
Jenson is located in Bell County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jenson Calvin (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
Calvin is located in Bell County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Calvin Straight Creek (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
Straight Creek is located in Bell County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Straight Creek Dorton Branch (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
Dorton Branch is located in Bell County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dorton Branch Clay County
The following are listed by their distance from Sunshine, with the one closest to Sunshine listed first.
Ashers Fork (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
Ashers Fork is located in Clay County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ashers Fork Brightshade (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
Brightshade is located in Clay County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brightshade Big Creek (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
Big Creek is located in Clay County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Big Creek Goose Rock (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
Goose Rock is located in Clay County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Goose Rock Eriline (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
Eriline is located in Clay County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eriline Garrard (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
Garrard is located in Clay County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Garrard Knott County
Sassafras (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
Knox County
The following are listed by their distance from Sunshine, with the one closest to Sunshine listed first.
Scalf (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
Scalf is located in Knox County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Scalf Walker (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
Walker is located in Knox County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Walker Dewitt (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
Dewitt is located in Knox County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dewitt Flat Lick (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
Flat Lick is located in Knox County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flat Lick Bimble (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
Hinkle (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
Hinkle is located in Knox County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hinkle Trosper (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
Trosper is located in Knox County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Trosper Artemus (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
Artemus is located in Knox County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Artemus Warren (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
Warren is located in Knox County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Warren Woollum (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
Woollum is located in Knox County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woollum Cannon (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
Cannon is located in Knox County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cannon Girdler (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
Girdler is located in Knox County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Girdler Wheeler (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
Wheeler is located in Knox County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wheeler Leslie County
The following are listed by their distance from Sunshine, with the one closest to Sunshine listed first.
Helton (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
Helton is located in Leslie County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Helton Warbranch (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
Warbranch is located in Leslie County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Warbranch Chappell (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
Chappell is located in Leslie County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chappell Mozelle (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
Mozelle is located in Leslie County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mozelle Asher (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
Asher is located in Leslie County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Asher Hoskinston (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
Hoskinston is located in Leslie County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hoskinston Essie (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
Essie is located in Leslie County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Essie Roark (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
Roark is located in Leslie County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roark Cutshin (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
Cutshin is located in Leslie County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cutshin Stinnett (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
Stinnett is located in Leslie County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stinnett Yeaddiss (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
Yeaddiss is located in Leslie County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Yeaddiss Smilax (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
Smilax is located in Leslie County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Smilax Wendover (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
Letcher County
The following are listed by their distance from Sunshine, with the one closest to Sunshine listed first.
Gordon (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
Gordon is located in Letcher County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gordon Hallie (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
Linefork (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
Linefork is located in Letcher County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Linefork Flint (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
Flint is located in Letcher County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flint Partridge (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
Partridge is located in Letcher County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Partridge Kings Creek (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
Kings Creek is located in Letcher County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kings Creek Blackey (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
Blackey is located in Letcher County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blackey Population from the 2020 Census: 141 people
Roxana (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
Roxana is located in Letcher County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roxana Letcher (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
Letcher is located in Letcher County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Letcher Hot Spot (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
Hot Spot is located in Letcher County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hot Spot Hot Spot has also been known as:
Hotspot Perry County
The following are listed by their distance from Sunshine, with the one closest to Sunshine listed first.
Delphia (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
Delphia is located in Perry County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Delphia Slemp (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
Slemp is located in Perry County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Slemp Cornettsville (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
Cornettsville is located in Perry County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cornettsville Viper (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
Viper is located in Perry County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Viper Avawam (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
Avawam is located in Perry County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Avawam Jeff (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
Happy (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
Happy is located in Perry County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Happy Scuddy (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
Hazard (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
Acup (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
Acup is located in Perry County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Acup Vicco (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
Vicco is located in Perry County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vicco Population from the 2020 Census: 295 people
Busy (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
Busy is located in Perry County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Busy Combs (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
Combs is located in Perry County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Combs Claiborne County (TN)
The following are listed by their distance from Sunshine, with the one closest to Sunshine listed first.
Cumberland Gap (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
Shawanee (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
Shawanee is located in Claiborne County (TN) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shawanee Harrogate (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
Caney Valley (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
Caney Valley is located in Claiborne County (TN) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Caney Valley Minton Mill (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
Minton Mill is located in Claiborne County (TN) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Minton Mill Estimated population in 2014: 527 people
Tazewell (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
Evans Ferry (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
Evans Ferry is located in Claiborne County (TN) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Evans Ferry Population from the 2010 Census: 293 people
Springdale (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
Springdale is located in Claiborne County (TN) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Springdale Hancock County (TN)
The following are listed by their distance from Sunshine, with the one closest to Sunshine listed first.
Alanthus Hill (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
Alanthus Hill is located in Hancock County (TN) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alanthus Hill Estimated population in 2014: 2,498 people
Sneedville (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
Xenophon (23 miles [37 km] to the south)
Xenophon is located in Hancock County (TN) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Xenophon Duck Creek (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
Duck Creek is located in Hancock County (TN) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Duck Creek Trent Valley (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
Trent Valley is located in Hancock County (TN) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Trent Valley Estimated population in 2014: 4,157 people
Kyles Ford (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
Willis (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
Willis is located in Hancock County (TN) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Willis Estimated population in 2014: 387 people
Yount Town (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
Yount Town is located in Hancock County (TN) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Yount Town Hawkins County (TN)
Eidson (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
Eidson is located in Hawkins County (TN) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eidson Lee County (VA)
The following are listed by their distance from Sunshine, with the one closest to Sunshine listed first.
Hubbard Springs (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
Hubbard Springs is located in Lee County (VA) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hubbard Springs Rose Hill (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
Ewing (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
Fleenortown (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
Fleenortown is located in Lee County (VA) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fleenortown Saint Charles (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
Saint Charles is located in Lee County (VA) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saint Charles Population from the 2020 Census: 109 people
Jonesville (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
Pennington Gap (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
Pennington Gap is located in Lee County (VA) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pennington Gap Population from the 2020 Census: 1,708 people
Van (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
Van is located in Lee County (VA) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Van Ely (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
Ely is located in Lee County (VA) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ely Wheeler (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
Wheeler is located in Lee County (VA) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wheeler Dryden (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
Dryden is located in Lee County (VA) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dryden Blackwater (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
Blackwater is located in Lee County (VA) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blackwater Darnell Town (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
Darnell Town is located in Lee County (VA) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Darnell Town Scott County (VA)
Duffield (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
Wise County (VA)
The following are listed by their distance from Sunshine, with the one closest to Sunshine listed first.
Exeter (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
Exeter is located in Wise County (VA) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Exeter Osaka (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
Osaka is located in Wise County (VA) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Osaka Appalachia (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
Big Stone Gap (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Sunshine, see our County-by-County Page for Sunshine .
Cemeteries Near Sunshine ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Sunshine.
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 Sunshine - one of the links might be able to help.
If not found below, our Cemetery List for Sunshine covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Sunshine, with the one closest to Sunshine listed first.
Johnson Cemetery (Less than 2 miles to the north)
Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Johnson Cemetery The Johnson Cemetery has also been known as:
Johnson Family Cemetery Nolan Cemetery (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
Resthaven Cemetery (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
Gross Cemetery (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
Beech Grove Cemetery (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
Jones Cemetery (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
Napier Cemetery (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
Middleton Cemetery (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
Brown Cemetery (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
Green Cemetery (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
Green Hill Cemetery (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
Turner Cemetery (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
Continue List (740 more) ...
Gabes Branch Cemetery (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
Howard Cemetery (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
Wilder Cemetery (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
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 Sunshine in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Sunshine.
These communities are listed based on their distance from Sunshine, with the one closest to Sunshine listed first.
Harlan (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
Baxter (Less than 2 miles to the north)
Wallins Creek (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
Wallins Creek is located in Harlan County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wallins Creek Estimated population in 2016: 146 people
Creech (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
Creech is located in Harlan County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Creech Evarts (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
Helton (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
Helton is located in Leslie County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Helton Hagan (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
Hagan is located in Lee County (VA) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hagan Hubbard Springs (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
Hubbard Springs is located in Lee County (VA) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hubbard Springs Boons Path (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
Boons Path is located in Lee County (VA) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Boons Path Rose Hill (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
Callaway (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
Callaway is located in Bell County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Callaway Cubage (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
Cubage is located in Bell County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cubage Continue List (14 more) ...
Ewing (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
Jonesville (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
Hoskinston (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
Hoskinston is located in Leslie County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hoskinston
We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Sunshine. See our List of 1890's Communities around Sunshine .
Newspapers Published in Sunshine ...
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 9 newspapers that have been published in the area around Sunshine.
Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Sunshine, there are papers which were published within 15 miles [24.1 km]<4> Extended Newspaper List for Sunshine.
Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...
When we do our genealogical research, we first visit 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 Sunshine:
Websites specific to Kentucky Pages specific to Harlan County Genealogy information for nearby counties
Bell County Clay County Knott County Knox County Leslie County Letcher County Perry County Claiborne County Hancock County Hawkins County Lee County Scott County Wise County Cemetery Information and Directories for Kentucky Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Sunshine. 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. 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 Sunshine, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. 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- Sunshine) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.