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 Barrs Mill (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 Barrs Mill. 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 Barrs Mill ...
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 Barrs Mill: Barrs Ml. (or less commonly used: Barrs Mll.)
- While the name of this community is Barrs Mill, be aware that it's the common practice of mapmakers to remove the apostrophe from possessive names<1>. So Barrs Mill may originally have been Barr's Mill.
Sometimes the trailing 's' might be dropped altogether, in which case Barrs Mill might be written as Barr Mill.
You might be interested in other communities that are also named Barrs Mill. More information can be found on our Tidbits & Trivia Page for Barrs Mill.
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 southeast corner of their home county. During their lives, most doctors 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.
Barrs Mill is located in Clay County.
To see how the shape of Mississippi's counties may have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.
The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Clay County: Chickasaw, Lowndes, Monroe, Oktibbeha & Webster.
Below are the counties that are near Barrs Mill. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Barrs Mill:
- Clay County (The home county of Barrs Mill)
- The following are listed by their distance from Barrs Mill, with the one closest to Barrs Mill listed first.
- Una
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
- Una is located in Clay County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Una
- Montpelier
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
- Montpelier is located in Clay County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Montpelier
- Beasley
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
- Beasley is located in Clay County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beasley
- Abbott
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
- Abbott is located in Clay County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Abbott
- Griffith
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
- Griffith is located in Clay County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Griffith
- Siloam
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
- Siloam is located in Clay County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Siloam
- Cedar Bluff
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
- Cedar Bluff is located in Clay County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Bluff
- Mhoons Valley
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
- Mhoons Valley is located in Clay County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mhoons Valley
- Pheba
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
- Whites
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
- Whites is located in Clay County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Whites
- West Point
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
- Vinton
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
- Vinton is located in Clay County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vinton
- Calhoun County
- The following are listed by their distance from Barrs Mill, with the one closest to Barrs Mill listed first.
- Vardaman
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
- Loyd
(23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
- Loyd is located in Calhoun County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Loyd
- Benela
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
- Benela is located in Calhoun County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Benela
- Derma
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
- Derma is located in Calhoun County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Derma
- Population from the 2020 Census: 961 people
- Calhoun City
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
- Pittsboro
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
- Pittsboro is located in Calhoun County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pittsboro
- Population from the 2020 Census: 188 people
- Slate Spring
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
- Slate Spring is located in Calhoun County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Slate Spring
- Slate Springs
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
- Slate Springs is located in Calhoun County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Slate Springs
- Population from the 2020 Census: 104 people
- Chickasaw County
- The following are listed by their distance from Barrs Mill, with the one closest to Barrs Mill listed first.
- Sycamore ‑ Historic
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
- Sycamore is located in Chickasaw County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sycamore
- Egypt
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
- Egypt is located in Chickasaw County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Egypt
- Houston
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
- Anchor
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
- Anchor is located in Chickasaw County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Anchor
- Woodland
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
- Woodland is located in Chickasaw County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodland
- Population from the 2020 Census: 133 people
- Van Vleet
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
- Van Vleet is located in Chickasaw County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Van Vleet
- Okolona
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
- Thelma
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
- Thelma is located in Chickasaw County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Thelma
- New Houlka
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
- New Houlka is located in Chickasaw County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Houlka
- Population from the 2020 Census: 601 people
- Former names for New Houlka:
- Houlka
- Old Houlka
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for New Houlka <2>
- Choctaw County
- Reform
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
- Reform is located in Choctaw County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Reform
- Holmes County
- Egypt
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
- Egypt is located in Holmes County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Egypt
- Itawamba County
- Carolina
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
- Carolina is located in Itawamba County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carolina
- Lee County
- The following are listed by their distance from Barrs Mill, with the one closest to Barrs Mill listed first.
- Shannon
(23 miles [37 km] to the north)
- Verona
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
- Plantersville
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
- Lowndes County
- The following are listed by their distance from Barrs Mill, with the one closest to Barrs Mill listed first.
- Kolola Springs
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
- Kolola Springs is located in Lowndes County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kolola Springs
- Artesia
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
- Artesia is located in Lowndes County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Artesia
- Population from the 2020 Census: 420 people
- Bent Oak
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
- Bent Oak is located in Lowndes County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bent Oak
- Monroe County
- The following are listed by their distance from Barrs Mill, with the one closest to Barrs Mill listed first.
- Gibson
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
- Gibson is located in Monroe County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gibson
- Muldon
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
- Muldon is located in Monroe County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Muldon
- Aberdeen
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
- New Wren
(18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
- New Wren is located in Monroe County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Wren
- Wren
(18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
- Wren is located in Monroe County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wren
- Cotton Gin Port ‑ Historic
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
- Cotton Gin Port is located in Monroe County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cotton Gin Port
- Acker ‑ Historic
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
- Acker is located in Monroe County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Acker
- Nettleton
(23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
- Amory
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
- Hamilton
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
- Hatley
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
- Hatley is located in Monroe County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hatley
- Population from the 2020 Census: 458 people
- Ales ‑ Historic
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
- Ales is located in Monroe County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ales
- Oktibbeha County
- The following are listed by their distance from Barrs Mill, with the one closest to Barrs Mill listed first.
- Maben
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
- Maben is located in Oktibbeha County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maben
- Population from the 2020 Census: 817 people
- Adaton
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
- Adaton is located in Oktibbeha County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Adaton
- Clayton Village
(23 miles [37 km] to the south)
- Clayton Village is located in Oktibbeha County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clayton Village
- Starkville
(23 miles [37 km] to the south)
- Double Springs
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
- Double Springs is located in Oktibbeha County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Double Springs
- Longview
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
- Longview is located in Oktibbeha County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Longview
- Sessums
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
- Bradley
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
- Bradley is located in Oktibbeha County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bradley
- Pontotoc County
- The following are listed by their distance from Barrs Mill, with the one closest to Barrs Mill listed first.
- Goodford
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
- Goodford is located in Pontotoc County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Goodford
- Algoma
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
- Pannell
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
- Pannell is located in Pontotoc County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pannell
- Webster County
- The following are listed by their distance from Barrs Mill, with the one closest to Barrs Mill listed first.
- Mantee
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
- Mantee is located in Webster County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mantee
- Population from the 2020 Census: 215 people
- Cumberland
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
- Cumberland is located in Webster County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cumberland
- Hohenlinden
(18 miles [29 km] to the west)
- Hohenlinden is located in Webster County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hohenlinden
- Clarkson
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
- Clarkson is located in Webster County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clarkson
- Fame
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
- Fame is located in Webster County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fame
- Montevista
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
- Montevista is located in Webster County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Montevista
- Mathiston
(23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
- Sapa
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
- Sapa is located in Webster County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sapa
- Walthall
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
- Walthall is located in Webster County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Walthall
- Population from the 2020 Census: 137 people
- Eupora
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Barrs Mill, see our County-by-County Page for Barrs Mill.
Cemeteries Near Barrs Mill ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Barrs Mill.
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 Barrs Mill - one of the links might be able to help.
If not found below, our Cemetery List for Barrs Mill covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Barrs Mill, with the one closest to Barrs Mill listed first.
- Mixon Cemetery
(Less than 2 miles to the north)
- Hatchet Cemetery
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
- Kilgore Cemetery
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
- St. Robertson Cemetery
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
- New Hope Cemetery
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
- Pleasant Plain Cemetery
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
- Soul Chapel Cemetery
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
- Rocky Hill Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
- Cantrell Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
- Macedonia Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
- Hughes Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
- Thornton Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the north)
- Continue List (298 more) ...
- Pulliam Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the north)
- Oak Grove Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
- Palo Alto Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 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.<3>
While we didn't find Barrs Mill in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Barrs Mill.
These communities are listed based on their distance from Barrs Mill, with the one closest to Barrs Mill listed first.
- McCondy
(Less than 2 miles to the north)
- McCondy is located in Chickasaw County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for McCondy
- Una
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
- Una is located in Clay County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Una
- Buena Vista
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
- Buena Vista is located in Chickasaw County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Buena Vista
- Sparta
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
- Sparta is located in Chickasaw County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sparta
- Montpelier
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
- Montpelier is located in Clay County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Montpelier
- Sycamore ‑ Historic
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
- Sycamore is located in Chickasaw County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sycamore
- Beasley
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
- Beasley is located in Clay County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beasley
- Palo Alto
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
- Palo Alto is located in Clay County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Palo Alto
- Cairo
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
- Cairo is located in Clay County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cairo
- Abbott
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
- Abbott is located in Clay County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Abbott
- Sonora
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
- Sonora is located in Chickasaw County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sonora
- Gibson
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
- Gibson is located in Monroe County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gibson
- Continue List (13 more) ...
- Egypt
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
- Egypt is located in Chickasaw County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Egypt
- Houston
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
- Griffith
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
- Griffith is located in Clay County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Griffith
We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Barrs Mill. See our List of 1890's Communities around Barrs Mill.
Newspapers Published in Barrs Mill ...
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 43 newspapers that have been published in the area around Barrs Mill.
Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Barrs Mill, there are papers which were published within 21 miles [33.8 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Barrs Mill.
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 either 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 Barrs Mill:
- Websites specific to Mississippi
- Pages specific to Clay County
- Genealogy information for nearby counties
- Calhoun County
- Chickasaw County
- Choctaw County
- Holmes County
- Itawamba County
- Lee County
- Lowndes County
- Monroe County
- Oktibbeha County
- Pontotoc County
- Webster County
- Cemetery Information and Directories for Mississippi
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> | 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 Barrs Mill, 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' (or 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- Barrs Mill) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |