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 Fords Creek (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 Fords Creek. 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 Fords Creek ...
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 Fords Creek: Fords Crk. (or less commonly used: Fords Ck. or Fords Cr.)
- While the name of this community is Fords Creek, be aware that it's the common practice of mapmakers to remove the apostrophe from possessive names<1>. So Fords Creek may originally have been Ford's Creek.
Sometimes the trailing 's' might be dropped altogether, in which case Fords Creek might be written as Ford Creek.
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/Parishes ...
When searching for family records, we have frequently made the mistake of not checking the neighboring counties/parishes.
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/parishes 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/parishes, we would have missed many valuable sources of information.
If you're in a similar situation, we hope that the following information helps.
Fords Creek is located in Pearl River 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 Pearl River County: Saint Tammany (LA), Washington (LA), Forrest, Hancock, Lamar, Marion & Stone.
Below are the counties/parishes that are near Fords Creek. For each of these counties/parishes, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Fords Creek:
- Pearl River County (The home county of Fords Creek)
- The following are listed by their distance from Fords Creek, with the one closest to Fords Creek listed first.
- Hillsdale
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
- Hillsdale is located in Pearl River County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hillsdale
- Poplarville
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
- Juniper Grove
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
- Juniper Grove is located in Pearl River County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Juniper Grove
- Picayune
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
- Forrest County
- The following are listed by their distance from Fords Creek, with the one closest to Fords Creek listed first.
- Carnes
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
- Carnes is located in Forrest County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carnes
- Brooklyn
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
- Hancock County
- Necaise
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
- Necaise is located in Hancock County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Necaise
- Lamar County
- The following are listed by their distance from Fords Creek, with the one closest to Fords Creek listed first.
- Wells Town
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
- Wells Town is located in Lamar County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wells Town
- Lumberton
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
- Purvis
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
- Marion County
- The following are listed by their distance from Fords Creek, with the one closest to Fords Creek listed first.
- Twin
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
- Twin is located in Marion County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Twin
- Pinebur
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
- Pinebur is located in Marion County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pinebur
- Columbia
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
- Kokomo
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
- Expose
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
- Expose is located in Marion County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Expose
- Goss
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
- Goss is located in Marion County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Goss
- Stone County
- Smith Town
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
- Smith Town is located in Stone County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Smith Town
- Walthall County
- Tylertown
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
- Saint Tammany Parish (LA)
- The following are listed by their distance from Fords Creek, with the one closest to Fords Creek listed first.
- Sun
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
- Sun is located in Saint Tammany Parish (LA)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sun
- Population from the 2020 Census: 498 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Sun <2>
- Bush
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
- Talisheek
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
- Washington Parish (LA)
- The following are listed by their distance from Fords Creek, with the one closest to Fords Creek listed first.
- Angie
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
- Angie is located in Washington Parish (LA)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Angie
- Population from the 2020 Census: 246 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Angie <2>
- Varnado
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
- Bogalusa
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
- Popeville ‑ Historic
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
- Popeville is located in Washington Parish (LA)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Popeville
- Lees Creek
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
- Lees Creek is located in Washington Parish (LA)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lees Creek
- Pine
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
- Pine is located in Washington Parish (LA)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine
- Enon
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
- Enon is located in Washington Parish (LA)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Enon
- Franklinton
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Fords Creek, see our County-by-County Page for Fords Creek.
Cemeteries Near Fords Creek ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Fords Creek.
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 Fords Creek - one of the links might be able to help.
If not found below, our Cemetery List for Fords Creek covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Fords Creek, with the one closest to Fords Creek listed first.
- Ford Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
- New Hope Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
- Pleasant Valley Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
- Richie Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
- Old Live Oak Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the west)
- Old Fornea Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
- Rose Hill Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
- Howard Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
- Ford Chapel Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
- Bonnie Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
- Fornea Cemetery
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
- Myrtle Grove Cemetery
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
- Continue List (365 more) ...
- Clear Creek Cemetery
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
- Sandy Hook Cemetery
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
- Wesley Ray Cemetery
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
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 Fords Creek in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Fords Creek.
These communities are listed based on their distance from Fords Creek, with the one closest to Fords Creek listed first.
- Spring Cottage
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
- Spring Cottage is located in Marion County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spring Cottage
- Orvisburg
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
- Orvisburg is located in Pearl River County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Orvisburg
- Poplarville
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
- Hillsdale
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
- Hillsdale is located in Pearl River County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hillsdale
- Chinquapin
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
- Chinquapin is located in Pearl River County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chinquapin
- Pickwick
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
- Pickwick is located in Marion County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pickwick
- Popeville ‑ Historic
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
- Popeville is located in Washington Parish (LA)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Popeville
- Lees Creek
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
- Lees Creek is located in Washington Parish (LA)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lees Creek
- Columbia
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
- Sun
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
- Sun is located in Saint Tammany Parish (LA)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sun
- Population from the 2020 Census: 498 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Sun <2>
- Zona
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
- Zona is located in Washington Parish (LA)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Zona
- Franklinton
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Fords Creek. See our List of 1890's Communities around Fords Creek.
Newspapers Published in Fords Creek ...
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 25 newspapers that have been published in the area around Fords Creek.
Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Fords Creek, there are papers which were published within 29 miles [46.7 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Fords Creek.
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 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 Fords Creek:
- Websites specific to Mississippi
- Pages specific to Pearl River County
- Genealogy information for nearby counties
- Forrest County
- Hancock County
- Lamar County
- Marion County
- Stone County
- Walthall County
- Saint Tammany Parish
- Washington Parish
- 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 Fords Creek, 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 from Point A (ie- Fords Creek) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |