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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 Fruitland Park (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 Fruitland Park. 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 Fruitland Park ...

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.

Another variation: Fruit Land Park.

You might be interested in other communities that are also named Fruitland Park. More information can be found on our Tidbits & Trivia Page for Fruitland Park.

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 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.

Fruitland Park is located in Forrest 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 Forrest County: Covington, Jones, Lamar, Perry & Stone.

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

  • Forrest County     (The home county of Fruitland Park)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Fruitland Park, with the one closest to Fruitland Park listed first.
    • Carnes
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Carnes is located in Forrest County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carnes
    • Brooklyn
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • McLaurin
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
      • McLaurin is located in Forrest County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for McLaurin
    • Goodluck
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
      • Goodluck is located in Forrest County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Goodluck
    • Hattiesburg
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
    • Petal
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
      • Petal is located in Forrest County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Petal
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 10,692 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Petal <1>
  • George County
    • Bexley
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
      • Bexley is located in George County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bexley
  • Greene County
    • McLain
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
      • McLain is located in Greene County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for McLain
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 430 people
  • Hancock County
    • Necaise
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Necaise is located in Hancock County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Necaise
  • Harrison County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Fruitland Park, with the one closest to Fruitland Park listed first.
    • Howison
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
      • Howison is located in Harrison County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Howison
    • Saucier
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
    • Wortham
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
      • Wortham is located in Harrison County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wortham
    • Lyman
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
      • Lyman is located in Harrison County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lyman
  • Lamar County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Fruitland Park, with the one closest to Fruitland Park listed first.
    • Lumberton
      (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
    • Wells Town
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
      • Wells Town is located in Lamar County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wells Town
    • Purvis
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
    • West Hattiesburg
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
      • West Hattiesburg is located in Lamar County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Hattiesburg
  • Pearl River County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Fruitland Park, with the one closest to Fruitland Park listed first.
    • Hillsdale
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
      • Hillsdale is located in Pearl River County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hillsdale
    • Juniper Grove
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Juniper Grove is located in Pearl River County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Juniper Grove
    • Poplarville
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
  • Perry County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Fruitland Park, with the one closest to Fruitland Park listed first.
    • New Augusta
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Beaumont
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Beaumont is located in Perry County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beaumont
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 894 people
    • Wingate
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Wingate is located in Perry County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wingate
  • Stone County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Fruitland Park, with the one closest to Fruitland Park listed first.
    • Wiggins
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Smith Town
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Smith Town is located in Stone County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Smith Town
    • McHenry
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
      • McHenry is located in Stone County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for McHenry

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

Cemeteries Near Fruitland Park ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Fruitland Park.

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 Fruitland Park - one of the links might be able to help.

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Fruitland Park, with the one closest to Fruitland Park listed first.

  • Bo Williams Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
  • Shadeville Park Memorial Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
  • Woodlawn Park Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
  • Landmark Missionary Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
  • Sims Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
  • St. Paul Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
  • Welcome Hill Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
  • Taylor Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
  • Griffin Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
  • Batson Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
  • Lott Smith Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
  • Fairley Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
  • Continue List   (251 more) ...
    • Herrington Cemetery
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Price Memorial Cemetery
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Price Memorial 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 Fruitland Park in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Fruitland Park.

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

  • Airey
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
    • Airey is located in Harrison County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Airey
  • Hillsdale
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
    • Hillsdale is located in Pearl River County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hillsdale
  • Orvisburg
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
    • Orvisburg is located in Pearl River County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Orvisburg
  • Poplarville
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
  • Leaf
    (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
    • Leaf is located in Greene County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leaf
  • Hattiesburg
    (29 miles [46.7 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 Fruitland Park. See our List of 1890's Communities around Fruitland Park.

Newspapers Published in Fruitland Park ...

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 34 newspapers that have been published in the area around Fruitland Park.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Fruitland Park, 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 Fruitland Park.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we begin with 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 Fruitland Park:

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 Fruitland Park, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Fruitland Park) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.