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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 Mars Hill (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 Mars Hill. 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 Mars Hill ...

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.

While the name of this community is Mars Hill, be aware that it's the common practice of mapmakers to remove the apostrophe from possessive names<1>. So Mars Hill may originally have been Mar's Hill.

Sometimes the trailing 's' might be dropped altogether, in which case Mars Hill might be written as Mar Hill.

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

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.

Mars Hill 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 Mars Hill. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Mars Hill:

  • Forrest County     (The home county of Mars Hill)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Mars Hill, with the one closest to Mars Hill listed first.
    • Hattiesburg
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Petal
      (5 miles [8 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 <2>
    • McLaurin
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
      • McLaurin is located in Forrest County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for McLaurin
    • Goodluck
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
      • Goodluck is located in Forrest County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Goodluck
    • Brooklyn
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
    • Carnes
      (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
      • Carnes is located in Forrest County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carnes
  • Covington County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Mars Hill, with the one closest to Mars Hill listed first.
    • Lux
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Lux is located in Covington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lux
    • Sanford
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Sanford is located in Covington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sanford
    • Seminary
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Kola
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Kola is located in Covington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kola
  • Greene County
    • McLain
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
      • McLain is located in Greene County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for McLain
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 430 people
  • Jefferson Davis County
    • Melba
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Melba is located in Jefferson Davis County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Melba
  • Jones County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Mars Hill, with the one closest to Mars Hill listed first.
    • Ovett
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Ovett is located in Jones County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ovett
    • Ellisville
      (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
    • Antioch
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Antioch is located in Jones County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Antioch
    • Laurel
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
  • Lamar County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Mars Hill, with the one closest to Mars Hill listed first.
    • West Hattiesburg
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
      • West Hattiesburg is located in Lamar County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Hattiesburg
    • Purvis
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Sumrall
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Wells Town
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Wells Town is located in Lamar County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wells Town
    • Lumberton
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
  • Marion County
    • Pinebur
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
      • Pinebur is located in Marion County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pinebur
  • Pearl River County
    • Hillsdale
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Hillsdale is located in Pearl River County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hillsdale
  • Perry County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Mars Hill, with the one closest to Mars Hill listed first.
    • New Augusta
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
    • Wingate
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
      • Wingate is located in Perry County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wingate
    • Richton
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
    • Beaumont
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
      • Beaumont is located in Perry County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beaumont
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 894 people
  • Stone County
    • Wiggins
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
  • Wayne County
    • Mulberry
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Mulberry is located in Wayne County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mulberry

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

Cemeteries Near Mars Hill ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Mars Hill.

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 Mars Hill - one of the links might be able to help.

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

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

  • Community Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
  • South Hill Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
  • Gillis Burkett Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gillis Burkett Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Gillis Burkett Cemetery is located 3 miles [4.8 km]<3> to the southeast of Hattiesburg.
    • The Gillis Burkett Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Gillis African American Cemetery
    • Gillis Cemetery
    • Gillis Family Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #59490 <4>
  • Clark Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
  • Enon Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
  • Burkett Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
  • Forrest Memorial Gardens
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
  • Pine Ridge Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
  • Dixie Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
  • Oaklawn Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
  • Riverview Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
  • Richburg Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
  • Continue List   (358 more) ...
    • Roseland Park Cemetery
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Pine Grove Cemetery
      (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Hillcrest Cemetery
      (5 miles [8 km] to the north)

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.<5>

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

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

  • Hattiesburg
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
  • Eastabuchie
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
    • Eastabuchie is located in Forrest County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eastabuchie
  • Moselle
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
    • Moselle is located in Jones County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Moselle
  • Ellisville
    (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
  • Hillsdale
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Hillsdale is located in Pearl River County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hillsdale
  • Moscos
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Moscos is located in Covington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Moscos
  • Orvisburg
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Orvisburg is located in Pearl River County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Orvisburg

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

Newspapers Published in Mars Hill ...

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 38 newspapers that have been published in the area around Mars Hill.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Mars Hill, there are papers which were published within 23 miles [37 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Mars Hill.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we first turn to 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 Mars Hill:

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>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Mars Hill) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<4>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.
<5>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 Mars Hill, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.