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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 McHenry (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 McHenry. 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 northeast 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 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 east 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.

McHenry is located in Stone County.

To see how the shape of Mississippi's counties have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Stone County: Forrest, George, Hancock, Harrison, Jackson, Pearl River & Perry.

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

  • Stone County     (The home county of McHenry)
    • The following are listed by their distance from McHenry, with the one closest to McHenry listed first.
    • Wiggins
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Wiggins have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wiggins
      • Wiggins is located in Stone County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 4,524 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Wiggins <2>
    • Smith Town
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Smith Town have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Smith Town
      • Smith Town is located in Stone County
  • Forrest County
  • Hancock County
    • The following are listed by their distance from McHenry, with the one closest to McHenry listed first.
    • Necaise
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Diamondhead
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Diamondhead have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Diamondhead
      • Diamondhead is located in Hancock County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Diamondhead <2>
    • Kiln
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Bay Saint Louis
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bay Saint Louis have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bay Saint Louis
      • Bay Saint Louis is located in Hancock County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 14,529 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Bay Saint Louis <2>
  • Harrison County
  • Jackson County
    • The following are listed by their distance from McHenry, with the one closest to McHenry listed first.
    • Latimer
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Saint Martin
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Saint Martin have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saint Martin
      • Saint Martin is located in Jackson County
    • Gulf Hills
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Brewton ‑ Historic
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Brewton. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brewton
      • Brewton is located in Jackson County
      • Brewton has also been known as:
      • Brewer's Bluff
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Brewton
      • From McHenry to Brewton
    • Ocean Springs
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ocean Springs have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ocean Springs
      • Ocean Springs is located in Jackson County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 17,791 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Ocean Springs <2>
    • Vancleave
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Fort Bayou ‑ Historic
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Fort Bayou have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fort Bayou
      • Fort Bayou is located in Jackson County
  • Lamar County
    • The following are listed by their distance from McHenry, with the one closest to McHenry listed first.
    • Lumberton
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lumberton have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lumberton
      • Lumberton is located in Lamar County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,242 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Lumberton <2>
    • Wells Town
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Wells Town have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wells Town
      • Wells Town is located in Lamar County
  • Pearl River County
    • The following are listed by their distance from McHenry, with the one closest to McHenry listed first.
    • Juniper Grove
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
    • Poplarville
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Poplarville have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Poplarville
      • Poplarville is located in Pearl River County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,780 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Poplarville <2>

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

Cemeteries Near McHenry ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of McHenry.

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.

If you need information about a burial or interment, photos, transcripts, how to contact the cemetery or local authorities, please visit our selection of Genealogy Websites (see below).

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

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

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 McHenry in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of McHenry.

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

  • Airey
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Airey have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Airey
    • Airey is located in Harrison County
  • Wool Market
    (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
  • Handsboro
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Handsboro have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Handsboro
    • Handsboro is located in Harrison County
  • Delisle
    (23 miles [37 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Delisle have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Delisle
    • Delisle is located in Harrison County
  • Gulfport
    (23 miles [37 km] to the south)
  • Mississippi City
    (23 miles [37 km] to the south)
  • De Buys
    (23 miles [37 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for De Buys have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for De Buys
    • De Buys is located in Harrison County
  • Beauvoir
    (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
  • Long Beach
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Long Beach have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Long Beach
    • Long Beach is located in Harrison County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 16,125 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Long Beach <2>
  • Biloxi
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
  • Poplarville
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Poplarville have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Poplarville
    • Poplarville is located in Pearl River County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,780 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Poplarville <2>
  • Hillsdale
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hillsdale have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hillsdale
    • Hillsdale is located in Pearl River County
  • Continue List   (8 more) ...

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of McHenry ...

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 61 newspapers that have been published in the area around McHenry.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of McHenry. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of McHenry and those printed in the larger area surrounding McHenry.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 29 miles [46.7 km]<6> of McHenry.

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 professional and volunteer 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 McHenry:

Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for McHenry. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.

The official website for State of Mississippi: https://www.ms.gov/

Footnotes ...

<1>The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required.
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<3>An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace.
<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 McHenry, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<6>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 drawn from Point A (ie- McHenry) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in McHenry. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 30.7078, Longitude: -89.1396    









 

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This page was last modified/updated: 28 Apr 2025