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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 McLain (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 McLain. 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 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.

McLain is located in Greene 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 Greene County: Mobile (AL), Washington (AL), George, Perry & Wayne.

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

  • Greene County     (The home county of McLain)
    • The following are listed by their distance from McLain, with the one closest to McLain listed first.
    • Hillman
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
      • Hillman is located in Greene County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hillman
    • Avera
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
      • Avera is located in Greene County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Avera
    • Leakesville
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
    • Bothwell
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
      • Bothwell is located in Greene County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bothwell
    • Clark
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
      • Clark is located in Greene County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clark
    • Carson City
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Carson City is located in Greene County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carson City
    • Brown Town
      (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
      • Brown Town is located in Greene County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brown Town
    • State Line
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
      • State Line is located in Greene County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for State Line
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 545 people
  • Forrest County
    • The following are listed by their distance from McLain, with the one closest to McLain listed first.
    • Brooklyn
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
    • McLaurin
      (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
      • McLaurin is located in Forrest County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for McLaurin
    • Goodluck
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
      • Goodluck is located in Forrest County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Goodluck
    • Carnes
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
      • Carnes is located in Forrest County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carnes
    • Petal
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
      • 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
    • The following are listed by their distance from McLain, with the one closest to McLain listed first.
    • Bexley
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Bexley is located in George County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bexley
    • Lucedale
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
    • Agricola
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
  • Jackson County
    • Americus ‑ Historic
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Americus is located in Jackson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Americus
  • Jones County
    • Ovett
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Ovett is located in Jones County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ovett
  • Perry County
    • The following are listed by their distance from McLain, with the one closest to McLain listed first.
    • Beaumont
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Beaumont is located in Perry County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beaumont
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 894 people
    • Wingate
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Wingate is located in Perry County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wingate
    • New Augusta
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Richton
      (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
  • Stone County
    • Wiggins
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
  • Wayne County
    • Mulberry
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
      • Mulberry is located in Wayne County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mulberry
  • Washington County (AL)
    • The following are listed by their distance from McLain, with the one closest to McLain listed first.
    • Escatawpa
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Escatawpa is located in Washington County (AL)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Escatawpa
    • Fruitdale
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Fruitdale is located in Washington County (AL)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fruitdale
    • Vinegar Bend
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
      • Vinegar Bend is located in Washington County (AL)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vinegar Bend

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

Cemeteries Near McLain ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of McLain.

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 McLain - one of the links might be able to help.

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

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

  • McLain Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
  • McLain Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
  • Buffalo Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
  • Mt. Nebo Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
  • Leaf Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
  • Merritt Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
  • Sylvester Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Lott Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Belton Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Sylvester Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
  • Sylvester Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
  • Riley Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Continue List   (257 more) ...
    • Salem Cemetery
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Pipkin Cemetery
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Bradley Cemetery
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)

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.<2>

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

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

  • Leaf
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Leaf is located in Greene County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leaf
  • Avera
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
    • Avera is located in Greene County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Avera
  • Leakesville
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
  • Adamsville ‑ Historic
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Adamsville is located in Greene County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Adamsville
  • Henderson
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
    • Henderson is located in Wayne County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Henderson
  • Kittrell
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Kittrell is located in Greene County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kittrell
  • Escatawpa
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Escatawpa is located in Washington County (AL)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Escatawpa

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

Newspapers Published in McLain ...

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 12 newspapers that have been published in the area around McLain.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of McLain, there are papers which were published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for McLain.

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 McLain:

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>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 McLain, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<3>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- McLain) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.