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 Ocean Springs (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 Ocean Springs. 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 Ocean Springs ...
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.
For example, a typical abbreviation for Ocean Springs: Ocean Spgs. (or less commonly used: Ocean Spngs. or Ocean Sprngs.)
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 southeast corner of their home county. During their lives, most doctors were in the next county to the east. 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 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 south 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.
Ocean Springs is located in Jackson 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 Jackson County: Mobile (AL), George, Harrison & Stone.
Below are the counties that are near Ocean Springs. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Ocean Springs:
- Jackson County (The home county of Ocean Springs)
- The following are listed by their distance from Ocean Springs, with the one closest to Ocean Springs listed first.
- Gulf Park Estates
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
- Gulf Park Estates is located in Jackson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gulf Park Estates
- Gulf Hills
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
- Gulf Hills is located in Jackson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gulf Hills
- Fountainebleau
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
- Fountainebleau is located in Jackson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fountainebleau
- Saint Martin
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
- Saint Martin is located in Jackson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saint Martin
- Fort Bayou ‑ Historic
(5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
- Fort Bayou is located in Jackson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fort Bayou
- Latimer
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
- Latimer is located in Jackson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Latimer
- Gautier
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
- Hickory Hills
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
- Hickory Hills is located in Jackson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hickory Hills
- Martin Bluff
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
- Martin Bluff is located in Jackson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Martin Bluff
- Vancleave
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
- Pascagoula
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
- Escatawpa
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
- Escatawpa is located in Jackson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Escatawpa
- Harrison County
- The following are listed by their distance from Ocean Springs, with the one closest to Ocean Springs listed first.
- Biloxi
(5 miles [8 km] to the west)
- D'Iberville
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
- Beauvoir
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
- Beauvoir is located in Harrison County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beauvoir
- Coalville
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
- Coalville is located in Harrison County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coalville
- Wool Market
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
- Wool Market is located in Harrison County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wool Market
- Wool Market has also been known as:
- Woolmarket
- Lorraine Community ‑ Historic
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
- Lorraine Community is located in Harrison County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lorraine Community
- Mississippi City
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
- Mississippi City is located in Harrison County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mississippi City
- Gulfport
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
- North Gulfport
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
- North Gulfport is located in Harrison County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Gulfport
- Lyman
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
- Lyman is located in Harrison County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lyman
- Wortham
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
- Wortham is located in Harrison County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wortham
- Long Beach
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
- Stone County
- McHenry
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
- McHenry is located in Stone County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for McHenry
- Mobile County (AL)
- Grand Bay
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Ocean Springs, see our County-by-County Page for Ocean Springs.
Cemeteries Near Ocean Springs ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Ocean Springs.
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 Ocean Springs - one of the links might be able to help.
If not found below, our Cemetery List for Ocean Springs covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Ocean Springs, with the one closest to Ocean Springs listed first.
- Bellande Cemetery
(Less than 2 miles to the west)
- Fountain Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the west)
- Quave Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the west)
- Biloxi Jewish Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the west)
- Antioch Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
- Swetman Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
- D'Iberville Memorial Park
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
- Moran Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
- Santa Cruz Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
- Biloxi City Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Biloxi City Cemetery
- The Biloxi City Cemetery has also been known as:
- Biloxi Cemetery
- Old Biloxi Cemetery
- Old French Cemetery
- New Fayard Methodist Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Fayard Methodist Cemetery
- To give a relative sense of its location, the New Fayard Methodist Cemetery is located outside and to the northeast of Latimer.
- The New Fayard Methodist Cemetery has also been known as:
- New Fayard UMC Cemetery
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2160864 <2>
- Dink Lamey Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
- Continue List (157 more) ...
- Bibleway Baptist Church Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
- Seymour Cemetery
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
- Camellia Cemetery
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
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>
The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Ocean Springs had a population of 1,148 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Ocean Springs had a population of 17,791 people.
These communities are listed based on their distance from Ocean Springs, with the one closest to Ocean Springs listed first.
- Fort Bayou ‑ Historic
(5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
- Fort Bayou is located in Jackson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fort Bayou
- Biloxi
(5 miles [8 km] to the west)
- Beauvoir
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
- Beauvoir is located in Harrison County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beauvoir
- Vancleave
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
- Wool Market
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
- Wool Market is located in Harrison County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wool Market
- Wool Market has also been known as:
- Woolmarket
- De Buys
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
- De Buys is located in Harrison County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for De Buys
- Handsboro
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
- Handsboro is located in Harrison County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Handsboro
- Pascagoula
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
- Mississippi City
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
- Mississippi City is located in Harrison County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mississippi City
- Moss Point
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
- Escatawpa
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
- Escatawpa is located in Jackson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Escatawpa
- Gulfport
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
- Continue List (9 more) ...
- Three Rivers
(18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
- Three Rivers is located in Jackson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Three Rivers
- Orange Grove
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
- Orange Grove is located in Jackson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Orange Grove
- Long Beach
(22 miles [35.4 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 Ocean Springs. See our List of 1890's Communities around Ocean Springs.
Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Ocean Springs ...
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 56 newspapers that have been published in the area around Ocean Springs.
We have organized these newspapers into two lists:
- A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Ocean Springs. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Ocean Springs and those printed in the larger area surrounding Ocean Springs.
- An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 29 miles [46.7 km]<4> of Ocean Springs.
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 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 Ocean Springs:
- Websites specific to Mississippi
- Pages specific to Jackson County
- Genealogy information for nearby counties
- Harrison County
- Stone County
- Mobile County
- Cemetery Information and Directories for Mississippi
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 Ocean Springs, 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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Ocean Springs) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |