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 Port Gibson (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 Port Gibson. 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 Port Gibson ...
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 have occurred.
For example, a typical abbreviation for Port Gibson: Prt. Gibson
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/Parishes ...
When searching for family records, we have frequently made the mistake of not checking the neighboring counties/parishes.
For example, we have great-grandparents who lived in the northeast corner of their home county. During their lives, most 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/parishes 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/parishes, we would have missed many valuable sources of information.
If you're in a similar situation, we hope that the following information helps.
Port Gibson is located in Claiborne County and is the County Seat.
Below are the counties/parishes that are near Port Gibson. For each of these counties/parishes, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Port Gibson:
Claiborne County (The home county of Port Gibson)
The following are listed by their distance from Port Gibson, with the one closest to Port Gibson listed first.
Grand Gulf (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Grand Gulf. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Westside. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Saint Elmo. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Carlisle. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Bowerton. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Bear Creek. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
The following are listed by their distance from Port Gibson, with the one closest to Port Gibson listed first.
Red Lick (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Red Lick. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Caseyville. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Newlight. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Port Gibson.
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 Port Gibson covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Port Gibson, with the one closest to Port Gibson listed first.
Wintergreen Cemetery (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Port Gibson Catholic Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Grand Gulf Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
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.<4>
The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Port Gibson had a population of 124 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Port Gibson had a population of 1,287 people.
These communities are listed based on their distance from Port Gibson, with the one closest to Port Gibson listed first.
Oaklawn (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Oaklawn have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Grand Gulf. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Westside. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Saint Elmo. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Red Lick. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Carlisle. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Port Gibson. See our List of 1890's Communities around Port Gibson.
Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Port Gibson ...
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 44 newspapers that have been published in the area around Port Gibson.
We have organized these newspapers into two lists:
A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Port Gibson. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Port Gibson and those printed in the larger area surrounding Port Gibson.
An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 25 miles [40.2 km]<5> of Port Gibson.
Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...
When we do our genealogical research, we like to start 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 Port Gibson:
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.
<2>
While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<3>
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.
<4>
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 Port Gibson, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<5>
Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Port Gibson) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Port Gibson. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 31.9568, Longitude: -90.9834