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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 Avoca (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 Avoca. 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 southwest corner of their home county. During their lives, most doctors and hospitals were in the next county to the west. 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 west 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.

Avoca is located in Bertie County.

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

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Bertie County: Chowan, Halifax, Hertford, Martin, Northampton & Washington.

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

  • Bertie County     (The home county of Avoca)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Avoca, with the one closest to Avoca listed first.
    • Edenhouse
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Merry Hill
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
      • Merry Hill is located in Bertie County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Merry Hill
    • Ashland
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Windsor
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
    • Colerain
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
    • Askewville
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Askewville is located in Bertie County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Askewville
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 216 people
    • Drew
      (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
    • Powellsville
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Powellsville is located in Bertie County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Powellsville
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 239 people
    • Hexlena
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Aulander
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Aulander is located in Bertie County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Aulander
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 763 people
    • Lewiston Woodville
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
      • Lewiston Woodville is located in Bertie County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lewiston Woodville
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 473 people
  • Beaufort County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Avoca, with the one closest to Avoca listed first.
    • Union Grove
      (23 miles [37 km] to the south)
      • Union Grove is located in Beaufort County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Union Grove
    • Pungo
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
    • Gaylord
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
      • Gaylord is located in Beaufort County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gaylord
    • Pantego
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
      • Pantego is located in Beaufort County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pantego
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 175 people
    • Pinetown
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
    • Walla Watta
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
  • Chowan County
  • Gates County
  • Hertford County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Avoca, with the one closest to Avoca listed first.
    • Harrellsville
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
      • Harrellsville is located in Hertford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harrellsville
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 95 people
    • Ahoskie
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Earleys
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Poor Town
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Poor Town is located in Hertford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Poor Town
    • Cofield
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Cofield is located in Hertford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cofield
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 363 people
    • South Tunis
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
      • South Tunis is located in Hertford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Tunis
    • Tunis
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
    • Tuscarora Beach
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Winton
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Martin County
  • Pasquotank County
  • Perquimans County
  • Tyrrell County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Avoca, with the one closest to Avoca listed first.
    • Columbia
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
    • New Lands
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
  • Washington County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Avoca, with the one closest to Avoca listed first.
    • Westover
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Pine Ridge
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Plymouth
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Roper
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Roper is located in Washington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roper
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 533 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Roper <1>
    • Skinnersville
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Pea Ridge
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
    • Monticello ‑ Historic
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
      • Monticello is located in Washington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Monticello
    • Wenona
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
    • Creswell
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)

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

Cemeteries Near Avoca ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Avoca.

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

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Avoca, with the one closest to Avoca 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.<3>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Avoca had a population of 46 people in 1895 with a post office and no railroad service.

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

  • Edenton
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Sans Souci
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Sans Souci is located in Bertie County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sans Souci
  • Mount Gould
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Mount Gould is located in Bertie County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Gould
  • Plymouth
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
  • Roper
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Roper is located in Washington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roper
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 533 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Roper <1>
  • Skinnersville
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
  • Rockyhock
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
    • Rockyhock is located in Chowan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rockyhock
  • Dardens
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
  • Cisco
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
    • Cisco is located in Chowan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cisco
  • Windsor
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
  • Colerain
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
  • Yeopim Station
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...
    • Scuppernong
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Scuppernong is located in Washington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Scuppernong
    • Rosemead
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Rosemead is located in Bertie County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rosemead
    • Jamesville
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)

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

Newspapers Published in Avoca ...

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 70 newspapers that have been published in the area around Avoca.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Avoca, there are papers which were published within 26 miles [41.8 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Avoca.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we first visit 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 Avoca:

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 Avoca, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>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- Avoca) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.