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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 Bolton (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 Bolton. 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 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.

Bolton is located in Columbus 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 Columbus County: Bladen, Brunswick, Pender, Robeson & Horry (SC).

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

  • Columbus County     (The home county of Bolton)
  • Bladen County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Bolton, with the one closest to Bolton listed first.
    • East Arcadia
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Council
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Council is located in Bladen County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Council
    • Rosindale
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Kelly
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Long View
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Long View is located in Bladen County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Long View
    • Clarkton
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
    • Mount Olive
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Mount Olive is located in Bladen County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Olive
    • White Lake
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
    • Abbottsburg
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Elizabethtown
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
    • Bladenboro
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Yorick
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Butters
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Butters is located in Bladen County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Butters
  • Brunswick County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Bolton, with the one closest to Bolton listed first.
    • Northwest
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
    • Sandy Creek
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
      • Sandy Creek is located in Brunswick County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sandy Creek
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 319 people
    • Exum
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
    • Makatoka
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
    • Malmo
      (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
    • Ash
      (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
    • Phoenix
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
    • Town Creek
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Town Creek is located in Brunswick County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Town Creek
    • Winnabow
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Navassa
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
      • Navassa is located in Brunswick County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Navassa
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,534 people
    • Supply
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
    • Bolivia
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Longwood
      (23 miles [37 km] to the south)
      • Longwood is located in Brunswick County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Longwood
  • Duplin County
    • Harrells
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
      • Harrells is located in Duplin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harrells
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 191 people
  • New Hanover County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Bolton, with the one closest to Bolton listed first.
    • Hightsville
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
      • Hightsville is located in New Hanover County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hightsville
    • Wrightsboro
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
      • Wrightsboro is located in New Hanover County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wrightsboro
    • Skippers Corner
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
      • Skippers Corner is located in New Hanover County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Skippers Corner
    • Castle Hayne
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
    • Silver Lake
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
      • Silver Lake is located in New Hanover County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Silver Lake
    • Wilmington
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
  • Pender County
  • Sampson County

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

Cemeteries Near Bolton ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Bolton.

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

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Bolton, with the one closest to Bolton 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.<4>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Bolton had a population of 67 people in 1895 with a post office and no railroad service. In 2020, Bolton had a population of 632 people.

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

  • Byrdville
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
  • Lake Waccamaw
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
  • Freeman
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Freeman is located in Columbus County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Freeman
  • Council
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Council is located in Bladen County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Council
  • Armour
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
  • Rosindale
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
  • Westbrook
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Westbrook is located in Bladen County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Westbrook
  • Hallsboro
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
  • Kelly
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Colly
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Colly is located in Bladen County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Colly
  • Emerson
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Emerson is located in Bladen County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Emerson
  • Exum
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...
    • Makatoka
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
    • Northwest
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
    • Old Dock
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Old Dock is located in Columbus County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Old Dock

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

Newspapers Published in Bolton ...

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 22 newspapers that have been published in the area around Bolton.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Bolton, there are papers which were published within 23 miles [37 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Bolton.

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 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 Bolton:

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>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a '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- Bolton) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Bolton, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.