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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 Dunn (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 Dunn. 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 hospitals and 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.

Dunn is located in Harnett County.

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

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Harnett County: Chatham, Cumberland, Johnston, Lee, Sampson & Wake.

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

  • Harnett County     (The home county of Dunn)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Dunn, with the one closest to Dunn listed first.
    • Grove Park
      (Less than 2 miles to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Grove Park have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grove Park
      • Grove Park is located in Harnett County
    • Westhaven
      (Less than 2 miles to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Westhaven have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Westhaven
      • Westhaven is located in Harnett County
    • Lakeside Village
      (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lakeside Village have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lakeside Village
      • Lakeside Village is located in Harnett County
    • Averasboro ‑ Historic
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Erwin
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Turlington
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Turlington. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Turlington
      • Turlington is located in Harnett County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Turlington
      • From Dunn to Turlington
    • Coats
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Bunnlevel
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Fonville
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Fonville. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fonville
      • Fonville is located in Harnett County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Fonville
      • From Dunn to Fonville
    • Buies Creek
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Harnett
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Harnett. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harnett
      • Harnett is located in Harnett County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Harnett
      • From Dunn to Harnett
    • Senter
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Senter. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Senter
      • Senter is located in Harnett County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Senter
      • From Dunn to Senter
  • Chatham County
  • Cumberland County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Dunn, with the one closest to Dunn listed first.
    • Godwin
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Falcon
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Falcon have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Falcon
      • Falcon is located in Cumberland County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 250 people
    • Linden
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Wade
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Eastover
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Stedman
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
    • North Point Village
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for North Point Village have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Point Village
      • North Point Village is located in Cumberland County
    • Vander
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Vander have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vander
      • Vander is located in Cumberland County
    • Holly Springs
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Holly Springs have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holly Springs
      • Holly Springs is located in Cumberland County
    • Shaw
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Spring Lake
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Spring Lake have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spring Lake
      • Spring Lake is located in Cumberland County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 11,980 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Spring Lake <2>
    • Manchester
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Manchester. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Manchester
      • Manchester is located in Cumberland County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Manchester
      • From Dunn to Manchester
  • Duplin County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Dunn, with the one closest to Dunn listed first.
    • Faison
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Faison have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Faison
      • Faison is located in Duplin County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 959 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Faison <2>
    • Calypso
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Calypso have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Calypso
      • Calypso is located in Duplin County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 528 people
  • Johnston County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Dunn, with the one closest to Dunn listed first.
    • Benson
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • McKoy
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for McKoy. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for McKoy
      • McKoy is located in Johnston County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to McKoy
      • From Dunn to McKoy
    • Peacocks Crossroads
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Allens Crossroads
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Four Oaks
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Four Oaks have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Four Oaks
      • Four Oaks is located in Johnston County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,387 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Four Oaks <2>
    • Harper
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Harper. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harper
      • Harper is located in Johnston County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Harper
      • From Dunn to Harper
    • Bentonville
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Bentonville. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bentonville
      • Bentonville is located in Johnston County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Bentonville
      • From Dunn to Bentonville
    • Smithfield
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
    • West Smithfield
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for West Smithfield have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Smithfield
      • West Smithfield is located in Johnston County
    • Fairfield
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Fairfield have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fairfield
      • Fairfield is located in Johnston County
    • Wilson's Mills
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
    • Pine Level
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
  • Lee County
  • Sampson County
  • Wake County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Dunn, with the one closest to Dunn listed first.
    • Kennebec
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Mount Pleasant
      (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mount Pleasant have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Pleasant
      • Mount Pleasant is located in Wake County
    • Fuquay - Varina
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Fuquay - Varina have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fuquay - Varina
      • Fuquay - Varina is located in Wake County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 32,145 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Fuquay - Varina <2>
    • Macks Village
      (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Macks Village have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Macks Village
      • Macks Village is located in Wake County
    • Wilbon
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Wilbon. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wilbon
      • Wilbon is located in Wake County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Wilbon
      • From Dunn to Wilbon
    • McCullers
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for McCullers. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for McCullers
      • McCullers is located in Wake County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to McCullers
      • From Dunn to McCullers
    • Auburn
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
    • Garner
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Garner. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Garner
      • Garner is located in Wake County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 32,180 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Garner <2>
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Garner
      • From Dunn to Garner
    • Hopedale
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
    • Hollemans Crossroads
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Holly Springs
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Holly Springs have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holly Springs
      • Holly Springs is located in Wake County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 39,882 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Holly Springs <2>
    • Emerald Village
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Emerald Village have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Emerald Village
      • Emerald Village is located in Wake County
  • Wayne County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Dunn, with the one closest to Dunn listed first.
    • Grantham
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
    • Raynor Town
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Raynor Town have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Raynor Town
      • Raynor Town is located in Wayne County

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

Cemeteries Near Dunn ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Dunn.

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 Dunn covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Dunn, with the one closest to Dunn 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.<6>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Dunn had a population of 419 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Dunn had a population of 9,684 people.

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

  • Averasboro ‑ Historic
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
  • Turlington
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Turlington. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Turlington
    • Turlington is located in Harnett County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Turlington
    • From Dunn to Turlington
  • Benson
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Godwin
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
  • McKoy
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for McKoy. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for McKoy
    • McKoy is located in Johnston County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to McKoy
    • From Dunn to McKoy
  • Mingo
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mingo have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mingo
    • Mingo is located in Sampson County
  • Bunnlevel
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
  • Timothy
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Timothy have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Timothy
    • Timothy is located in Sampson County
  • Carlos
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Carlos have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carlos
    • Carlos is located in Cumberland County
  • Wade
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Barclaysville
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Blackmans Mills
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
  • Continue List   (16 more) ...

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Dunn ...

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 36 newspapers that have been published in the area around Dunn.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Dunn. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Dunn and those printed in the larger area surrounding Dunn.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 22 miles [35.4 km]<5> of Dunn.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we first turn to 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 Dunn:

The official website for Dunn: www.dunn-nc.org/

The official website for Harnett County: www.harnett.org/

The official website for State of North Carolina: https://www.nc.gov/

Footnotes ...

<1>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.
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<3>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.
<4>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.
<5>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Dunn) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Dunn. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 35.3063, Longitude: -78.6090    
<6>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 Dunn, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 28 Apr 2025