RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of North Carolina >> Bladen County >> Kelly >> Genealogy HelperIndex...

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 Kelly (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 Kelly. 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 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.

Kelly is located in Bladen 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 Bladen County: Columbus, Cumberland, Pender, Robeson & Sampson.

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

  • Bladen County     (The home county of Kelly)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Kelly, with the one closest to Kelly listed first.
    • East Arcadia
      (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Long View
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
      • Long View is located in Bladen County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Long View
    • Council
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
      • Council is located in Bladen County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Council
    • Rosindale
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • White Lake
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Mount Olive
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Mount Olive is located in Bladen County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Olive
    • Clarkton
      (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
    • Elizabethtown
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Yorick
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Abbottsburg
      (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
    • Dublin
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Dublin is located in Bladen County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dublin
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 328 people
    • Ruskin
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Ammon
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Brunswick County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Kelly, with the one closest to Kelly listed first.
    • Northwest
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Sandy Creek
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Sandy Creek is located in Brunswick County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sandy Creek
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 319 people
    • Malmo
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
    • Phoenix
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Navassa
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Navassa is located in Brunswick County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Navassa
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,534 people
    • Makatoka
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
    • Town Creek
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
      • Town Creek is located in Brunswick County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Town Creek
    • Exum
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
    • Belville
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Belville is located in Brunswick County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Belville
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,135 people
    • Winnabow
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Leland
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Leland is located in Brunswick County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leland
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 25,647 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Leland <1>
    • Ash
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
    • Bolivia
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
  • Columbus County
  • Duplin County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Kelly, with the one closest to Kelly listed first.
    • Harrells
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
      • Harrells is located in Duplin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harrells
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 191 people
    • Safe
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Duff Creek
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Duff Creek is located in Duplin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Duff Creek
    • Wallace
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Brices Crossroads
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Teachey
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Teachey is located in Duplin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Teachey
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 430 people
    • Tin City
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Concord
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Concord is located in Duplin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Concord
    • Rose Hill
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
  • New Hanover County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Kelly, with the one closest to Kelly listed first.
    • Castle Hayne
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
    • Skippers Corner
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
      • Skippers Corner is located in New Hanover County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Skippers Corner
    • Hightsville
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Hightsville is located in New Hanover County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hightsville
    • Wrightsboro
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Wrightsboro is located in New Hanover County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wrightsboro
    • Kings Grant
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Kings Grant is located in New Hanover County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kings Grant
    • Murraysville
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Murraysville is located in New Hanover County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Murraysville
    • Smith Creek
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Smith Creek is located in New Hanover County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Smith Creek
    • Wilmington
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Pender County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Kelly, with the one closest to Kelly listed first.
    • Atkinson
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Currie
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
    • Burgaw
      (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
    • Saint Helena
      (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
      • Saint Helena is located in Pender County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saint Helena
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 428 people
    • Watha
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
      • Watha is located in Pender County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Watha
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 247 people
    • Ashton
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
    • Rocky Point
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
    • Willard
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
      • Willard is located in Pender County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Willard
    • Murray Town
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
      • Murray Town is located in Pender County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Murray Town
  • Sampson County

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

Cemeteries Near Kelly ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Kelly.

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

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Kelly, with the one closest to Kelly 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 Kelly had a population of 20 people in 1895 with a post office and no railroad service.

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

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

Newspapers Published in Kelly ...

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 19 newspapers that have been published in the area around Kelly.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Kelly, there are papers which were published within 26 miles [41.8 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Kelly.

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 either 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 Kelly:

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 '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- Kelly) 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 Kelly, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.