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A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
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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 Phoenix (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 Phoenix. 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 southeast 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 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 east 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.

Phoenix is located in Brunswick 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 Brunswick County: Columbus, New Hanover, Pender & Horry (SC).

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

  • Brunswick County     (The home county of Phoenix)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Phoenix, with the one closest to Phoenix listed first.
    • Navassa
      (2 miles [3.2 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
    • Malmo
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Belville
      (5 miles [8 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
    • Northwest
      (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Sandy Creek
      (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
      • Sandy Creek is located in Brunswick County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sandy Creek
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 319 people
    • Leland
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
      • 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>
    • Town Creek
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
      • Town Creek is located in Brunswick County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Town Creek
    • Winnabow
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
    • Old Town
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Old Town is located in Brunswick County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Old Town
    • Bolivia
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
    • Boiling Spring Lakes
      (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
      • Boiling Spring Lakes is located in Brunswick County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Boiling Spring Lakes
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 6,430 people
    • Supply
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Makatoka
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
  • Bladen County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Phoenix, with the one closest to Phoenix listed first.
    • Long View
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Long View is located in Bladen County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Long View
    • East Arcadia
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
    • Kelly
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Council
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
      • Council is located in Bladen County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Council
    • Rosindale
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
  • Columbus County
  • Duplin County
    • Wallace
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
  • New Hanover County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Phoenix, with the one closest to Phoenix listed first.
    • Hightsville
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
      • Hightsville is located in New Hanover County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hightsville
    • Wrightsboro
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
      • Wrightsboro is located in New Hanover County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wrightsboro
    • Castle Hayne
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Skippers Corner
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Skippers Corner is located in New Hanover County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Skippers Corner
    • Kings Grant
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
      • Kings Grant is located in New Hanover County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kings Grant
    • Smith Creek
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
      • Smith Creek is located in New Hanover County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Smith Creek
    • Wilmington
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Murraysville
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
      • Murraysville is located in New Hanover County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Murraysville
    • Windemere
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
      • Windemere is located in New Hanover County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Windemere
    • Silver Lake
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Silver Lake is located in New Hanover County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Silver Lake
    • Ogden
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
    • Seagate
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
      • Seagate is located in New Hanover County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Seagate
    • Masonboro
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Masonboro is located in New Hanover County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Masonboro
  • Onslow County
    • Surf City
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
  • Pender County
  • Sampson County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Phoenix, with the one closest to Phoenix listed first.
    • Ivanhoe
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Kerr
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)

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

Cemeteries Near Phoenix ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Phoenix.

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

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Phoenix, with the one closest to Phoenix 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.<2>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that in 1895, Phoenix had a post office and railroad service.

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

  • Malmo
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
  • Navassa
    (2 miles [3.2 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
  • Northwest
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
  • Wrightsboro
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Wrightsboro is located in New Hanover County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wrightsboro
  • Town Creek
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Town Creek is located in Brunswick County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Town Creek
  • Castle Hayne
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
  • Montague
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Montague is located in Pender County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Montague
  • Winnabow
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
  • Long Creek
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Long Creek is located in Pender County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Long Creek
  • Currie
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
  • Wilmington
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Armour
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
  • Continue List   (15 more) ...

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

Newspapers Published in Phoenix ...

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 99 newspapers that have been published in the area around Phoenix.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Phoenix, there are papers which were published within 19 miles [30.6 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Phoenix.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we 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 Phoenix:

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