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 West Alexandria (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 West Alexandria. 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.
Name Variations for West Alexandria ...
When searching records, keep in mind that names and their spelling can change over time. Our sources include documents like maps, railroad schedules, Travel, Express and Shipping Guides. Many of these documents date from the 1800's and it's common to find spelling differences.
Although we can't give a definitive list, hopefully the following will give you a feel for the variations that might have occurred.
For example, a typical abbreviation for West Alexandria: W. Alexandria
If you have information about these names (such as the reason for the change, date of change, the origin of the name), please Contact Us.
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.
Below are the counties that are near West Alexandria. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to West Alexandria:
Preble County (The home county of West Alexandria)
The following are listed by their distance from West Alexandria, with the one closest to West Alexandria listed first.
Ingomar (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Ingomar. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Euphemia. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Fort Jefferson. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Poplar Ridge. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
Ginghamsburg (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Ginghamsburg. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Riverside. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Franklin. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Spartanburg. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Contreras. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of West Alexandria.
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).
Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Sugar Hill German Baptist Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the New Lexington Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
Sugar Grove Cemetery (Less than 2 miles to the north)
Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for the Clemmer Cemetery. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
To give a relative sense of its location, the Clemmer Cemetery is located between<4> the communities of West Alexandria and Gratis. The cemetery lies 2 miles [3.2 km]<5> to the south of West Alexandria.
Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Eikenberry - Wheatville Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Shiloh Lutheran Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
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.<7>
The Rand McNally Atlas shows that West Alexandria had a population of 575 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, West Alexandria had a population of 1,323 people.
These communities are listed based on their distance from West Alexandria, with the one closest to West Alexandria listed first.
Ingomar (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Ingomar. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Euphemia. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
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 118 newspapers that have been published in the area around West Alexandria.
We have organized these newspapers into two lists:
A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of West Alexandria. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of West Alexandria and those printed in the larger area surrounding West Alexandria.
An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 17 miles [27.4 km]<5> of West Alexandria.
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 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 West Alexandria:
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.
<2>
While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<3>
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.
<4>
To help visualize the location of the cemetery, we've drawn a straight line between the communities of West Alexandria and Gratis. The cemetery can be found near that line and roughly halfway between the two communities. Remember that this is just an approximate location.
<5>
Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or 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- West Alexandria) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in West Alexandria. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.7444, Longitude: -84.5323
<6>
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.
<7>
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 West Alexandria, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.