RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of South Carolina >> Lexington County >> Gaston >> Genealogy HelperIndex...










Learn About
The Commemorative
Quarter for
South Carolina

The Commemorative Quarter for South Carolina





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 Gaston (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 Gaston. 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 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 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.

Gaston is located in Lexington County.

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

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Lexington County: Aiken, Calhoun, Newberry, Orangeburg, Richland & Saluda.

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

  • Lexington County     (The home county of Gaston)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Gaston, with the one closest to Gaston listed first.
    • Glenn Village
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Glenn Village have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glenn Village
      • Glenn Village is located in Lexington County
    • Swansea
      (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Pineridge
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • South Congaree
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for South Congaree have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Congaree
      • South Congaree is located in Lexington County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,485 people
    • Styx ‑ Historic
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Styx have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Styx
      • Styx is located in Lexington County
    • Springdale
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Pelion
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Arthur
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Arthur. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Arthur
      • Arthur is located in Lexington County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Arthur
      • From Gaston to Arthur
    • Cayce
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Oak Grove
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Oak Grove have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oak Grove
      • Oak Grove is located in Lexington County
    • Red Bank
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Red Bank have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Red Bank
      • Red Bank is located in Lexington County
    • West Columbia
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
  • Aiken County
  • Barnwell County
  • Calhoun County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Gaston, with the one closest to Gaston listed first.
    • Saint Matthews
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Cameron
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cameron have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cameron
      • Cameron is located in Calhoun County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 396 people
    • Creston
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Kershaw County
  • Lancaster County
  • Orangeburg County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Gaston, with the one closest to Gaston listed first.
    • Woodford
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Woodford. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodford
      • Woodford is located in Orangeburg County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 169 people
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Woodford
      • From Gaston to Woodford
    • North
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
    • Boiling Spring ‑ Historic
      (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Boiling Spring have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Boiling Spring
      • Boiling Spring is located in Orangeburg County
    • Livingston
      (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Livingston have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Livingston
      • Livingston is located in Orangeburg County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 124 people
    • Neeses
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
    • Jamison
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Bolen Town
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bolen Town have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bolen Town
      • Bolen Town is located in Orangeburg County
    • Stilton
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Springfield
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Norway
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
    • Brookdale
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Brookdale have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brookdale
      • Brookdale is located in Orangeburg County
    • Edisto
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Edisto have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Edisto
      • Edisto is located in Orangeburg County
  • Richland County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Gaston, with the one closest to Gaston listed first.
    • Arthurtown
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Hollywood
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
    • Valencia Heights
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Valencia Heights have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Valencia Heights
      • Valencia Heights is located in Richland County
    • Columbia
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
    • Pinewood
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
    • Capitol View
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Hopkins
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Saint Andrews
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Saint Andrews have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saint Andrews
      • Saint Andrews is located in Richland County
    • Forest Acres
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Brickyard Village
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Brickyard Village have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brickyard Village
      • Brickyard Village is located in Richland County
    • Bruner
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Ravenwood
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Sumter County
    • Sumter Junction
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sumter Junction have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sumter Junction
      • Sumter Junction is located in Sumter County

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

Cemeteries Near Gaston ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Gaston.

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Gaston, with the one closest to Gaston listed first.

  • Reichter - Richter Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Reichter - Richter Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Reichter - Richter Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Larkin Glen Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Larkin Glen Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Larkin Glen Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Antioch Baptist Church Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
  • Bachman Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Bachman Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Bachman Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Neese Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Neese Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Neese Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • St. Pauls Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Pauls Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Pauls Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Baughman Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Baughman Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Baughman Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Bethel Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Bethel Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Bethel Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Sardis Baptist Church Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Kaigler Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Kaigler Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Kaigler Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • St. Pauls Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Pauls Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Pauls Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • St. Johns Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Johns Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Johns Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (295 more) ...
    • Sightler Cemetery
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Sightler Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Sightler Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jeffcoat - Chaney Cemetery
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Jeffcoat - Chaney Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Jeffcoat - Chaney Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Reese Cemetery
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Reese Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Reese Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> 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.<6>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that in 1895, Gaston had railroad service and no post office. In 2020, Gaston had a population of 1,712 people.

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

  • Swansea
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
  • Pineridge
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
  • Arthur
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Arthur. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Arthur
    • Arthur is located in Lexington County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Arthur
    • From Gaston to Arthur
  • Woodford
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Woodford. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodford
    • Woodford is located in Orangeburg County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 169 people
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Woodford
    • From Gaston to Woodford
  • Cayce
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
  • Spring Hill
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Spring Hill have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spring Hill
    • Spring Hill is located in Lexington County
  • Childs
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Childs have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Childs
    • Childs is located in Richland County
  • North
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
  • Columbia
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
  • Hopkins
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
  • Leaphart
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Leaphart have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leaphart
    • Leaphart is located in Lexington County
  • Weston
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Weston. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Weston
    • Weston is located in Richland County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Weston
    • From Gaston to Weston
  • Continue List   (16 more) ...
    • Perry
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Sawyerdale
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sawyerdale have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sawyerdale
      • Sawyerdale is located in Orangeburg County
    • Wagener
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)

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

Newspapers Published in Gaston ...

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 182 newspapers that have been published in the area around Gaston.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Gaston, there are papers which were published within 14 miles [22.5 km]<5>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Gaston.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we begin with 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 Gaston:

Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Gaston. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.

The official website for Lexington County: www.lex-co.com/

The official website for State of South Carolina: https://sc.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 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Gaston) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Gaston. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 33.8173, Longitude: -81.1010    
<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 Gaston, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

Copyright 2025
All Rights Reserved

Thank you for visiting our website.

In closing, please keep in mind that we can not guarantee the accuracy or timeliness of the information on this website, so use with care. We encourage you to double-check the information that is critical to you.

If you've found an error or have additional information that you would like to share, please don't hesitate to write: Click here to contact us.

This page was last modified/updated: 22 Apr 2025