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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 Great Branch (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 Great Branch. 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 doctors and 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.

Great Branch is located in Orangeburg 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 Orangeburg County: Aiken, Bamberg, Barnwell, Berkeley, Calhoun, Clarendon, Colleton, Dorchester & Lexington.

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

  • Orangeburg County     (The home county of Great Branch)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Great Branch, with the one closest to Great Branch listed first.
    • Edisto
      (3 miles [4.8 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
    • Bolen Town
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
      • 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
    • Orangeburg
      (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Cordova
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Brookdale
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
      • 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
    • Stilton
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stilton
      • Stilton is located in Orangeburg County
    • Wilkinson Heights
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Wilkinson Heights have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wilkinson Heights
      • Wilkinson Heights is located in Orangeburg County
    • Wren Village
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Wren Village have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wren Village
      • Wren Village is located in Orangeburg County
    • Boiling Spring ‑ Historic
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
      • 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
    • Jamison
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jamison
      • Jamison is located in Orangeburg County
    • Cope
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cope
      • Cope is located in Orangeburg County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 70 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Cope <2>
    • Livingston
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
      • 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
  • Aiken County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Great Branch, with the one closest to Great Branch listed first.
    • Salley
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
    • Perry
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
    • Wagener
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Seivern
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Seivern
      • Seivern is located in Aiken County
    • Kitchings Mill
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Kitchings Mill. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kitchings Mill
      • Kitchings Mill is located in Aiken County
      • Kitchings Mill has also been known as:
      • Kinchens Mill
  • Bamberg County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Great Branch, with the one closest to Great Branch listed first.
    • Bamberg
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
    • Denmark
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Govan
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Govan
      • Govan is located in Bamberg County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 57 people
    • Olar
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Olar
      • Olar is located in Bamberg County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 228 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Olar <2>
    • Ehrhardt
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
  • Barnwell County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Great Branch, with the one closest to Great Branch listed first.
    • Blackville
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Whaley
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Whaley
      • Whaley is located in Barnwell County
    • Hilda
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
    • Reynold
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Reynold have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Reynold
      • Reynold is located in Barnwell County
    • Elko
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elko
      • Elko is located in Barnwell County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 180 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Elko <2>
    • Williston
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
    • Barnwell
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Calhoun County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Great Branch, with the one closest to Great Branch listed first.
    • Cameron
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
      • 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
    • Saint Matthews
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Creston
      (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Creston
      • Creston is located in Calhoun County
  • Colleton County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Great Branch, with the one closest to Great Branch listed first.
    • Johnsville
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Johnsville
      • Johnsville is located in Colleton County
    • Smoaks
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
    • Lodge
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
  • Dorchester County
    • Reevesville
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
  • Lexington County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Great Branch, with the one closest to Great Branch listed first.
    • Swansea
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
    • Gaston
      (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gaston
      • Gaston is located in Lexington County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,712 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Gaston <2>
    • Pelion
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Glenn Village
      (27 miles [43.5 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
    • Pineridge
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pineridge
      • Pineridge is located in Lexington County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,419 people
    • South Congaree
      (29 miles [46.7 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
      (29 miles [46.7 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
  • Richland County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Great Branch, with the one closest to Great Branch listed first.
    • Gadsden
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Weston
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
      • 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
    • Hopkins
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
    • Pinewood
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pinewood
      • Pinewood is located in Richland County
    • Bruner
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bruner
      • Bruner is located in Richland County
    • Eastover
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)

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

Cemeteries Near Great Branch ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Great Branch.

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

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

  • Bethany Baptist Church Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Bethany Baptist Church Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Bethany Baptist Church Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Bethany Church Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Bethany Church Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Bethany Church Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • St. George Baptist Church Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. George Baptist Church Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. George Baptist Church Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Zion Church Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
  • Mt. Calvary Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Mt. Calvary Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Mt. Calvary Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Mt. Calvary Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Mt. Calvary Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Mt. Calvary Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • St. Stephen Church Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Stephen Church Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Stephen Church Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Macedonia Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Macedonia Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Macedonia Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Memorial Park Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
  • Orangeburg Memorial Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Orangeburg Memorial Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Orangeburg Memorial Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Double Branch Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Double Branch Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Double Branch Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Old Pearson Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Old Pearson Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Old Pearson Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (215 more) ...
    • Ebenezer Cemetery
      (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Ebenezer Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Ebenezer Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • First Baptist Cemetery
      (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the First Baptist Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the First Baptist Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Sunnyside Cemetery
      (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Sunnyside Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Sunnyside 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.<5>

While we didn't find Great Branch in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Great Branch.

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

  • Felder
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Felder have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Felder
    • Felder is located in Orangeburg County
  • Stilton
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stilton
    • Stilton is located in Orangeburg County
  • Boiling Spring ‑ Historic
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • 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
  • Jamison
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jamison
    • Jamison is located in Orangeburg County
  • Rowesville
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
  • North
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North
    • North is located in Orangeburg County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 699 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for North <2>
  • Saint Matthews
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
  • Woodford
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
    • 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
  • Bamberg
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
  • Sixty Six
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sixty Six
    • Sixty Six is located in Orangeburg County
  • Denmark
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Sawyerdale
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
    • 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
  • Continue List   (15 more) ...
    • Swansea
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
    • Springfield
      (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
    • Branchville
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)

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

Newspapers Published in Great Branch ...

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 39 newspapers that have been published in the area around Great Branch.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Great Branch, there are papers which were published within 20 miles [32.2 km]<6>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Great Branch.

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 professional and volunteer 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 Great Branch:

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

The official website for Orangeburg County: www.orangeburgcounty.org/

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>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 Great Branch, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<6>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- Great Branch) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Great Branch. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 33.5065, Longitude: -80.9562       In this case, the coordinates for Great Branch have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 22 Apr 2025