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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 Mark Island (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 Mark Island. 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 Mark Island ...

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 occur.

For example, a typical abbreviation for Mark Island: Mark Is. (in Canada, 'Isld.' is the more common abbreviation.)

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 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.

Mark Island is located in Beaufort County.

To see how the shape of South 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 Beaufort County: Colleton, Hampton & Jasper.

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

  • Beaufort County     (The home county of Mark Island)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Mark Island, with the one closest to Mark Island listed first.
    • Beaufort
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Polk Village
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Polk Village is located in Beaufort County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Polk Village
    • Sangster Village
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
      • Sangster Village is located in Beaufort County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sangster Village
    • Burton
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Dale
      (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Port Royal
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Laurel Bay
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
      • Laurel Bay is located in Beaufort County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Laurel Bay
    • Lobeco
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Seabrook
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Frogmore
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Frogmore is located in Beaufort County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Frogmore
    • Battery Marina Village
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Shell Point
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Shell Point is located in Beaufort County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shell Point
  • Charleston County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Mark Island, with the one closest to Mark Island listed first.
    • Edisto Island
      (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
    • Adams Run
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Canady Landing ‑ Historic
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Canady Landing is located in Charleston County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Canady Landing
    • Rockville
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
      • Rockville is located in Charleston County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rockville
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 138 people
    • Seabrook Island
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
    • Hollywood
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Meggett
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Colleton County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Mark Island, with the one closest to Mark Island listed first.
    • White Hall
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
      • White Hall is located in Colleton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for White Hall
    • Green Pond
      (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
    • Edisto Beach
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
      • Edisto Beach is located in Colleton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Edisto Beach
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 402 people
    • Ritter
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
      • Ritter is located in Colleton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ritter
    • Jacksonboro
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
    • Drawdy
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
      • Drawdy is located in Colleton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Drawdy
    • Walterboro
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
    • Sniders Crossroads
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
      • Sniders Crossroads is located in Colleton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sniders Crossroads
  • Hampton County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Mark Island, with the one closest to Mark Island listed first.
    • Barkerville
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Barkerville is located in Hampton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Barkerville
      • Barkerville has also been known as:
      • Haywardville
    • Early Branch
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
  • Jasper County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Mark Island, with the one closest to Mark Island listed first.
    • Ridgeland
      (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
    • Tillman
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
    • Pineland
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)

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

Cemeteries Near Mark Island ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Mark Island.

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 Mark Island - one of the links might be able to help.

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

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

  • Beaufort National Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
  • Citizens Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
  • Beth Israel Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
  • Evergreen Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
  • Tabernacle Baptist Church Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
  • Reynolds Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
  • Laurel Hill Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
  • Beaufort Memorial Gardens
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
  • Bethlehem Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
  • Inlet Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
  • Rose Hill Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
  • Old Fort Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
  • Continue List   (108 more) ...
    • Warsaw Cemetery
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Coosaw Island Cemetery
      (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Habersham Cemetery
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)

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.<3>

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

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

  • Beaufort
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
  • Dale
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
  • Port Royal
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
  • Frogmore
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Frogmore is located in Beaufort County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Frogmore
  • Coosaw
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Coosaw is located in Beaufort County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coosaw
  • Sheldon
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Tomotley
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Tomotley is located in Beaufort County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tomotley
  • White Hall
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
    • White Hall is located in Colleton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for White Hall
  • Hilton Head Island
    (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
  • Salkehatchie
    (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
    • Salkehatchie is located in Colleton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Salkehatchie
  • Green Pond
    (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
  • Yemassee
    (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
  • Continue List   (13 more) ...
    • Ridgeland
      (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
    • Bluffton
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Ashepoo
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
      • Ashepoo is located in Colleton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ashepoo

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

Newspapers Published in Mark Island ...

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 27 newspapers that have been published in the area around Mark Island.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Mark Island, there are papers which were published within 18 miles [29 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Mark Island.

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 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 Mark Island:

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>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 Mark Island, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>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 drawn from Point A (ie- Mark Island) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.