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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 Ridgeway (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 Ridgeway. 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 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.

Ridgeway is located in Fairfield 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 Fairfield County: Chester, Kershaw, Lancaster, Newberry, Richland & Union.

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

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

Cemeteries Near Ridgeway ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Ridgeway.

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

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

  • St. Stephens Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Stephens Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Stephens Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Aimwell Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Aimwell Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Aimwell Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Macedonia Baptist Church Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
  • Calvary Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Calvary Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Calvary Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Sawneys Creek Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Sawneys Creek Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Sawneys Creek Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Piney Grove Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Piney Grove Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Piney Grove Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Richardson Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Richardson Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Richardson Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • New Buffalo Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the New Buffalo Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the New Buffalo Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Browns Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Browns Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Browns Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Thomas Woodward Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Thomas Woodward Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Thomas Woodward Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Longtown Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Longtown Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Longtown Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Mt. Zion Baptist Church Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
  • Continue List   (252 more) ...
    • St. Marks Cemetery
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Marks Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Marks Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Russell Cemetery
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Russell Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Russell Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Winnsboro Mills Cemetery
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Winnsboro Mills Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Winnsboro Mills 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.<4>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Ridgeway had a population of 249 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Ridgeway had a population of 279 people.

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

  • Simpson
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Simpson have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Simpson
    • Simpson is located in Fairfield County
  • Longtown
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Longtown have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Longtown
    • Longtown is located in Fairfield County
  • Flint Hill
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Flint Hill have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flint Hill
    • Flint Hill is located in Fairfield County
  • Rockton
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rockton have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rockton
    • Rockton is located in Fairfield County
  • Winnsboro
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
  • Pleasant ‑ Historic
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Pleasant have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant
    • Pleasant is located in Richland County
  • Sharp
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sharp have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sharp
    • Sharp is located in Richland County
  • Rion
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
  • Lever ‑ Historic
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lever have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lever
    • Lever is located in Richland County
  • Killian
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Killian have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Killian
    • Killian is located in Richland County
  • Jennings
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Jennings have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jennings
    • Jennings is located in Fairfield County
  • Adger
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Adger. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Adger
    • Adger is located in Fairfield County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Adger
    • From Ridgeway to Adger
  • Continue List   (16 more) ...

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Ridgeway ...

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 21 newspapers that have been published in the area around Ridgeway.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Ridgeway. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Ridgeway and those printed in the larger area surrounding Ridgeway.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 8 miles [12.9 km]<5> of Ridgeway.

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 helpful 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 Ridgeway:

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

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>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 Ridgeway, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<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- Ridgeway) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Ridgeway. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 34.3051, Longitude: -80.9575    









 

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This page was last modified/updated: 22 Apr 2025