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Our Genealogy Helper

Introduction ...

So far, we found very little information about Santa Elena. The little that we've found leads us believe that the community is historic.<1>

We've added Santa Elena to our Gazetteer with the hope that we can develop more information. If you can help us with Santa Elena, please Contact Us.

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 Santa Elena (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 Santa Elena. 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 doctors and hospitals 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.

Although our information shows that the community of Santa Elena is historic, it would have been located within present day 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 Santa Elena. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Santa Elena:

  • Beaufort County     (The home county of Santa Elena)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Santa Elena, with the one closest to Santa Elena listed first.
    • Port Royal
      (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Battery Marina Village
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Shell Point
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Shell Point is located in Beaufort County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shell Point
    • Sangster Village
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
      • Sangster Village is located in Beaufort County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sangster Village
    • Hilton Head Island
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Frogmore
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
      • Frogmore is located in Beaufort County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Frogmore
    • Beaufort
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Burton
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Polk Village
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
      • Polk Village is located in Beaufort County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Polk Village
    • Fripp Island
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
    • Bluffton
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Point Comfort
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Point Comfort is located in Beaufort County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Point Comfort
  • Charleston County
  • Colleton County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Santa Elena, with the one closest to Santa Elena listed first.
    • Edisto Beach
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
      • Edisto Beach is located in Colleton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Edisto Beach
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 402 people
    • White Hall
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
      • White Hall is located in Colleton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for White Hall
    • Green Pond
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
  • Jasper County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Santa Elena, with the one closest to Santa Elena listed first.
    • Ridgeland
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Tillman
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Chatham County (GA)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Santa Elena, with the one closest to Santa Elena listed first.
    • Fort Screven
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Fort Screven is located in Chatham County (GA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fort Screven
    • Tybee Island
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Golden Isles
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Whitemarsh Island
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Whitemarsh Island is located in Chatham County (GA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Whitemarsh Island
    • Wilmington Island
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Isle of Armstrong
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Isle of Armstrong is located in Chatham County (GA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Isle of Armstrong
      • Population from the 2010 Census: 2,402 people
    • Robert M Hitch Village
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Robert M Hitch Village is located in Chatham County (GA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Robert M Hitch Village
    • Thunderbolt
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Savannah
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Savannah is located in Chatham County (GA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Savannah
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 143,632 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Savannah <2>
    • Bona Bella
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Bona Bella is located in Chatham County (GA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bona Bella
    • Carver Village
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Carver Village is located in Chatham County (GA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carver Village
    • Garden City
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)

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

Cemeteries Near Santa Elena ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Santa Elena.

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 Santa Elena - one of the links might be able to help.

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

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

  • Tombee Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
  • Elliot Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
  • Drayton Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
  • Port Royal Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
  • Talbor Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
  • Jericho Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
  • Pritchard Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
  • Orange Grove Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
  • Old Fort Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
  • Government Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
  • Perry Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Shell Point Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Continue List   (98 more) ...

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.

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

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

  • Port Royal
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
  • Hilton Head Island
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Frogmore
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Frogmore is located in Beaufort County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Frogmore
  • Beaufort
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
  • Bluffton
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Okatie
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
  • Pritchardville
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
    • Pritchardville is located in Beaufort County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pritchardville
  • Coosaw
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
    • Coosaw is located in Beaufort County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coosaw
  • Dale
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
  • Sheldon
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
  • Ridgeland
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
  • Tybee Island
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
  • Continue List   (8 more) ...
    • Tomotley
      (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
      • Tomotley is located in Beaufort County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tomotley
    • Hardeeville
      (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
    • Tillman
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)

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

Newspapers Published in Santa Elena ...

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 23 newspapers that have been published in the area around Santa Elena.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Santa Elena, there are papers which were published within 9 miles [14.5 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Santa Elena.

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 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 Santa Elena:

Footnotes ...

<1>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 Santa Elena, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<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 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.
<4>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Santa Elena) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.