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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 Varnville (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 Varnville. 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.

Varnville is located in Hampton 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 Hampton County: Effingham (GA), Screven (GA), Allendale, Bamberg, Beaufort, Colleton & Jasper.

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

  • Hampton County     (The home county of Varnville)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Varnville, with the one closest to Varnville listed first.
    • Hampton
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Crocketville
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Pond Town
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Pond Town have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pond Town
      • Pond Town is located in Hampton County
    • Miley
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Brunson
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Gifford
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Luray
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Early Branch
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Estill
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Barkerville
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Barkerville
      • Barkerville is located in Hampton County
      • Barkerville has also been known as:
      • Haywardville
    • Furman
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Scotia
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Garnett
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
  • Allendale County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Varnville, with the one closest to Varnville listed first.
    • Fairfax
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Sycamore
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Allendale
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Ulmer
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
    • Martin
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Bamberg County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Varnville, with the one closest to Varnville listed first.
    • Ehrhardt
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
    • Olar
      (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
      • 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 <1>
    • Govan
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Govan
      • Govan is located in Bamberg County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 57 people
    • Bamberg
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
  • Barnwell County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Varnville, with the one closest to Varnville listed first.
    • Kline
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Hilda
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
  • Beaufort County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Varnville, with the one closest to Varnville listed first.
    • Yemassee
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Sheldon
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
    • Lobeco
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Seabrook
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Dale
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Colleton County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Varnville, with the one closest to Varnville listed first.
    • Islandton
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Sniders Crossroads
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sniders Crossroads
      • Sniders Crossroads is located in Colleton County
    • Ashton
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ashton
      • Ashton is located in Colleton County
    • Lodge
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Ruffin
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
    • Williams
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
    • Smoaks
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Walterboro
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
    • Johnsville
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Johnsville
      • Johnsville is located in Colleton County
    • Ritter
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ritter have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ritter
      • Ritter is located in Colleton County
    • Green Pond
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
    • Drigger Crossroads
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Drigger Crossroads
      • Drigger Crossroads is located in Colleton County
    • Canadys
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Jasper County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Varnville, with the one closest to Varnville listed first.
    • Pineland
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
    • Ridgeland
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
    • Tillman
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
  • Effingham County (GA)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Varnville, with the one closest to Varnville listed first.
    • Two Sisters Ferry
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Two Sisters Ferry have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Two Sisters Ferry
      • Two Sisters Ferry is located in Effingham County (GA)
      • Estimated population in 2019: 3,063 people
    • Clyo
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Haddonville
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Haddonville have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Haddonville
      • Haddonville is located in Effingham County (GA)
      • Estimated population in 2019: 965 people
  • Screven County (GA)
    • Newington
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Newington have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Newington
      • Newington is located in Screven County (GA)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 264 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Newington <1>

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Varnville ...

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 25 newspapers that have been published in the area around Varnville.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Varnville. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Varnville and those printed in the larger area surrounding Varnville.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 26 miles [41.8 km]<3> of Varnville.

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 Varnville:

Cemeteries Near Varnville ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Varnville.

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

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

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>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Varnville had a population of 553 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Varnville had a population of 1,949 people.

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

  • Almeda
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Almeda have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Almeda
    • Almeda is located in Hampton County
  • Hampton
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
  • Crocketville
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
  • Cummings
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cummings have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cummings
    • Cummings is located in Hampton County
  • Horsegall
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Horsegall have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Horsegall
    • Horsegall is located in Hampton County
  • Miley
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
  • Brunson
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
  • Luray
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
  • Islandton
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
  • Gifford
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
  • Estill
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Early Branch
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Continue List   (15 more) ...
    • Fairfax
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Stafford
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Stafford have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stafford
      • Stafford is located in Hampton County
    • Davidson
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Davidson have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Davidson
      • Davidson is located in Hampton County

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

The official website for Varnville: www.varnville.org/

The official website for Hampton County: www.hamptoncountysc.org/

The official website for State of South Carolina: https://sc.gov/

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 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.
<3>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or 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- Varnville) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Varnville. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 32.8502, Longitude: -81.0804    
<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 Varnville, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024