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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 Williston (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 Williston. 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.

Williston is located in Barnwell 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 Barnwell County: Burke (GA), Aiken, Allendale, Bamberg & Orangeburg.

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

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

Cemeteries Near Williston ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Williston.

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

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

  • Hair Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Hair Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Hair Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • White Pond Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
  • Bates Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Bates Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Bates Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Old Field Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Old Field Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Old Field Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Sand Hill Gardens
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Sand Hill Gardens
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Sand Hill Gardens have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jowers Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Jowers Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Jowers Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Frost Branch Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Frost Branch Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Frost Branch Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Woods Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Woods Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Woods Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Dorch Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Dorch Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Dorch Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jowers Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Jowers Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Jowers Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Scott Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Scott Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Scott Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • County Memory Gardens
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the County Memory Gardens
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the County Memory Gardens have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (195 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.<7>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Williston had a population of 503 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Williston had a population of 2,912 people.

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

  • Elko
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
  • White Pond
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for White Pond have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for White Pond
    • White Pond is located in Aiken County
  • Reynold
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Reynold have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Reynold
    • Reynold is located in Barnwell County
  • Walker
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Walker have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Walker
    • Walker is located in Barnwell County
  • Whaley
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
  • Windsor
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Ashleigh
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ashleigh have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ashleigh
    • Ashleigh is located in Barnwell County
  • Blackville
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
  • Springfield
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
  • Snelling
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
  • Kitchings Mill
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
    • 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
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Kitchings Mill
    • From Williston to Kitchings Mill
  • Oakwood
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Oakwood have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oakwood
    • Oakwood is located in Aiken County
  • Continue List   (15 more) ...
    • Greenland ‑ Historic
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Greenland have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenland
      • Greenland is located in Barnwell County
    • Salley
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Dunbarton ‑ Historic
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Dunbarton have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dunbarton
      • Dunbarton is located in Barnwell County

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Williston ...

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 36 newspapers that have been published in the area around Williston.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Williston. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Williston and those printed in the larger area surrounding Williston.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 24 miles [38.6 km]<5> of Williston.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we begin with the websites from Cyndi's List, FamilySearch and Genealogy Trails. These websites either 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 Williston:

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

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>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>To help visualize the location of the cemetery, we've drawn a straight line between the communities of Windsor and Williston. The cemetery can be found near that line and roughly halfway between the two communities. Remember that this is just an approximate location.
<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 from Point A (ie- Williston) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Williston. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 33.4012, Longitude: -81.4213    
<6>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.
<7>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 Williston, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 22 Apr 2025