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 Windmill Harbor (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 Windmill Harbor. 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 Windmill Harbor ...
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 Windmill Harbor: Windmill Hbr. (or less commonly used: Windmill Harb. or Windmill Hrbr.)
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 and doctors 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.
Windmill Harbor 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 Windmill Harbor. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Windmill Harbor:
- Beaufort County (The home county of Windmill Harbor)
- The following are listed by their distance from Windmill Harbor, with the one closest to Windmill Harbor listed first.
- Hilton Head Island
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
- Point Comfort
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
- Point Comfort is located in Beaufort County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Point Comfort
- Harbour Town
(5 miles [8 km] to the south)
- Harbour Town is located in Beaufort County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harbour Town
- Bluffton
(5 miles [8 km] to the west)
- Daufuskie Island
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
- Battery Marina Village
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
- Shell Point
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
- Shell Point is located in Beaufort County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shell Point
- Okatie
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
- Pritchardville
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
- Pritchardville is located in Beaufort County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pritchardville
- Port Royal
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
- Burton
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
- Sangster Village
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
- Sangster Village is located in Beaufort County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sangster Village
- Jasper County
- The following are listed by their distance from Windmill Harbor, with the one closest to Windmill Harbor listed first.
- Ridgeland
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
- Tillman
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
- Chatham County (GA)
- The following are listed by their distance from Windmill Harbor, with the one closest to Windmill Harbor listed first.
- Fort Screven
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
- Fort Screven is located in Chatham County (GA)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fort Screven
- Tybee Island
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
- Golden Isles
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
- Wilmington Island
(18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
- Isle of Armstrong
(19 miles [30.6 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
- Whitemarsh Island
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
- Whitemarsh Island is located in Chatham County (GA)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Whitemarsh Island
- Robert M Hitch Village
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
- Robert M Hitch Village is located in Chatham County (GA)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Robert M Hitch Village
- Savannah
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
- Thunderbolt
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
- Bona Bella
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
- Bona Bella is located in Chatham County (GA)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bona Bella
- Carver Village
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
- Carver Village is located in Chatham County (GA)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carver Village
- Florida Junction
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
- Florida Junction is located in Chatham County (GA)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Florida Junction
- Effingham County (GA)
- The following are listed by their distance from Windmill Harbor, with the one closest to Windmill Harbor listed first.
- Exley
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
- Exley is located in Effingham County (GA)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Exley
- Population from the 2010 Census: 2,894 people
- Rincon
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
- Rincon is located in Effingham County (GA)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rincon
- Population from the 2020 Census: 10,655 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Rincon <1>
- Haddonville
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
- Haddonville is located in Effingham County (GA)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Haddonville
- Estimated population in 2019: 965 people
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Windmill Harbor, see our County-by-County Page for Windmill Harbor.
Cemeteries Near Windmill Harbor ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Windmill Harbor.
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 Windmill Harbor - one of the links might be able to help.
If not found below, our Cemetery List for Windmill Harbor covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Windmill Harbor, with the one closest to Windmill Harbor listed first.
- Jenkins Island Cemetery
(Less than 2 miles to the east)
- Stoney Cemetery
(Less than 2 miles to the east)
- Opossum Point Cemetery
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
- Talbor Cemetery
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
- Lawton Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
- Pope Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
- Baynard Tomb
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
- Government Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
- Elliot Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
- Braddocks Point Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the south)
- Six Oaks Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the south)
- Drayton Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the east)
- Continue List (112 more) ...
- Bluffton Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the west)
- Haig Point Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
- Moreland Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 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.<4>
While we didn't find Windmill Harbor in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Windmill Harbor.
These communities are listed based on their distance from Windmill Harbor, with the one closest to Windmill Harbor listed first.
- Hilton Head Island
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
- Bluffton
(5 miles [8 km] to the west)
- Okatie
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
- Pritchardville
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
- Pritchardville is located in Beaufort County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pritchardville
- Port Royal
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
- Tybee Island
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
- Beaufort
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
- Frogmore
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
- Frogmore is located in Beaufort County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Frogmore
- Hardeeville
(18 miles [29 km] to the west)
- Savannah
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
- Ridgeland
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
- Coosaw
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
- Coosaw is located in Beaufort County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coosaw
- Continue List (12 more) ...
- Wheat Hill
(23 miles [37 km] to the west)
- Wheat Hill is located in Chatham County (GA)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wheat Hill
- Isle of Hope
(23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
- Isle of Hope is located in Chatham County (GA)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Isle of Hope
- Dale
(23 miles [37 km] to the north)
We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Windmill Harbor. See our List of 1890's Communities around Windmill Harbor.
Newspapers Published in Windmill Harbor ...
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 26 newspapers that have been published in the area around Windmill Harbor.
Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Windmill Harbor, there are papers which were published within 18 miles [29 km]<2>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Windmill Harbor.
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 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 Windmill Harbor:
- Websites specific to South Carolina
- Pages specific to Beaufort County
- Genealogy information for nearby counties
- Jasper County
- Chatham County
- Effingham County
- Cemetery Information and Directories for South Carolina
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> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Windmill Harbor) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |
| <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> | 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 Windmill Harbor, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |