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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 Aetna (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 Aetna. 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 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.

Aetna is located in Hickman County.

To see how the shape of Tennessee's counties may have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Hickman County: Dickson, Humphreys, Lewis, Maury, Perry & Williamson.

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

  • Hickman County     (The home county of Aetna)
  • Decatur County
    • Oakview ‑ Historic
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
      • Oakview is located in Decatur County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oakview
  • Dickson County
  • Giles County
  • Humphreys County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Aetna, with the one closest to Aetna listed first.
    • Grandmother Ford
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
      • Grandmother Ford is located in Humphreys County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grandmother Ford
      • Estimated population in 2014: 307 people
    • Buffalo
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Hurricane Mills
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Bethpage
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
      • Bethpage is located in Humphreys County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bethpage
      • Population from the 2010 Census: 288 people
    • Bakerville
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
  • Lawrence County
  • Lewis County
  • Maury County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Aetna, with the one closest to Aetna listed first.
    • Hampshire
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
    • Greenfield Bend
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
    • Chapel Hill
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
    • Chartersville
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
      • Chartersville is located in Maury County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chartersville
      • Estimated population in 2014: 1,494 people
    • Williamsport
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
    • Arkland
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
    • Sawdust
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
      • Sawdust is located in Maury County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sawdust
      • Estimated population in 2014: 7,053 people
    • Jonesboro ‑ Historic
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
      • Jonesboro is located in Maury County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jonesboro
      • Estimated population in 2014: 5,238 people
    • Mount Pleasant
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
    • Armour Village
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
      • Armour Village is located in Maury County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Armour Village
    • Ashwood
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
    • Zion
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
    • Frierson Town
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Frierson Town is located in Maury County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Frierson Town
      • Estimated population in 2014: 923 people
  • Perry County
  • Wayne County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Aetna, with the one closest to Aetna listed first.
    • Ashland Ford
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Ashland Ford is located in Wayne County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ashland Ford
      • Estimated population in 2014: 4,674 people
    • Slickrock Ford
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
      • Slickrock Ford is located in Wayne County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Slickrock Ford
      • Estimated population in 2014: 179 people
    • Waynesboro
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
  • Williamson County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Aetna, with the one closest to Aetna listed first.
    • Fairview
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Loriland
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Loriland is located in Williamson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Loriland
      • Estimated population in 2014: 1,735 people

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

Cemeteries Near Aetna ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Aetna.

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 Aetna - one of the links might be able to help.

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Aetna, with the one closest to Aetna 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.<4>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that in 1895, Aetna had a post office and no railroad service.

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

  • Kimmins
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
  • Palestine ‑ Historic
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Palestine is located in Lewis County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Palestine
  • Sunrise
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Sunrise is located in Hickman County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunrise
  • Swan Bluff
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
  • Deans
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Deans is located in Hickman County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Deans
  • Hohenwald
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
  • Centerville
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
  • Newburg ‑ Historic
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Newburg is located in Lewis County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Newburg
  • Graytown
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Graytown is located in Hickman County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Graytown
    • Estimated population in 2014: 1,528 people
  • Whitfield
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
  • Pleasantville
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Pleasantville is located in Hickman County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasantville
  • Tottys Bend
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...
    • Hampshire
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
    • Kettle Mills
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
      • Kettle Mills is located in Maury County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kettle Mills
    • Bluffpoint ‑ Historic
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Bluffpoint is located in Hickman County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bluffpoint

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

Newspapers Published in Aetna ...

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 27 newspapers that have been published in the area around Aetna.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Aetna, there are papers which were published within 19 miles [30.6 km]<2>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Aetna.

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 Aetna:

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' (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- Aetna) 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 Aetna, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.