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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 Covington (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 Covington. 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 Covington ...

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.

In past government published Postal Guides, Covington was referred to as Covington Courthouse.

You might be interested in other communities that are also named Covington. More information can be found on our Tidbits & Trivia Page for Covington.

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.

For more information about how community names might have been affected by the Board of Geographic Names (BGN), see our page about Placename Rules.

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 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.

Covington is located in Tipton County and is the County Seat.

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 Tipton County: Crittenden (AR), Mississippi (AR), Fayette, Haywood, Lauderdale & Shelby.

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

  • Tipton County     (The home county of Covington)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Covington, with the one closest to Covington listed first.
    • Gift
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
      • Gift is located in Tipton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gift
      • Estimated population in 2014: 378 people
    • Bride
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Mount Carmel
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
      • Mount Carmel is located in Tipton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Carmel
      • Estimated population in 2014: 5,453 people
    • Garland
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
      • Garland is located in Tipton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Garland
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 300 people
    • Clopton
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
      • Clopton is located in Tipton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clopton
      • Estimated population in 2014: 9,889 people
    • Brighton
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Burlison
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Walnut Grove
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
      • Walnut Grove is located in Tipton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Walnut Grove
    • Idaville
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Charleston
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Charleston is located in Tipton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Charleston
      • Estimated population in 2014: 671 people
    • Detroit
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Gilt Edge
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
  • Crockett County
  • Dyer County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Covington, with the one closest to Covington listed first.
    • Bruceville
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Bruceville is located in Dyer County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bruceville
      • Estimated population in 2014: 1,453 people
    • Unionville
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Fayette County
  • Hancock County
  • Haywood County
  • Lauderdale County
  • Shelby County
  • Mississippi County (AR)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Covington, with the one closest to Covington listed first.
    • Luxora
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Luxora is located in Mississippi County (AR)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Luxora
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,007 people
    • Osceola
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Driver
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
      • Driver is located in Mississippi County (AR)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Driver
    • Wilson
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
      • Wilson is located in Mississippi County (AR)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wilson
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 803 people
    • Burdette
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
    • Barfield
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
    • Marie
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
      • Marie is located in Mississippi County (AR)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marie
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 70 people
    • Armorel
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
      • Armorel is located in Mississippi County (AR)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Armorel
    • Victoria
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Victoria is located in Mississippi County (AR)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Victoria
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 32 people
    • Keiser
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
      • Keiser is located in Mississippi County (AR)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Keiser
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 663 people
    • Bassett
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
    • Bardstown
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)

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

Cemeteries Near Covington ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Covington.

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

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Covington, with the one closest to Covington 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 Covington had a population of 1,067 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Covington had a population of 8,810 people.

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

  • Tabernacle
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Tabernacle is located in Tipton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tabernacle
  • Rialto
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Rialto is located in Tipton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rialto
  • Bride
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
  • Garland
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Garland is located in Tipton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Garland
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 300 people
  • Brighton
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Burlison
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
  • Henning
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
  • Mack
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Mack is located in Lauderdale County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mack
  • Fort Pillow
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
  • Idaville
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
  • Orysa
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Orysa is located in Lauderdale County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Orysa
  • Glimp
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Glimp is located in Lauderdale County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glimp
  • Continue List   (16 more) ...
    • Detroit
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Gilt Edge
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Gainesville
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
      • Gainesville is located in Tipton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gainesville
      • Estimated population in 2014: 958 people

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Covington ...

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 35 newspapers that have been published in the area around Covington.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Covington. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Covington and those printed in the larger area surrounding Covington.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 21 miles [33.8 km]<3> of Covington.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we start with 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 Covington:

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 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.
<3>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 drawn from Point A (ie- Covington) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Covington, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.