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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 Purdy (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 Purdy. 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 Purdy ...

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, Purdy was referred to as Purdy Courthouse.

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

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 northwest 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 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 west 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.

Purdy is located in McNairy 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 McNairy County: Alcorn (MS), Chester, Hardeman & Hardin.

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

  • McNairy County     (The home county of Purdy)
  • Chester County
  • Decatur County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Purdy, with the one closest to Purdy listed first.
    • Scotts Hill
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Dunbar
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Pleasant Hill
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Pleasant Hill is located in Decatur County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Hill
      • Estimated population in 2014: 566 people
  • Hardeman County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Purdy, with the one closest to Purdy listed first.
    • Hornsby
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
      • Hornsby is located in Hardeman County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hornsby
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 259 people
    • Essary Springs
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Middleton
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
    • Shandy
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
    • Teague
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Teague is located in Hardeman County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Teague
      • Estimated population in 2014: 2,181 people
    • Toone
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
      • Toone is located in Hardeman County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Toone
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 336 people
    • Bolivar
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
    • Rogers Springs
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
  • Hardin County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Purdy, with the one closest to Purdy listed first.
    • Crump
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
    • Shiloh
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Pittsburg Landing Ferry
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
      • Pittsburg Landing Ferry is located in Hardin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pittsburg Landing Ferry
      • Estimated population in 2014: 555 people
    • Sibley
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Hamburg
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
    • New Town
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
      • New Town is located in Hardin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Town
    • Savannah
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
    • Belle Meade
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
      • Belle Meade is located in Hardin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Belle Meade
      • Estimated population in 2014: 3,017 people
    • Nash Landing
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Nixon
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Nixon is located in Hardin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nixon
      • Estimated population in 2014: 718 people
    • Pyburn
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
    • Paulks ‑ Historic
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
      • Paulks is located in Hardin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Paulks
  • Henderson County
  • Madison County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Purdy, with the one closest to Purdy listed first.
    • Cisco Indian Village ‑ Historic
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Cisco Indian Village is located in Madison County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cisco Indian Village
    • Pinson
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Parkburg
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Parkburg is located in Madison County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Parkburg
      • Estimated population in 2014: 10,156 people
    • Medon
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Malesus
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Lauderdale County (AL)
    • Haddock ‑ Historic
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Haddock is located in Lauderdale County (AL)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Haddock
  • Alcorn County (MS)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Purdy, with the one closest to Purdy listed first.
    • Corinth
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
    • Farmington
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
      • Farmington is located in Alcorn County (MS)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Farmington
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,160 people
    • Allentown
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
    • Glens
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
    • Kossuth
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
    • Biggersville
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
    • Glen
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
      • Glen is located in Alcorn County (MS)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glen
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 406 people
    • Searcy Town
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
      • Searcy Town is located in Alcorn County (MS)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Searcy Town
    • Hightown
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
  • Tippah County (MS)
  • Tishomingo County (MS)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Purdy, with the one closest to Purdy listed first.
    • Short
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Burnsville
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)

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

Cemeteries Near Purdy ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Purdy.

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

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

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

  • Purdy Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
  • Brooks Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
  • Bethesda Memorial Gardens
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
  • Beauty Hill Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
  • Brackin Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
  • Dunn Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
  • Chapel Hill Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
  • Warren Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
  • Clear Creek Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
  • Sanders Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
  • Combs Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
  • Good Hope Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
  • Continue List   (612 more) ...
    • Rose Hill Cemetery
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • McCullar Cemetery
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Pounds Cemetery
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)

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.<3>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Purdy had a population of 252 people in 1895 with a post office and no railroad service.

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

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Purdy ...

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 46 newspapers that have been published in the area around Purdy.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Purdy. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Purdy and those printed in the larger area surrounding Purdy.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 20 miles [32.2 km]<4> of Purdy.

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 professional and volunteer 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 Purdy:

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>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 Purdy, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Purdy) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.