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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 Spencer (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 Spencer. 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.

Spencer is located in Van Buren 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 Van Buren County: Bledsoe, Cumberland, DeKalb, Grundy, Sequatchie, Warren & White.

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

  • Van Buren County     (The home county of Spencer)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Spencer, with the one closest to Spencer listed first.
    • Cummingsville
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Meade ‑ Historic
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
      • Meade is located in Van Buren County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meade
    • Sweetgum
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Sopha ‑ Historic
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Sopha is located in Van Buren County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sopha
      • Estimated population in 2014: 3,104 people
    • Bone Cave
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Laurelburg
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Chalybeate
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
      • Chalybeate is located in Van Buren County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chalybeate
  • Bledsoe County
  • Cannon County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Spencer, with the one closest to Spencer listed first.
    • Woods
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
    • Thomas Town ‑ Historic
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
      • Thomas Town is located in Cannon County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Thomas Town
    • Bluewing
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
    • Manus Town ‑ Historic
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
      • Manus Town is located in Cannon County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Manus Town
  • Cumberland County
  • DeKalb County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Spencer, with the one closest to Spencer listed first.
    • Young Bend
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
      • Young Bend is located in DeKalb County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Young Bend
      • Estimated population in 2014: 279 people
    • Johnsons Chapel
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Bear Branch ‑ Historic
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
      • Bear Branch is located in DeKalb County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bear Branch
    • Philippi
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
    • Smithville
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Youngblood ‑ Historic
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Youngblood is located in DeKalb County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Youngblood
  • Grundy County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Spencer, with the one closest to Spencer listed first.
    • Beersheba Springs
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Beersheba Springs is located in Grundy County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beersheba Springs
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 461 people
    • Altamont
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Gruetli - Laager
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
    • Palmer
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
    • Gruetli
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
      • Gruetli is located in Grundy County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gruetli
      • Estimated population in 2014: 1,775 people
  • Hamilton County
  • Putnam County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Spencer, with the one closest to Spencer listed first.
    • Burnett
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
      • Burnett is located in Putnam County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Burnett
      • Estimated population in 2014: 418 people
    • Boiling Springs
      (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
    • Burgess
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
    • Ditty
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
    • Burton
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Huntland
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
      • Huntland is located in Putnam County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Huntland
      • Estimated population in 2014: 860 people
    • Southtown Village
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
      • Southtown Village is located in Putnam County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Southtown Village
    • Cookeville
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
    • White Plains
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
      • White Plains is located in Putnam County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for White Plains
      • Estimated population in 2014: 2,231 people
    • Boma
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Baxter
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
    • Monterey
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
  • Rhea County
  • Sequatchie County
  • Warren County
  • White County

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

Cemeteries Near Spencer ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Spencer.

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

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Spencer, with the one closest to Spencer 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 Spencer had a population of 138 people in 1895 with a post office and no railroad service. In 2020, Spencer had a population of 1,710 people.

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

  • Sweetgum
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
  • Sparkman
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Sparkman is located in Van Buren County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sparkman
  • Cummingsville
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
  • Meade ‑ Historic
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Meade is located in Van Buren County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meade
  • River Hill
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • River Hill is located in White County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for River Hill
  • Caneridge ‑ Historic
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Caneridge is located in Van Buren County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Caneridge
  • Laurelburg
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
  • Sopha ‑ Historic
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Sopha is located in Van Buren County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sopha
    • Estimated population in 2014: 3,104 people
  • Dodson
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Dodson is located in White County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dodson
  • Bone Cave
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
  • Gillentine ‑ Historic
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Gillentine is located in Van Buren County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gillentine
  • Quebeck
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Continue List   (16 more) ...
    • Goodbars
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
      • Goodbars is located in Warren County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Goodbars
    • Walling
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Rock Island
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Spencer ...

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 45 newspapers that have been published in the area around Spencer.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Spencer. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Spencer and those printed in the larger area surrounding Spencer.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 18 miles [29 km]<2> of Spencer.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we like to start 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 Spencer:

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