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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 Zion (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 Zion. 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 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.

Zion is located in Maury 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 Maury County: Giles, Hickman, Lawrence, Lewis, Marshall & Williamson.

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

  • Maury County     (The home county of Zion)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Zion, with the one closest to Zion listed first.
    • Ashwood
      (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Armour Village
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
      • Armour Village is located in Maury County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Armour Village
    • Graymere Manor
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
      • Graymere Manor is located in Maury County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Graymere Manor
      • Population from the 2010 Census: 1,222 people
    • Ben ‑ Historic
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Ben is located in Maury County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ben
    • Sawdust
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
      • Sawdust is located in Maury County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sawdust
      • Estimated population in 2014: 7,053 people
    • Frierson Town
      (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
      • Frierson Town is located in Maury County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Frierson Town
      • Estimated population in 2014: 923 people
    • Mount Pleasant
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Columbia
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Arkland
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Scotts Mill
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
      • Scotts Mill is located in Maury County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Scotts Mill
      • Estimated population in 2014: 983 people
    • Jonesboro ‑ Historic
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Jonesboro is located in Maury County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jonesboro
      • Estimated population in 2014: 5,238 people
    • Chapel Hill
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Broadview
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
  • Bedford County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Zion, with the one closest to Zion listed first.
    • Palmetto
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
      • Palmetto is located in Bedford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Palmetto
      • Estimated population in 2014: 661 people
    • Whitaker
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
  • Davidson County
  • Dickson County
  • Giles County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Zion, with the one closest to Zion listed first.
    • Lynnville
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Campbellsville
      (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
    • Liberty Hill
      (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
    • Bufords
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
    • Olivet
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
      • Olivet is located in Giles County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Olivet
      • Population from the 2010 Census: 1,350 people
    • Weakley
      (23 miles [37 km] to the south)
    • Wales
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
    • Bodenham
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
    • Trigg
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Trigg is located in Giles County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Trigg
      • Estimated population in 2014: 851 people
    • Powell Chapel
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
      • Powell Chapel is located in Giles County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Powell Chapel
    • Gordon
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
      • Gordon is located in Giles County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gordon
      • Estimated population in 2014: 1,192 people
    • Pulaski
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
    • Aymett Town
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
      • Aymett Town is located in Giles County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Aymett Town
  • Hickman County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Zion, with the one closest to Zion listed first.
    • Duck River
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Primm Springs
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
    • Littlelot
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Swan Bluff
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Tottys Bend
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Graytown
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
      • Graytown is located in Hickman County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Graytown
      • Estimated population in 2014: 1,528 people
    • Aetna
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
    • Centerville
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Wrigley
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
      • Wrigley is located in Hickman County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wrigley
      • Population from the 2010 Census: 281 people
    • Bon Aqua Junction
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
      • Bon Aqua Junction is located in Hickman County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bon Aqua Junction
      • Population from the 2010 Census: 1,230 people
    • Lyles
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Nunnelly
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Hornertown
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
      • Hornertown is located in Hickman County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hornertown
      • Estimated population in 2014: 412 people
  • Lawrence County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Zion, with the one closest to Zion listed first.
    • Webber City
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
      • Webber City is located in Lawrence County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Webber City
    • Henryville
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Ethridge
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Flatwoods
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
    • Park Grove
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
    • New Prospect
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
      • New Prospect is located in Lawrence County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Prospect
      • Estimated population in 2014: 6,880 people
    • Lawrenceburg
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
  • Lewis County
  • Marshall County
  • Rutherford County
  • Williamson County

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

Cemeteries Near Zion ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Zion.

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

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Zion, with the one closest to Zion 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.<5>

While we didn't find Zion in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Zion.

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

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

Newspapers Published in Zion ...

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 38 newspapers that have been published in the area around Zion.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Zion, there are papers which were published within 14 miles [22.5 km]<2>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Zion.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we first visit the websites from Cyndi's List, FamilySearch and Genealogy Trails. These 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 Zion:

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 drawn from Point A (ie- Zion) 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>To help visualize the location of the cemetery, we've drawn a straight line between the communities of Mount Pleasant and Columbia. The cemetery can be found near that line and roughly halfway between the two communities. Remember that this is just an approximate location.
<5>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 Zion, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.