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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 Athlone (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 Athlone. 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.

Athlone is located in Rockingham County.

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

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Rockingham County: Albemarle, Augusta, Greene, Page, Shenandoah, Hardy (WV) & Pendleton (WV).

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

  • Rockingham County     (The home county of Athlone)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Athlone, with the one closest to Athlone listed first.
    • Lacey Spring
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
      • Lacey Spring is located in Rockingham County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lacey Spring
    • Mayland
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
      • Mayland is located in Rockingham County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mayland
    • Melrose
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
      • Melrose is located in Rockingham County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Melrose
    • Daphna
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Daphna is located in Rockingham County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Daphna
    • Plains Mill
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
      • Plains Mill is located in Rockingham County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plains Mill
    • Broadway
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Linville
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
      • Linville is located in Rockingham County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Linville
    • Timberville
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Massanutten
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Edom
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
      • Edom is located in Rockingham County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Edom
    • Elkton
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Elkton is located in Rockingham County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elkton
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,914 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Elkton <1>
    • Keezletown
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Cherry Grove
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
      • Cherry Grove is located in Rockingham County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cherry Grove
  • Albemarle County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Athlone, with the one closest to Athlone listed first.
    • Cedarmere
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
      • Cedarmere is located in Albemarle County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedarmere
    • Boonesville
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
      • Boonesville is located in Albemarle County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Boonesville
    • Mountfair
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
      • Mountfair is located in Albemarle County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mountfair
    • Free Union
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
    • Advance Mills Village
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Advance Mills Village is located in Albemarle County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Advance Mills Village
    • White Hall
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
      • White Hall is located in Albemarle County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for White Hall
    • Advance Mills
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Advance Mills is located in Albemarle County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Advance Mills
      • Advance Mills has also been known as:
      • Fray's Mills
    • Earlysville
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Decca ‑ Historic
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
      • Decca is located in Albemarle County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Decca
  • Augusta County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Athlone, with the one closest to Athlone listed first.
    • Grottoes
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
    • Weyers Cave
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Mount Solon
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Sampson
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
      • Sampson is located in Augusta County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sampson
    • Crimora
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
    • Parnassus
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Parnassus is located in Augusta County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Parnassus
    • Stokesville ‑ Historic
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Stokesville is located in Augusta County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stokesville
    • Verona
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Dooms
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
      • Dooms is located in Augusta County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dooms
  • Greene County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Athlone, with the one closest to Athlone listed first.
    • Kinderhook
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
      • Kinderhook is located in Greene County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kinderhook
    • Cedarmere ‑ Historic
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
      • Cedarmere is located in Greene County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedarmere
    • Stanardsville
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Amicus
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Amicus is located in Greene County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Amicus
    • Quinque
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Quinque is located in Greene County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Quinque
    • Dawsonville
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Dawsonville is located in Greene County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dawsonville
  • Harrisonburg City
    • Harrisonburg
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
  • Madison County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Athlone, with the one closest to Athlone listed first.
    • Syria
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
    • Hood
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Wolftown
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Ruth
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
      • Ruth is located in Madison County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ruth
    • Peola Mills
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
      • Peola Mills is located in Madison County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Peola Mills
    • Madison
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Tryme
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
      • Tryme is located in Madison County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tryme
    • Aroda
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Aroda is located in Madison County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Aroda
  • Page County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Athlone, with the one closest to Athlone listed first.
    • Shenandoah
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Verbena
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Verbena is located in Page County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Verbena
    • Stanley
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
    • Leaksville
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Leaksville is located in Page County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leaksville
    • Marksville
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
      • Marksville is located in Page County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marksville
    • Luray
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Kimball
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
      • Kimball is located in Page County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kimball
    • Rileyville
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
  • Rappahannock County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Athlone, with the one closest to Athlone listed first.
    • Sperryville
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
    • Slate Mills
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
      • Slate Mills is located in Rappahannock County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Slate Mills
    • Rediviva
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
      • Rediviva is located in Rappahannock County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rediviva
    • Scrabble
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
      • Scrabble is located in Rappahannock County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Scrabble
    • Woodville
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
      • Woodville is located in Rappahannock County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodville
  • Shenandoah County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Athlone, with the one closest to Athlone listed first.
    • New Market
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Mount Clifton
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
      • Mount Clifton is located in Shenandoah County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Clifton
    • Mount Jackson
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
    • Rinkerton
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
      • Rinkerton is located in Shenandoah County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rinkerton
    • Orkney Springs
      (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
    • Basye - Bryce Mountain
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
    • Edinburg
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
    • Jerome
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
      • Jerome is located in Shenandoah County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jerome
    • Columbia Furnace
      (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
      • Columbia Furnace is located in Shenandoah County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Columbia Furnace
    • Willow Grove
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
      • Willow Grove is located in Shenandoah County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Willow Grove
    • Calvary
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
      • Calvary is located in Shenandoah County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Calvary
    • Woodstock
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Seven Fountains
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Seven Fountains is located in Shenandoah County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Seven Fountains
  • Warren County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Athlone, with the one closest to Athlone listed first.
    • Overall
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Overall is located in Warren County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Overall
    • Bentonville
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Hardy County (WV)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Athlone, with the one closest to Athlone listed first.
    • Mathias
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
    • Lost City
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
    • Peru
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Peru is located in Hardy County (WV)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Peru
  • Pendleton County (WV)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Athlone, with the one closest to Athlone listed first.
    • Fort Seybert
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
      • Fort Seybert is located in Pendleton County (WV)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fort Seybert
    • Brandywine
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
    • Propstburg
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
      • Propstburg is located in Pendleton County (WV)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Propstburg

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

Cemeteries Near Athlone ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Athlone.

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

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

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

  • Mountain Valley Methodist Church Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
  • Baker / Smith / Thompson Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
  • Jacob Sellers Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
  • Barley Family Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
  • Flook Armentrout Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
  • Cyrus Rhodes Family Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
  • Arrey / Fridley Family Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
  • Arkton Tunker Church Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
  • Brock Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
  • Athens Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
  • Old Athens Church Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Old Athens Church Cemetery
    • The Old Athens Church Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Longs Chapel Cemetery
  • Bethlehem UCC Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bethlehem UCC Cemetery
    • The Bethlehem UCC Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Martz Cemetery
  • Continue List   (365 more) ...

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>

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

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

  • Oakwood
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Oakwood is located in Rockingham County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oakwood
  • Mauzy
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Mauzy is located in Rockingham County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mauzy
  • Tenth Legion
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Tenth Legion is located in Rockingham County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tenth Legion
  • Lacey Spring
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Lacey Spring is located in Rockingham County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lacey Spring
  • Paulington ‑ Historic
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Paulington is located in Rockingham County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Paulington
  • Melrose
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Melrose is located in Rockingham County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Melrose
  • Shenandoah
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
  • Grove Hill
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Grove Hill is located in Page County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grove Hill
  • Mayland
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Mayland is located in Rockingham County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mayland
  • Verbena
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Verbena is located in Page County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Verbena
  • Ingham
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Ingham is located in Page County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ingham
  • New Market
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...
    • Broadway
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Linville
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
      • Linville is located in Rockingham County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Linville
    • Timberville
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)

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

Newspapers Published in Athlone ...

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 69 newspapers that have been published in the area around Athlone.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Athlone, there are papers which were published within 17 miles [27.4 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Athlone.

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 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 Athlone:

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 Athlone, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>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 from Point A (ie- Athlone) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.