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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 East Lexington (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 East Lexington. 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 East Lexington ...

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.

Although we can't give a definitive list, hopefully the following will give you a feel for the variations that might have occurred.

For example, a typical abbreviation for East Lexington: E. Lexington

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.

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 hospitals 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.

East Lexington is located in Rockbridge County.

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

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Rockbridge County: Alleghany, Amherst, Augusta, Bath, Bedford, Botetourt & Nelson.

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

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

Cemeteries Near East Lexington ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of East Lexington.

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.

If you need information about a burial or interment, photos, transcripts, how to contact the cemetery or local authorities, please visit our selection of Genealogy Websites (see below).

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

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

  • Evergreen Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
  • Oak Grove Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
  • Rockbridge Memorial Gardens
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
  • Old Monmouth Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Old Monmouth Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Old Monmouth Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Bethany Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Bethany Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Bethany Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • New Monmouth Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the New Monmouth Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the New Monmouth Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Ebenezer Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Ebenezer Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Ebenezer Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Wesley Chapel Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Wesley Chapel Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Wesley Chapel Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Paxton Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Paxton Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Paxton Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Green Hill Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Green Hill Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Green Hill Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Timber Ridge Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Timber Ridge Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Timber Ridge Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Cedar Grove Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Cedar Grove Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Cedar Grove Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (155 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.<5>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that in 1895, East Lexington had railroad service and no post office.

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

  • South River
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for South River have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South River
    • South River is located in Rockbridge County
  • Riverside
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
  • Zollman ‑ Historic
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Zollman. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Zollman
    • Zollman is located in Rockbridge County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Zollman
    • From East Lexington to Zollman
  • Cornwall
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cornwall have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cornwall
    • Cornwall is located in Rockbridge County
  • Timber Ridge
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Timber Ridge have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Timber Ridge
    • Timber Ridge is located in Rockbridge County
  • Murat
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Murat have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Murat
    • Murat is located in Rockbridge County
  • Buffalo Forge
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
  • Decatur
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Decatur have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Decatur
    • Decatur is located in Rockbridge County
  • Fancy Hill
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
  • Midvale
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Midvale have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Midvale
    • Midvale is located in Rockbridge County
  • Denmark
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Denmark have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Denmark
    • Denmark is located in Rockbridge County
  • Collierstown
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Collierstown have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Collierstown
    • Collierstown is located in Rockbridge County
  • Continue List   (17 more) ...
    • Fairfield
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Oakdale
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Oakdale have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oakdale
      • Oakdale is located in Rockbridge County
    • Longwood ‑ Historic
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Longwood have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Longwood
      • Longwood is located in Rockbridge County

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

Newspapers Published in East Lexington ...

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 60 newspapers that have been published in the area around East Lexington.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of East Lexington, there are papers which were published within 23 miles [37 km]<6>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for East Lexington.

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 East Lexington:

Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for East Lexington. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.

The official website for Rockbridge County: www.co.rockbridge.va.us/

The official website for State of Virginia: https://www.virginia.gov/

Footnotes ...

<1>An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace.
<2>The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required.
<3>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<4>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.
<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 East Lexington, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<6>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- East Lexington) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in East Lexington. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.7930, Longitude: -79.4259    









 

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This page was last modified/updated: 31 Mar 2025