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Our Genealogy Helper

Introduction ...

So far, we found very little information about Fort Lewis. The little that we've found leads us believe that the community is historic.<1>

We've added Fort Lewis to our Gazetteer with the hope that we can develop more information. If you can help us with Fort Lewis, please Contact Us.

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 Fort Lewis (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 Fort Lewis. 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 Fort Lewis ...

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 Fort Lewis: Ft. Lewis

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 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.

Although our information shows that the community of Fort Lewis is historic, it would have been located within present day Bath 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 Bath County: Alleghany, Augusta, Highland, Rockbridge, Greenbrier (WV) & Pocahontas (WV).

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

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

Cemeteries Near Fort Lewis ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Fort Lewis.

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 Fort Lewis covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.

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

  • Green Valley Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Green Valley Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Green Valley Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Burnsville Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
  • Cleek Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Cleek Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Cleek Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Big Valley Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Big Valley Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Big Valley Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Mt. Mary Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Mt. Mary Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Mt. Mary Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Stony Run Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Stony Run Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Stony Run Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Bratton Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Bratton Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Bratton Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Warm Springs Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Warm Springs Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Warm Springs Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Doyle Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Doyle Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Doyle Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Lightner Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Lightner Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Lightner Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • The Pines Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for The Pines Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for The Pines Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Craigsville Memorial Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Craigsville Memorial Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Craigsville Memorial Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (94 more) ...
    • Sively Cemetery
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Sively Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Sively Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Little River Cemetery
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Little River Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Little River Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Griffin Cemetery
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Griffin Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Griffin Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.

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.

Fort Lewis itself is historic and was described in the Rand McNally Atlas as having a population of 12 people in 1895 with a post office and no railroad service.

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

  • Green Valley
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Green Valley have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Valley
    • Green Valley is located in Bath County
  • Burnsville
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
  • Armstrong
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Armstrong have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Armstrong
    • Armstrong is located in Bath County
  • Williamsville
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Williamsville have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Williamsville
    • Williamsville is located in Bath County
  • Yost
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Bath Alum
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Bath Alum. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bath Alum
    • Bath Alum is located in Bath County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Bath Alum
    • From Fort Lewis to Bath Alum
  • Bolar
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Millboro Springs
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Millboro Springs have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Millboro Springs
    • Millboro Springs is located in Bath County
  • Warm Springs
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
  • Millboro
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
  • Marble Valley
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
  • Clover Creek
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
  • Continue List   (18 more) ...
    • Goshen
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Bells Valley
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bells Valley have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bells Valley
      • Bells Valley is located in Rockbridge County
    • Sunrise
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sunrise have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunrise
      • Sunrise is located in Bath County

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

Newspapers Published in Fort Lewis ...

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 34 newspapers that have been published in the area around Fort Lewis.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Fort Lewis, there are papers which were published within 25 miles [40.2 km]<6>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Fort Lewis.

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 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 Fort Lewis:

The official website for Bath County: www.bathcountyva.org/

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

Footnotes ...

<1>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 Fort Lewis, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<2>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.
<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 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.
<5>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.
<6>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Fort Lewis) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Fort Lewis. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.1226, Longitude: -79.6170       In this case, the coordinates for Fort Lewis have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 31 Mar 2025