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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 Petersburg (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 Petersburg. 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 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.

Petersburg is located in Fauquier 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 Fauquier County: Clarke, Loudoun, Prince William, Rappahannock, Stafford & Warren.

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

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

Cemeteries Near Petersburg ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Petersburg.

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

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

  • Hardscrabble Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Hardscrabble Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Hardscrabble Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Rockland Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Rockland Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Rockland Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Strother - Green Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
  • Howellsville Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Howellsville Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Howellsville Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Leeds Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Leeds Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Leeds Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Chapman Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Chapman Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Chapman Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Williams Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Williams Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Williams Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Russell Family Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Russell Family Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Russell Family Cemetery came from an uncertain source and they still need to be verified:<5>
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2358236 <4>
  • Cool Spring Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Cool Spring Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Cool Spring Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Marshall Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Marshall Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Marshall Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Good Hope Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Good Hope Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Good Hope Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Emmanuel Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Emmanuel Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Emmanuel Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (179 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.<6>

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

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

  • Linden
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Linden have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Linden
    • Linden is located in Warren County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Linden <1>
  • Markham
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
  • Happy Creek
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Happy Creek have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Happy Creek
    • Happy Creek is located in Warren County
  • Hume
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hume have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hume
    • Hume is located in Fauquier County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Hume <1>
  • Milldale
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Milldale. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Milldale
    • Milldale is located in Warren County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Milldale
    • From Petersburg to Milldale
  • Delaplane
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
  • Success
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Success have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Success
    • Success is located in Warren County
  • Front Royal Junction
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Front Royal Junction have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Front Royal Junction
    • Front Royal Junction is located in Warren County
  • Front Royal
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
  • Kerfoot
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Kerfoot. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kerfoot
    • Kerfoot is located in Fauquier County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Kerfoot
    • From Petersburg to Kerfoot
  • Paris
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Paris have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Paris
    • Paris is located in Fauquier County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Paris <1>
  • Ashby
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Ashby. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ashby
    • Ashby is located in Warren County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Ashby
    • From Petersburg to Ashby
  • Continue List   (15 more) ...
    • Cedarville
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Riverton
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Vernon Mills
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Vernon Mills have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vernon Mills
      • Vernon Mills is located in Fauquier County

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

Newspapers Published in Petersburg ...

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 14 newspapers that have been published in the area around Petersburg.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Petersburg, there are papers which were published within 7 miles [11.3 km]<7>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Petersburg.

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 Petersburg:

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

The official website for Fauquier County: www.fauquiercounty.gov/

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

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>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>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.
<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>If we found a location and have questions about the accuracy of our information, we will simply say that the marker is 'in the vicinity'. We are not confident about the location and the position of our marker is only a rough guide. If we have too many doubts about the location, we will not include it in our database.
<6>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 Petersburg, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<7>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- Petersburg) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Petersburg. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.9101, Longitude: -78.0533       In this case, the coordinates for Petersburg have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 11 Aug 2025