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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 Preston Heights (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 Preston Heights. 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 Preston Heights ...

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 Preston Heights: Preston Hts. (in Canada, 'Hgts.' is the more common abbreviation.)

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.

Cemeteries Near Preston Heights ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Preston Heights.

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

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

  • Woodbine Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
  • Beth-El Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
  • Hebrew Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Hebrew Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Hebrew Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Newton Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Newton Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Newton Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Newtown Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
  • Woodbine Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Woodbine Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Woodbine Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Good Family Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
  • Mabel Memorial Presbyterian Chapel Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
  • Webster Family Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Webster Family Cemetery
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for the Webster Family Cemetery. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
  • New Hope UCC Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
  • Cedar Grove UMC Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
  • Thomas Family Cemetery #1
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
  • Continue List   (369 more) ...
    • Mt. Sinai UMC Cemetery
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Mt. Sinai UMC Cemetery
      • The Mt. Sinai UMC Cemetery has also been known as:
      • Vision of Hope UMC Cemetery
    • Mt. Pleasant Church Of The Brethren Cemetery
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Eastlawn Memorial Gardens
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Eastlawn Memorial Gardens
      • The Eastlawn Memorial Gardens has also been known as:
      • Eastlawn Memorial Cemetery

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 Preston Heights in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Preston Heights.

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

  • Peach Grove ‑ Historic
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Peach Grove have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Peach Grove
    • Peach Grove is located in Rockingham County
  • Massanetta Springs
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Massanetta Springs. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Massanetta Springs
    • Massanetta Springs is located in Rockingham County
  • Keezletown
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
  • Dayton
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dayton
    • Dayton is located in Rockingham County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,642 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Dayton <4>
  • Pleasant Valley
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Pleasant Valley have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Valley
    • Pleasant Valley is located in Rockingham County
  • Melrose
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Melrose. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Melrose
    • Melrose is located in Rockingham County
  • Dale Enterprise
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Dale Enterprise have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dale Enterprise
    • Dale Enterprise is located in Rockingham County
  • Green Mount
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Green Mount. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Mount
    • Green Mount is located in Rockingham County
  • Cross Keys
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
  • Linville
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Linville
    • Linville is located in Rockingham County
  • Edom
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Edom
    • Edom is located in Rockingham County
  • North River
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North River
    • North River is located in Rockingham County
  • Continue List   (13 more) ...
    • Friedens
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Friedens have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Friedens
      • Friedens is located in Rockingham County
    • Paulington ‑ Historic
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Paulington have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Paulington
      • Paulington is located in Rockingham County
    • Mount Clinton
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mount Clinton have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Clinton
      • Mount Clinton is located in Rockingham County

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

Newspapers Published in Preston Heights ...

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 70 newspapers that have been published in the area around Preston Heights.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Preston Heights, there are papers which were published within 21 miles [33.8 km]<5>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Preston Heights.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we first turn to 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 Preston Heights:

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

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

Footnotes ...

<1>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.
<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>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 Preston Heights, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<5>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 from Point A (ie- Preston Heights) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Preston Heights. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.4412, Longitude: -78.8622       In this case, the coordinates for Preston Heights have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 31 Mar 2025