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The Commemorative Quarter for Virginia





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 Richmond (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 Richmond. 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.

Cemeteries Near Richmond ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Richmond.

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

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

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

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

  • Brook Hill
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Brook Hill have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brook Hill
    • Brook Hill is located in Henrico County
  • Highland Springs
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
  • Ellerson
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ellerson have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ellerson
    • Ellerson is located in Hanover County
  • Dumbarton
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
  • Fort Lee
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Fort Lee. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<5>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fort Lee
    • Fort Lee is located in Henrico County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Fort Lee
    • From Richmond to Fort Lee
  • Fair Oaks
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Fair Oaks. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<5>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fair Oaks
    • Fair Oaks is located in Henrico County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Fair Oaks
    • From Richmond to Fair Oaks
  • Westham
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Westham have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Westham
    • Westham is located in Henrico County
  • Bon Air
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
  • Seven Pines
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Seven Pines have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Seven Pines
    • Seven Pines is located in Henrico County
  • Atlee Station
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
  • Drewrys Bluff
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
  • Varina Grove
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
  • Continue List   (17 more) ...

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

Newspapers Published in Richmond ...

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 461 newspapers that have been published in the area around Richmond.

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 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 Richmond:

The official website for Richmond: www.richmondgov.com/

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

Footnotes ...

<1>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.
<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>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 Richmond, 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>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.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 31 Mar 2025