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A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
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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 Shipman (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 Shipman. 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.

Shipman is located in Nelson 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 Nelson County: Albemarle, Appomattox, Augusta & Buckingham.

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

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

Cemeteries Near Shipman ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Shipman.

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.

Although we don't have the information ourselves, if you need information about a burial or interment, photos, transcripts, how to contact the cemetery or local authorities, please visit our list of websites on our Genealogy Helper Page for Shipman - one of the links might be able to help.

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

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

  • Stevens Cove Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Stevens Cove Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Stevens Cove Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Woodland Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
  • Centenary Memorial Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
  • White Rock Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the White Rock Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the White Rock Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Oak Hill Baptist Church Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
  • Locust Grove Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Locust Grove Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Locust Grove Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Ridgecrest Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Ridgecrest Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Ridgecrest Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Liberty Hall Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Liberty Hall Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Liberty Hall Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jonesboro Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
  • Bethlehem UMC Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
  • Mt. Shiloh Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Mt. Shiloh Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Mt. Shiloh Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Rock Spring Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Rock Spring Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Rock Spring Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (208 more) ...
    • Cedar Grove Cemetery
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
      • 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.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Adial Cemetery
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Adial Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Adial Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Henley Cemetery
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Henley Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Henley Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> 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.<6>

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

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

  • Lovingston
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lovingston have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lovingston
    • Lovingston is located in Nelson County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Lovingston <1>
  • Arrington
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
  • Colleen
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
  • Norwood
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Norwood. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Norwood
    • Norwood is located in Nelson County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Norwood
    • From Shipman to Norwood
  • Tye River
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Tye River have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tye River
    • Tye River is located in Nelson County
  • Buffalo Springs
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
  • Midway Mills
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Midway Mills have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Midway Mills
    • Midway Mills is located in Nelson County
  • Roseland
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Roseland have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roseland
    • Roseland is located in Nelson County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Roseland <1>
  • Wingina
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Wingina have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wingina
    • Wingina is located in Nelson County
  • Warminster
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Warminster. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Warminster
    • Warminster is located in Nelson County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Warminster
    • From Shipman to Warminster
  • Bryant
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Bryant. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bryant
    • Bryant is located in Nelson County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Bryant
    • From Shipman to Bryant
  • Greenway
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Greenway have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenway
    • Greenway is located in Nelson County
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...

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

Newspapers Published in Shipman ...

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 23 newspapers that have been published in the area around Shipman.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Shipman, 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 Shipman.

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 Shipman:

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>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Shipman) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Shipman. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.7235, Longitude: -78.8394    
<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 Shipman, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.