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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 Stuarts Draft (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 Stuarts Draft. 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 Stuarts Draft ...

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.

While the name of this community is Stuarts Draft, be aware that it's the common practice of mapmakers to remove the apostrophe from possessive names<1>. So Stuarts Draft may originally have been Stuart's Draft.

Sometimes the trailing 's' might be dropped altogether, in which case Stuarts Draft might be written as Stuart Draft.

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 and doctors 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.

Stuarts Draft is located in Augusta 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 Augusta County: Albemarle, Bath, Highland, Nelson, Rockbridge, Rockingham & Pendleton (WV).

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

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

Cemeteries Near Stuarts Draft ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Stuarts Draft.

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

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

  • Bethlehem Lutheran Church Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
  • Augusta Memorial Gardens
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Augusta Memorial Gardens
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Augusta Memorial Gardens have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Greenville Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Greenville Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Greenville Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Hospital Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Hospital Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Hospital Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Riverview Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Riverview Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Riverview Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Mt. Marine Baptist Church Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Croft Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Croft Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Croft Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Staunton National Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Staunton National Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Staunton National Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Thornrose Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
  • Old Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Old Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Old Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Fairview Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
  • Fairview Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Fairview Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Fairview Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (251 more) ...
    • Belmont Cemetery
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Belmont Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Belmont Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Oak Hill Cemetery
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Oak Hill Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Oak Hill Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Oak Lawn Memory Gardens
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Oak Lawn Memory Gardens
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Oak Lawn Memory Gardens 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.<6>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Stuarts Draft had a population of 39 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service.

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

  • Barterbrook
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Barterbrook have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Barterbrook
    • Barterbrook is located in Augusta County
  • Lipscomb
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Lipscomb. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lipscomb
    • Lipscomb is located in Augusta County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Lipscomb
    • From Stuarts Draft to Lipscomb
  • Avis
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Avis have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Avis
    • Avis is located in Augusta County
  • Lyndhurst
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
  • Ladd
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ladd have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ladd
    • Ladd is located in Augusta County
  • Mint Spring
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mint Spring have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mint Spring
    • Mint Spring is located in Augusta County
  • Sherando
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
  • Fishersville
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Fishersville have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fishersville
    • Fishersville is located in Augusta County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Fishersville <3>
  • Brand
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Brand. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brand
    • Brand is located in Augusta County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Brand
    • From Stuarts Draft to Brand
  • Folly Mills
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Folly Mills have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Folly Mills
    • Folly Mills is located in Augusta County
  • Greenville
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
  • Arbor Hill
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Continue List   (15 more) ...
    • Lofton
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lofton have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lofton
      • Lofton is located in Augusta County
    • Hermitage
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hermitage have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hermitage
      • Hermitage is located in Augusta County
    • Annex
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Annex have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Annex
      • Annex is located in Augusta County

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

Newspapers Published in Stuarts Draft ...

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 89 newspapers that have been published in the area around Stuarts Draft.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Stuarts Draft, there are papers which were published within 18 miles [29 km]<7>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Stuarts Draft.

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 websites either 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 Stuarts Draft:

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

The official website for Augusta County: www.co.augusta.va.us/

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

Footnotes ...

<1>It's generally believed that possessive apostrophes are removed to prevent confusion on maps where the apostrophe may be confused with a cartographic symbol. While this is generally true, it's not uncommon to find possessive apostrophes in administrative names (such as towns or counties).
<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>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 Stuarts Draft, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<7>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Stuarts Draft) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Stuarts Draft. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.0347, Longitude: -79.0348    









 

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This page was last modified/updated: 17 Jul 2025