RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Virginia >> Willoughby Beach >> Genealogy HelperIndex...










Learn About
The Commemorative
Quarter for
Virginia

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 Willoughby Beach (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 Willoughby Beach. 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 Willoughby Beach ...

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 Willoughby Beach: Willoughby Bch.

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 Willoughby Beach ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Willoughby Beach.

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

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

  • Mt. Pleasant Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Mt. Pleasant Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Mt. Pleasant Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Forest Lawn Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
  • Mt. Gilead Missionary Baptist Church
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
  • Thornton Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Thornton Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Thornton Cemetery is located in Hampton.
    • The Thornton Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Zion African American Cemetery
  • Smith Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Smith Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Smith Cemetery is located in Hampton.
    • The Smith Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Phoebus Memorial Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2213068 <2>
  • Hampton National Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
  • Barnes Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Barnes Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Barnes Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Oakland Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Oakland Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Oakland Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Elmerton Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
  • Basset Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Basset Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Basset Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • St. Johns Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Johns Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Johns Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Pleasant Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Pleasant Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Pleasant Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (173 more) ...
    • Hebrew Cemetery
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
      • 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.
    • St. Marys Cemetery
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Lincoln Park Cemetery
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Lincoln Park Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Lincoln Park Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> 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.<3>

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

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

  • Ocean View
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ocean View have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ocean View
    • Ocean View is located in Norfolk City
  • Phoebus
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Phoebus
    • Phoebus is located in Hampton City
  • Hampton
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
  • Lamberts Point
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lamberts Point have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lamberts Point
    • Lamberts Point is located in Norfolk City
  • Norfolk
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
  • Brambleton
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Brambleton have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brambleton
    • Brambleton is located in Norfolk City
  • Berkley
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Berkley have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Berkley
    • Berkley is located in Norfolk City
  • Elizabeth Park
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Elizabeth Park have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elizabeth Park
    • Elizabeth Park is located in Norfolk City
  • Kempsville
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Kempsville have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kempsville
    • Kempsville is located in Virginia Beach City
  • Morrison
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Morrison have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Morrison
    • Morrison is located in Newport News City
  • Thalia
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Thalia have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Thalia
    • Thalia is located in Virginia Beach City
  • Deanes
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Deanes have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Deanes
    • Deanes is located in Suffolk City
  • Continue List   (13 more) ...
    • Newport News
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Shoulders Hill
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shoulders Hill
      • Shoulders Hill is located in Suffolk City
    • Driver
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Driver
      • Driver is located in Suffolk City

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

Newspapers Published in Willoughby Beach ...

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 160 newspapers that have been published in the area around Willoughby Beach.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Willoughby Beach, there are papers which were published within 7 miles [11.3 km]<5>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Willoughby Beach.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we first visit 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 Willoughby Beach:

Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Willoughby Beach. 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>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.
<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 Willoughby Beach, 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' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Willoughby Beach) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Willoughby Beach. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 36.9671, Longitude: -76.2877       In this case, the coordinates for Willoughby Beach have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).




 

Copyright 2025
All Rights Reserved

Thank you for visiting our website.

In closing, please keep in mind that we can not guarantee the accuracy or timeliness of the information on this website, so use with care. We encourage you to double-check the information that is critical to you.

If you've found an error or have additional information that you would like to share, please don't hesitate to write: Click here to contact us.

This page was last modified/updated: 31 Mar 2025