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 Bays 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 Bays 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 Bays 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 occur.
- A typical abbreviation for Bays Heights: Bays Hts. (in Canada, 'Hgts.' is the more common abbreviation.)
- While the name of this community is Bays Heights, be aware that it's the common practice of mapmakers to remove the apostrophe from possessive names<1>. So Bays Heights may originally have been Bay's Heights.
Sometimes the trailing 's' might be dropped altogether, in which case Bays Heights might be written as Bay Heights.
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 southeast corner of their home county. During their lives, most hospitals were in the next county to the east. Almost all of the nearby churches and cemeteries were in the county to the south.
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 south 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.
Bays Heights is located in Fayette County.
To see how the shape of West Virginia's counties may have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.
The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Fayette County: Greenbrier, Kanawha, Nicholas, Raleigh & Summers.
Below are the counties that are near Bays Heights. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Bays Heights:
- Fayette County (The home county of Bays Heights)
- The following are listed by their distance from Bays Heights, with the one closest to Bays Heights listed first.
- Oak Hill
(Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
- Wriston
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
- Wriston is located in Fayette County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wriston
- Whipple
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
- Whipple is located in Fayette County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Whipple
- Dempsey
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
- Dempsey is located in Fayette County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dempsey
- Fayetteville
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
- Harvey
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
- Harvey is located in Fayette County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harvey
- Redstar
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
- Redstar is located in Fayette County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Redstar
- Concho
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
- Concho is located in Fayette County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Concho
- Garten
(5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
- Garten is located in Fayette County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Garten
- Newlyn ‑ Historic
(5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
- Newlyn is located in Fayette County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Newlyn
- Rush Run ‑ Historic
(5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
- Rush Run is located in Fayette County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rush Run
- Thurmond
(5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
- Boone County
- The following are listed by their distance from Bays Heights, with the one closest to Bays Heights listed first.
- Whitesville
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
- Whitesville is located in Boone County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Whitesville
- Population from the 2020 Census: 416 people
- Former names for Whitesville:
- Jarrods Valley
- Pritchard City
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Whitesville <2>
- Elk Run Junction
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
- Elk Run Junction is located in Boone County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elk Run Junction
- Janie
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
- Janie is located in Boone County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Janie
- Former name for Janie:
- Mordue
- Sylvester
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
- Joes Creek
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
- Joes Creek is located in Boone County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Joes Creek
- Keith
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
- Keith is located in Boone County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Keith
- Orgas
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
- Orgas is located in Boone County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Orgas
- Coopertown
(23 miles [37 km] to the west)
- Coopertown is located in Boone County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coopertown
- Cabot
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
- Cabot is located in Boone County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cabot
- Fosterville
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
- Fosterville is located in Boone County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fosterville
- Lindytown ‑ Historic
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
- Lindytown is located in Boone County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lindytown
- Milltown
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
- Milltown is located in Boone County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Milltown
- Clay County
- Hartland
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
- Hartland is located in Clay County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hartland
- Greenbrier County
- The following are listed by their distance from Bays Heights, with the one closest to Bays Heights listed first.
- McRoss
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
- McRoss is located in Greenbrier County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for McRoss
- Rainelle
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
- Charmco
(23 miles [37 km] to the east)
- Hines
(23 miles [37 km] to the east)
- Hines is located in Greenbrier County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hines
- Crichton
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
- Crichton is located in Greenbrier County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crichton
- Orient Hill
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
- Orient Hill is located in Greenbrier County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Orient Hill
- Quinwood
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
- Quinwood is located in Greenbrier County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Quinwood
- Population from the 2020 Census: 260 people
- Vale
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
- Vale is located in Greenbrier County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vale
- Rupert
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
- Brushy Junction ‑ Historic
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
- Brushy Junction is located in Greenbrier County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brushy Junction
- Crawley
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
- Kieffer
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
- Kieffer is located in Greenbrier County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kieffer
- Kanawha County
- The following are listed by their distance from Bays Heights, with the one closest to Bays Heights listed first.
- Carbon
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
- Carbon is located in Kanawha County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carbon
- Acme
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
- Acme is located in Kanawha County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Acme
- Handley
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
- Handley is located in Kanawha County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Handley
- Population from the 2020 Census: 309 people
- Eskdale
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
- Eskdale is located in Kanawha County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eskdale
- Hollygrove
(18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
- Hollygrove is located in Kanawha County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hollygrove
- Hollygrove has also been known as:
- Hollygrove Station
- Hudnall
- Hugheston
(18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
- Hugheston is located in Kanawha County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hugheston
- Pratt
(18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
- Pratt is located in Kanawha County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pratt
- Population from the 2020 Census: 552 people
- Ronda
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
- Ronda is located in Kanawha County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ronda
- Dry Branch
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
- Dry Branch is located in Kanawha County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dry Branch
- Glasgow
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
- Cabin Creek
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
- Cabin Creek is located in Kanawha County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cabin Creek
- Cedar Grove
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
- Cedar Grove is located in Kanawha County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Grove
- Population from the 2020 Census: 897 people
- Nicholas County
- The following are listed by their distance from Bays Heights, with the one closest to Bays Heights listed first.
- Beech Glen
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
- Beech Glen is located in Nicholas County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beech Glen
- Albion ‑ Historic
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
- Albion is located in Nicholas County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Albion
- Dixie
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
- Dixie is located in Nicholas County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dixie
- Runa
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
- Runa is located in Nicholas County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Runa
- Keslers Cross Lanes
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
- Keslers Cross Lanes is located in Nicholas County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Keslers Cross Lanes
- Tipton
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
- Tipton is located in Nicholas County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tipton
- Morrison ‑ Historic
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
- Morrison is located in Nicholas County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Morrison
- Snow Hill
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
- Snow Hill is located in Nicholas County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Snow Hill
- Zela
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
- Zela is located in Nicholas County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Zela
- Summersville
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
- Carl
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
- Carl is located in Nicholas County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carl
- Peaser Junction ‑ Historic
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
- Peaser Junction is located in Nicholas County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Peaser Junction
- Raleigh County
- The following are listed by their distance from Bays Heights, with the one closest to Bays Heights listed first.
- Bradley
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
- Bradley is located in Raleigh County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bradley
- Terry
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
- Terry is located in Raleigh County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Terry
- Piney View
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
- Piney View is located in Raleigh County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Piney View
- Prosperity
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
- Prosperity is located in Raleigh County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prosperity
- Royal ‑ Historic
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
- Royal is located in Raleigh County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Royal
- Stanaford
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
- Stanaford is located in Raleigh County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stanaford
- Sweeneyburg
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
- Sweeneyburg is located in Raleigh County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sweeneyburg
- Skelton
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
- Skelton is located in Raleigh County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Skelton
- White Stick
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
- White Stick is located in Raleigh County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for White Stick
- Grandview
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
- Grandview is located in Raleigh County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grandview
- Harper
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
- Sprague
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
- Sprague is located in Raleigh County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sprague
- Summers County
- The following are listed by their distance from Bays Heights, with the one closest to Bays Heights listed first.
- New Richmond ‑ Historic
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
- New Richmond is located in Summers County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Richmond
- Sandstone
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
- Jumping Branch
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
- Jumping Branch is located in Summers County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jumping Branch
- Brooklin
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
- Brooklin is located in Summers County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brooklin
- Nimitz
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
- Nimitz is located in Summers County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nimitz
- Hinton
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
- Bellepoint
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
- Bellepoint is located in Summers County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bellepoint
- Packs Ferry
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
- Packs Ferry is located in Summers County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Packs Ferry
- Wyoming County
- Kopperston
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
- Kopperston is located in Wyoming County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kopperston
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Bays Heights, see our County-by-County Page for Bays Heights.
Cemeteries Near Bays Heights ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Bays 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.
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 Bays Heights - one of the links might be able to help.
If not found below, our Cemetery List for Bays Heights covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Bays Heights, with the one closest to Bays Heights listed first.
- Bays Cemetery
(Less than 2 miles to the south)
- High Lawn Memorial Park
(Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
- Peters Cemetery
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
- Hilltop Cemetery
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
- Pleasant View Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
- John Nugen Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
- Meadow Haven Memorial Park
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
- Wriston Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the west)
- Powers Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
- Tyree Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
- Holly Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
- Ellison Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
- Continue List (339 more) ...
- Pierce Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
- Huse Memorial Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
- Abbot Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the north)
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.<4>
While we didn't find Bays Heights in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Bays Heights.
These communities are listed based on their distance from Bays Heights, with the one closest to Bays Heights listed first.
- Oak Hill
(Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
- Dempsey
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
- Dempsey is located in Fayette County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dempsey
- Fayetteville
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
- Thurmond
(5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
- Dimmock
(5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
- Dimmock is located in Fayette County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dimmock
- Rush Run ‑ Historic
(5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
- Rush Run is located in Fayette County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rush Run
- Gatewood
(5 miles [8 km] to the east)
- Gatewood is located in Fayette County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gatewood
- Mossy
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
- Mossy is located in Fayette County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mossy
- Fayette
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
- Fayette is located in Fayette County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fayette
- Beckwith
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
- Kincaid
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
- Kincaid is located in Fayette County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kincaid
- Roseville ‑ Historic
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
- Roseville is located in Fayette County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roseville
- Continue List (17 more) ...
- Mount Hope
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
- Stonecliff ‑ Historic
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
- Stonecliff is located in Fayette County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stonecliff
- Stonecliff has also been known as:
- Stone Cliff
- Beury
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
- Beury is located in Fayette County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beury
We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Bays Heights. See our List of 1890's Communities around Bays Heights.
Newspapers Published in Bays 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 18 newspapers that have been published in the area around Bays Heights.
Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Bays Heights, there are papers which were published within 11 miles [17.7 km]<5>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Bays Heights.
Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...
When we do our genealogical research, we like to 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 Bays Heights:
- Websites specific to West Virginia
- Pages specific to Fayette County
- Genealogy information for nearby counties
- Boone County
- Clay County
- Greenbrier County
- Kanawha County
- Nicholas County
- Raleigh County
- Summers County
- Wyoming County
- Cemetery Information and Directories for West Virginia
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> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <3> | 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. |
| <4> | 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 Bays Heights, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <5> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Bays Heights) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |