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 Paynesville (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 Paynesville. 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 northeast 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 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.
Paynesville is located in McDowell 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 McDowell County : Buchanan (VA) , Tazewell (VA) , Mercer , Mingo & Wyoming .
Below are the counties that are near Paynesville. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Paynesville:
McDowell County (The home county of Paynesville)
The following are listed by their distance from Paynesville, with the one closest to Paynesville listed first.
Jackson Flats (Less than 2 miles to the east)
Jackson Flats is located in McDowell County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jackson Flats Bradshaw (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
Height (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
Height is located in McDowell County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Height Peapatch (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
Peapatch is located in McDowell County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Peapatch Avondale (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
Avondale is located in McDowell County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Avondale Union City (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
Union City is located in McDowell County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Union City Iaeger (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
Iaeger is located in McDowell County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Iaeger Population from the 2020 Census: 232 people
Yukon (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
Yukon is located in McDowell County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Yukon Panther (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
Panther is located in McDowell County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Panther War (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
War is located in McDowell County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for War Population from the 2020 Census: 659 people
Wilmore (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
Wilmore is located in McDowell County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wilmore Wyoming City (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
Wyoming City is located in McDowell County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wyoming City Big Sandy (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
Big Sandy is located in McDowell County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Big Sandy Logan County
The following are listed by their distance from Paynesville, with the one closest to Paynesville listed first.
Wylo (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
Wylo is located in Logan County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wylo Mallory (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
Mallory is located in Logan County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mallory Stirrat (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
Stirrat is located in Logan County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stirrat Man (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
Mineral City (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
Mineral City is located in Logan County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mineral City Kistler (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
Kistler is located in Logan County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kistler Omar (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
Accoville (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
Accoville is located in Logan County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Accoville Braeholm (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
Braeholm is located in Logan County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Braeholm Mercer County
Coaldale (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
Coaldale is located in Mercer County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coaldale Mingo County
The following are listed by their distance from Paynesville, with the one closest to Paynesville listed first.
Wharncliffe (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
Gilbert Creek (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
Gilbert Creek is located in Mingo County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gilbert Creek Baisden (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
Gilbert (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
Thacker (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
Thacker is located in Mingo County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Thacker Pie (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
Pie is located in Mingo County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pie Blackberry City (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
Blackberry City is located in Mingo County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blackberry City Matewan (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
Musick (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
Musick is located in Mingo County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Musick Red Jacket (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
Red Jacket is located in Mingo County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Red Jacket Sprigg (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
Sprigg is located in Mingo County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sprigg Delbarton (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
Wyoming County
The following are listed by their distance from Paynesville, with the one closest to Paynesville listed first.
Cub City (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
Cub City is located in Wyoming County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cub City Stoneville (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
Stoneville is located in Wyoming County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stoneville Baileysville (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
Baileysville is located in Wyoming County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Baileysville Fanny (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
Fanny is located in Wyoming County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fanny Woosley (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
Woosley is located in Wyoming County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woosley Uno (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
Uno is located in Wyoming County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Uno Sun Hill (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
Sun Hill is located in Wyoming County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sun Hill Clear Fork (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
Clear Fork is located in Wyoming County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clear Fork Wyoming (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
Wyoming is located in Wyoming County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wyoming Mullensville (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
Mullensville is located in Wyoming County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mullensville Pineville (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
Rock View (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
Rock View is located in Wyoming County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rock View Turkey (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
Turkey is located in Wyoming County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Turkey Pike County (KY)
The following are listed by their distance from Paynesville, with the one closest to Paynesville listed first.
Paw Paw (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
Paw Paw is located in Pike County (KY) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Paw Paw Stopover (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
Stopover is located in Pike County (KY) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stopover Majestic (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
Majestic is located in Pike County (KY) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Majestic Coleman (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
Coleman is located in Pike County (KY) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coleman Phelps (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
Calloway Branch (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
Calloway Branch is located in Pike County (KY) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Calloway Branch Fedscreek (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
Fedscreek is located in Pike County (KY) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fedscreek Mouthcard (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
Mouthcard is located in Pike County (KY) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mouthcard Freeburn (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
Freeburn is located in Pike County (KY) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Freeburn Ransom (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
Ransom is located in Pike County (KY) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ransom Lick Creek (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
Lick Creek is located in Pike County (KY) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lick Creek McCarr (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
McVeigh (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
McVeigh is located in Pike County (KY) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for McVeigh Buchanan County (VA)
The following are listed by their distance from Paynesville, with the one closest to Paynesville listed first.
Jackson Flats (Less than 2 miles to the east)
Jackson Flats is located in Buchanan County (VA) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jackson Flats Paynesville (Less than 2 miles to the west)
Paynesville is located in Buchanan County (VA) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Paynesville Matney (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
Matney is located in Buchanan County (VA) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Matney Height (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
Height is located in Buchanan County (VA) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Height Peapatch (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
Peapatch is located in Buchanan County (VA) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Peapatch Bearwallow (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
Bearwallow is located in Buchanan County (VA) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bearwallow Janey (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
Janey is located in Buchanan County (VA) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Janey Mavisdale (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
Mavisdale is located in Buchanan County (VA) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mavisdale Kelsa (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
Kelsa is located in Buchanan County (VA) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kelsa Royal City (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
Royal City is located in Buchanan County (VA) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Royal City Grundy (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
Vansant (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
Rowe (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
Rowe is located in Buchanan County (VA) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rowe Dickenson County (VA)
The following are listed by their distance from Paynesville, with the one closest to Paynesville listed first.
Haysi (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
Haysi is located in Dickenson County (VA) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Haysi Population from the 2020 Census: 460 people
Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Haysi <1>
Bucu (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
Bucu is located in Dickenson County (VA) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bucu Carrie (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
Carrie is located in Dickenson County (VA) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carrie Aily (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
Aily is located in Dickenson County (VA) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Aily Tarpon (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
Tarpon is located in Dickenson County (VA) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tarpon Clinchco (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
Nora (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
Nora is located in Dickenson County (VA) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nora Russell County (VA)
The following are listed by their distance from Paynesville, with the one closest to Paynesville listed first.
Dye (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
Dye is located in Russell County (VA) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dye Russell (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
Russell is located in Russell County (VA) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Russell Honaker (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
Barnett (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
Barnett is located in Russell County (VA) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Barnett Artrip (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
Artrip is located in Russell County (VA) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Artrip Elk Garden (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
Elk Garden is located in Russell County (VA) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elk Garden Spring City (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
Spring City is located in Russell County (VA) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spring City Cleveland (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
Cleveland is located in Russell County (VA) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cleveland Population from the 2020 Census: 170 people
Smyth County (VA)
The following are listed by their distance from Paynesville, with the one closest to Paynesville listed first.
Allison Gap (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
Allison Gap is located in Smyth County (VA) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Allison Gap Cardwell Town (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
Cardwell Town is located in Smyth County (VA) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cardwell Town Broadford (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
Broadford is located in Smyth County (VA) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Broadford Tazewell County (VA)
The following are listed by their distance from Paynesville, with the one closest to Paynesville listed first.
Red Ash (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
Red Ash is located in Tazewell County (VA) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Red Ash Harman (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
Harman is located in Tazewell County (VA) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harman Raven (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
Raven is located in Tazewell County (VA) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Raven Richlands (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
Cedar Bluff (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
Dunford Village (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
Dunford Village is located in Tazewell County (VA) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dunford Village Sayersville (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
Sayersville is located in Tazewell County (VA) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sayersville Steeleburg (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
Steeleburg is located in Tazewell County (VA) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Steeleburg Bishop (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
Bishop is located in Tazewell County (VA) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bishop Claypool Hill (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
Claypool Hill is located in Tazewell County (VA) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Claypool Hill Pounding Mill (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
Shraders (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
Shraders is located in Tazewell County (VA) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shraders Maxwell (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
Maxwell is located in Tazewell County (VA) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maxwell
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Paynesville, see our County-by-County Page for Paynesville .
Cemeteries Near Paynesville ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Paynesville.
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 Paynesville - one of the links might be able to help.
If not found below, our Cemetery List for Paynesville covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Paynesville, with the one closest to Paynesville listed first.
Vance Cemetery (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
Lester Cemetery (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
Lester Cemetery (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
Day Cemetery (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
Mullins Cemetery (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
Payne Cemetery (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
Lester Cemetery (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
Mullins Cemetery (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
Stewart Cemetery (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
Keen Cemetery (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
Keen Cemetery (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
Keen Cemetery (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
Continue List (679 more) ...
Keen Cemetery (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
Sparks Cemetery (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
Vance Cemetery (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
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.<2>
While we didn't find Paynesville in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Paynesville.
These communities are listed based on their distance from Paynesville, with the one closest to Paynesville listed first.
Bradshaw (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
Iaeger (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
Iaeger is located in McDowell County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Iaeger Population from the 2020 Census: 232 people
Shack Mills (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
Shack Mills is located in Buchanan County (VA) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shack Mills Bearwallow (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
Bearwallow is located in Buchanan County (VA) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bearwallow Grundy (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
Pleasant Hill (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
Pleasant Hill is located in Tazewell County (VA) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Hill Paw Paw (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
Paw Paw is located in Pike County (KY) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Paw Paw Harman (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
Harman is located in Tazewell County (VA) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harman Doran (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
North Spring (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
North Spring is located in Wyoming County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Spring Big Rock (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
Big Rock is located in Buchanan County (VA) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Big Rock Richlands (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
Continue List (15 more) ...
Hanover (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
Hanover is located in Wyoming County Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hanover Jamboree (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
Jamboree is located in Pike County (KY) Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jamboree Cedar Bluff (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Paynesville. See our List of 1890's Communities around Paynesville .
Newspapers Published in Paynesville ...
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 11 newspapers that have been published in the area around Paynesville.
Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Paynesville, there are papers which were published within 17 miles [27.4 km]<3> Extended Newspaper List for Paynesville.
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 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 Paynesville:
Websites specific to West Virginia Pages specific to McDowell County Genealogy information for nearby counties
Logan County Mercer County Mingo County Wyoming County Pike County Buchanan County Dickenson County Russell County Smyth County Tazewell County Cemetery Information and Directories for West Virginia Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Paynesville. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page .
The official website for State of West Virginia: https://www.wv.gov/
Footnotes ...
<1> While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. 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 Paynesville, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. 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- Paynesville) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.