RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of California >> Merced County >> Dos Palos >> Genealogy HelperIndex...










Learn About
The Commemorative
Quarter for
California

The Commemorative Quarter for California





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 Dos Palos (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 Dos Palos. 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.

Dos Palos is primarily located in Merced County. A portion of Dos Palos extends into Fresno County.

To see how the shape of California's counties have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Merced County: Fresno, Madera, Mariposa, San Benito, Santa Clara & Stanislaus.

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

  • Merced County     (The home county of Dos Palos)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Dos Palos, with the one closest to Dos Palos listed first.
    • South Dos Palos
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Santa Rita Park
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Abbato ‑ Historic
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Abbato have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Abbato
      • Abbato is located in Merced County
    • El Nido
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Los Banos
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Trent
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Trent
      • Trent is located in Merced County
    • Volta
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Volta
      • Volta is located in Merced County
    • Athlone
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Athlone have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Athlone
      • Athlone is located in Merced County
    • Santa Nella Village
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
    • Santa Nella
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
    • Merced
      (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
    • Plainsburg
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Plainsburg have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plainsburg
      • Plainsburg is located in Merced County
  • Fresno County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Dos Palos, with the one closest to Dos Palos listed first.
    • Oro Loma ‑ Historic
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oro Loma
      • Oro Loma is located in Fresno County
    • Firebaugh
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Benito
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Benito
      • Benito is located in Fresno County
    • Mendota
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Mercey Hot Springs
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mercey Hot Springs
      • Mercey Hot Springs is located in Fresno County
      • Former name for Mercey Hot Springs:
      • Mercy Hot Springs
    • Fresno City ‑ Historic
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Fresno City have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fresno City
      • Fresno City is located in Fresno County
  • Madera County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Dos Palos, with the one closest to Dos Palos listed first.
    • Lincoln ‑ Historic
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lincoln have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lincoln
      • Lincoln is located in Madera County
    • Chowchilla
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Berenda
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Berenda
      • Berenda is located in Madera County
    • La Vina
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for La Vina
      • La Vina is located in Madera County
  • San Benito County
    • Panoche
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Panoche
      • Panoche is located in San Benito County

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Dos Palos ...

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 54 newspapers that have been published in the area around Dos Palos.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Dos Palos. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Dos Palos and those printed in the larger area surrounding Dos Palos.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 27 miles [43.5 km]<3> of Dos Palos.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we first turn to the websites from Cyndi's List, FamilySearch and Genealogy Trails. These 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 Dos Palos:

Cemeteries Near Dos Palos ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Dos Palos.

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 Dos Palos covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.

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

  • Dos Palos Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
  • Calvary Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
  • Los Banos Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Los Banos Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located in Los Banos.
    • The Los Banos Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Los Banos District Cemetery
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Los Banos Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #8133 <4>
  • Chowchilla Cemetery
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Chowchilla Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located 2 miles [3.2 km]<3> to the northeast of Chowchilla.
    • The Chowchilla Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Chowchilla District Cemetery
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Chowchilla Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #7906 <4>
  • Evergreen Cemetery
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Evergreen Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Evergreen Cemetery
  • Calvary Cemetery
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Calvary Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Calvary Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located in Merced.
    • The Calvary Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Calvary Catholic Cemetery
    • Calvary Merced Cemetery District
    • Be careful not to confuse this cemetery with another one that is also named Calvary Cemetery (located 56 miles to the north).
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Calvary Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #7873 <4>
  • Helm - Turner Cemetery
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Helm - Turner Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Helm - Turner Cemetery
  • New Hope Cemetery
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
  • San Joaquin Valley National Cemetery
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
  • Winton Cemetery
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Winton Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located outside and to the southwest of Winton.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Winton Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #8453 <4>
  • Stevinson Sunnyside Cemetery
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Stevinson Sunnyside Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Stevinson Sunnyside Cemetery

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.<5>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that in 1895, Dos Palos had a post office and no railroad service. In 2020, Dos Palos had a population of 5,269 people.

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

  • Firebaugh
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Los Banos
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
  • Volta
    (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Volta
    • Volta is located in Merced County
  • Athlone
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Athlone have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Athlone
    • Athlone is located in Merced County
  • Plainsburg
    (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Plainsburg have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plainsburg
    • Plainsburg is located in Merced County
  • Merced
    (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
  • Ingomar
    (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ingomar have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ingomar
    • Ingomar is located in Merced County
  • Linora ‑ Historic
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Linora have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Linora
    • Linora is located in Merced County
  • Atwater
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
  • Arena
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Arena have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Arena
    • Arena is located in Merced County
  • Livingston
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
  • Gustine
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
  • La Vina
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for La Vina
    • La Vina is located in Madera County

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

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

The official website for Merced County: www.co.merced.ca.us/

The official website for State of California: https://www.ca.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.
<2>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.
<3>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- Dos Palos) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Dos Palos. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 36.9868, Longitude: -120.6266    
<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>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 Dos Palos, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

Copyright 2024
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: 07 Apr 2024