RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of California >> San Diego County >> National City >> 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 National City (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 National City. 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 southeast 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 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.

National City is located in San Diego 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 San Diego County: Imperial, Orange & Riverside.

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

  • San Diego County     (The home county of National City)
    • The following are listed by their distance from National City, with the one closest to National City listed first.
    • Lincoln Acres
      (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • South Crest
      (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Crest
      • South Crest is located in San Diego County
    • Paradise Hills
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Paradise Hills
      • Paradise Hills is located in San Diego County
    • Bonita
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Chula Vista
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Sunnyside
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunnyside
      • Sunnyside is located in San Diego County
    • San Diego
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Coronado
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Tent City ‑ Historic
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Tent City have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tent City
      • Tent City is located in San Diego County
    • East San Diego
      (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East San Diego
      • East San Diego is located in San Diego County
    • La Presa
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for La Presa
      • La Presa is located in San Diego County
    • Lemon Grove
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Imperial Beach
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of National City ...

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 358 newspapers that have been published in the area around National City.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of National City. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of National City and those printed in the larger area surrounding National City.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 16 miles [25.7 km]<3> of National City.

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 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 National City:

Cemeteries Near National City ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of National City.

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 National City covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.

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

  • La Vista Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the La Vista Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the La Vista Cemetery
  • Greenwood Memorial Park
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
  • Mt. Hope Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
  • Home of Peace Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
  • Holy Cross Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
  • Greenwood Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Greenwood Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Greenwood Cemetery
  • Glen Abbey Memorial Park
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
  • Mt. Olivet Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Mt. Olivet Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Mt. Olivet Cemetery
  • Ft. Rosecrans National Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
  • St. Francis Xavier Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Francis Xavier Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Francis Xavier Cemetery
  • El Cajon Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
  • Miramar National Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
  • Continue List   (5 more) ...

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 National City had a population of 1,353 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, National City had a population of 60,932 people.

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

  • Chula Vista
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
  • Bonita
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
  • Sunnyside
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunnyside
    • Sunnyside is located in San Diego County
  • San Diego
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
  • Coronado
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
  • Coronado Heights ‑ Historic
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Coronado Heights have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coronado Heights
    • Coronado Heights is located in San Diego County
  • South San Diego
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for South San Diego have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South San Diego
    • South San Diego is located in San Diego County
  • Nestor
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Nestor have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nestor
    • Nestor is located in San Diego County
  • La Presa
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for La Presa
    • La Presa is located in San Diego County
  • Spring Valley
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
  • La Mesa
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Old Town San Diego
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Old Town San Diego have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Old Town San Diego
    • Old Town San Diego is located in San Diego County
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...
    • Otay
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Otay have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Otay
      • Otay is located in San Diego County
    • El Cajon
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Pacific Beach
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pacific Beach
      • Pacific Beach is located in San Diego County

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

The official website for National City: www.ci.national-city.ca.us/

The official website for San Diego County: www.sdcounty.ca.gov/

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' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- National City) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in National City. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 32.6764, Longitude: -117.0981    
<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 National City, 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