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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 Pacific 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 Pacific 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 Pacific 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 Pacific Beach: Pacific 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.

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.

Pacific Beach 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 Pacific Beach. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Pacific Beach:

  • San Diego County     (The home county of Pacific Beach)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Pacific Beach, with the one closest to Pacific Beach listed first.
    • Clairemont
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Clairemont have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clairemont
      • Clairemont is located in San Diego County
    • Elvira
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Bayside Village
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bayside Village have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bayside Village
      • Bayside Village is located in San Diego County
    • La Jolla
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Old San Diego
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Old San Diego
      • Old San Diego is located in San Diego County
    • Old Town San Diego
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Old Town San Diego have been provided by the GNIS.<1> 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
    • University City
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for University City have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for University City
      • University City is located in San Diego County
    • La Playa
      (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for La Playa
      • La Playa is located in San Diego County
    • Point Loma
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Point Loma
      • Point Loma is located in San Diego County
    • San Diego
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Coronado
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • East San Diego
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East San Diego
      • East San Diego is located in San Diego County
    • Mira Mesa
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)

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

Newspapers Published in Pacific 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 438 newspapers that have been published in the area around Pacific Beach.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Pacific Beach, there are papers which were published within 18 miles [29 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Pacific Beach.

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 Pacific Beach:

Cemeteries Near Pacific Beach ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Pacific 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 Pacific Beach covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.

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

  • Miramar National Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
  • Ft. Rosecrans National Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
  • El Camino Memorial Park
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Home of Peace Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
  • Mt. Hope Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
  • Greenwood Memorial Park
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
  • Holy Cross Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
  • Carmel Valley Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
  • Greenwood Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Greenwood Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Greenwood Cemetery
  • La Vista Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the La Vista Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the La Vista Cemetery
  • Olivenhain Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Olivenhain Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Olivenhain Cemetery
  • Glen Abbey Memorial Park
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
  • Continue List   (9 more) ...
    • Dearborn Memorial Park
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Mt. Olivet Cemetery
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Mt. Olivet Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Mt. Olivet Cemetery
    • El Cajon Cemetery
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)

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, Pacific Beach had a post office and no railroad service.

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

  • Old Town San Diego
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Old Town San Diego have been provided by the GNIS.<1> 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
  • Selwyn ‑ Historic
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Selwyn have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Selwyn
    • Selwyn is located in San Diego County
  • Linda Vista ‑ Historic
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Linda Vista have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Linda Vista
    • Linda Vista is located in San Diego County
  • Sorrento
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sorrento have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sorrento
    • Sorrento is located in San Diego County
  • San Diego
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Coronado
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
  • National City
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Del Mar
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
  • La Mesa
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
  • Chula Vista
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
  • Spring Valley
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
  • Santee
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Santee
    • Santee is located in San Diego County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 57,770 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Santee <2>
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...
    • Coronado Heights ‑ Historic
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Coronado Heights have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coronado Heights
      • Coronado Heights is located in San Diego County
    • Bonita
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Sunnyside
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunnyside
      • Sunnyside 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 Pacific Beach. See our List of 1890's Communities around Pacific Beach.

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

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

The official website for State of California: https://www.ca.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>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<3>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Pacific Beach) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Pacific Beach. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 32.8010, Longitude: -117.2353    
<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 Pacific Beach, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024