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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 Palmdale (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 Palmdale. 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 doctors 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.

Palmdale is located in Los Angeles 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 Los Angeles County: Kern, Orange, San Bernardino & Ventura.

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

  • Los Angeles County     (The home county of Palmdale)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Palmdale, with the one closest to Palmdale listed first.
    • Desert View Highlands
      (Less than 2 miles to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Desert View Highlands
      • Desert View Highlands is located in Los Angeles County
    • Harold
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Harold have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harold
      • Harold is located in Los Angeles County
    • Vincent
      (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vincent
      • Vincent is located in Los Angeles County
    • Lancaster
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Quartz Hill
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Littlerock
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Acton
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Paris
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Paris
      • Paris is located in Los Angeles County
    • Leona Valley
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Del Sur
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Del Sur
      • Del Sur is located in Los Angeles County
    • Pearblossom
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Agua Dulce
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
  • Kern County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Palmdale, with the one closest to Palmdale listed first.
    • Rosamond
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
    • Actis
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Actis
      • Actis is located in Kern County
      • Former names for Actis:
      • Gloster
      • Highberg
      • Rummington
    • Edwards
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Actis Gardens ‑ Historic
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Actis Gardens
      • Actis Gardens is located in Kern County
    • Gold Town ‑ Historic
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Gold Town have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gold Town
      • Gold Town is located in Kern County
    • Reefer City ‑ Historic
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Reefer City have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Reefer City
      • Reefer City is located in Kern County
  • San Bernardino County

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Palmdale ...

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 95 newspapers that have been published in the area around Palmdale.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Palmdale. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Palmdale and those printed in the larger area surrounding Palmdale.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<3> of Palmdale.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we first visit 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 Palmdale:

Cemeteries Near Palmdale ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Palmdale.

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

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

  • Palmdale Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Palmdale Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Palmdale Cemetery
  • Desert Lawn Memorial Park
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
  • Acton Community Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Acton Community Cemetery is located outside and to the north of Acton.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Acton Community Cemetery
  • Joshua Memorial Park
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
  • Lancaster Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
  • Good Shepherd Catholic Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Islamic Cemetery
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
  • Glen Haven Memorial Park
    (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Glen Haven Memorial Park have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Glen Haven Memorial Park
  • Verdugo Hills Cemetery
    (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Verdugo Hills Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Verdugo Hills Cemetery
  • Sholom Memorial Park
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Sholom Memorial Park have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Sholom Memorial Park
  • Pioneer Memorial Cemetery
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Pioneer Memorial Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Pioneer Memorial Cemetery
  • Eternal Valley Memorial Park
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
  • Continue List   (7 more) ...
    • Mountain View Cemetery
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
    • Mountain View Mausoleum
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Mountain View Mausoleum have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Mountain View Mausoleum
    • Eden Memorial Park
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)

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, Palmdale had a post office and no railroad service. In 2020, Palmdale had a population of 150,498 people.

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

  • Alpine ‑ Historic
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Alpine have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alpine
    • Alpine is located in Los Angeles County
  • Harold
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Harold have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harold
    • Harold is located in Los Angeles County
  • Vincent
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vincent
    • Vincent is located in Los Angeles County
  • Lancaster
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
  • Acton
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
  • Ravenna
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ravenna have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ravenna
    • Ravenna is located in Los Angeles County
  • Del Sur
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Del Sur
    • Del Sur is located in Los Angeles County
  • Russ
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Russ have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Russ
    • Russ is located in Los Angeles County
  • Lang
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lang have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lang
    • Lang is located in Los Angeles County
  • Llano
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
  • Rosamond
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
  • Fairmont
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Fairmont have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fairmont
    • Fairmont is located in Los Angeles County
  • Continue List   (18 more) ...
    • Honby
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Honby
      • Honby is located in Los Angeles County
    • Sunland
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sunland have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunland
      • Sunland is located in Los Angeles County
    • La Crescenta
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)

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

The official website for Palmdale: www.cityofpalmdale.org/

The official website for Los Angeles County: www.lacounty.info/

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 drawn from Point A (ie- Palmdale) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Palmdale. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 34.5795, Longitude: -118.1175    
<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 Palmdale, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024