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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 Poway (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 Poway. 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 doctors 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.

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

  • San Diego County     (The home county of Poway)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Poway, with the one closest to Poway listed first.
    • Rancho Bernardo
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Eucalyptus Hills
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eucalyptus Hills
      • Eucalyptus Hills is located in San Diego County
    • Mira Mesa
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Mussey Grove ‑ Historic
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mussey Grove have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mussey Grove
      • Mussey Grove is located in San Diego County
    • Fairbanks Ranch
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Fairbanks Ranch have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fairbanks Ranch
      • Fairbanks Ranch is located in San Diego County
    • Santee
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
      • 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 <1>
    • Escondido
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Ramona
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Lakeside
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Rancho Santa Fe
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Winter Gardens
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Winter Gardens have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Winter Gardens
      • Winter Gardens is located in San Diego County
    • El Cajon
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
    • Bostonia
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bostonia have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bostonia
      • Bostonia is located in San Diego County

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Poway ...

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 289 newspapers that have been published in the area around Poway.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Poway. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Poway and those printed in the larger area surrounding Poway.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 18 miles [29 km]<3> of Poway.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we begin 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 Poway:

Cemeteries Near Poway ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Poway.

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

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

  • Dearborn Memorial Park
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
  • El Camino Memorial Park
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
  • Miramar National Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
  • Carmel Valley Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
  • Memory Gardens Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Memory Gardens Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Memory Gardens Cemetery
  • Oak Hill Memorial Park
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Oak Hill Memorial Park have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Oak Hill Memorial Park
  • Olivenhain Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Olivenhain Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Olivenhain Cemetery
  • El Cajon Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
  • San Marcos Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Holy Cross Cemetery
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
  • Home of Peace Cemetery
    (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
  • Mt. Hope Cemetery
    (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
  • Continue List   (17 more) ...
    • Greenwood Cemetery
      (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
      • 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
    • Greenwood Memorial Park
      (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
    • Valley Center Cemetery
      (18 miles [29 km] to the north)

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 Poway had a population of 159 people in 1895 with a post office and no railroad service. In 2020, Poway had a population of 49,246 people.

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

  • Santee
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • 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 <1>
  • Riverview
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Riverview have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Riverview
    • Riverview is located in San Diego County
  • San Pasqual
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for San Pasqual have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for San Pasqual
    • San Pasqual is located in San Diego County
  • Linda Vista ‑ Historic
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Linda Vista have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Linda Vista
    • Linda Vista is located in San Diego County
  • Escondido
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
  • Lakeside
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
  • Sorrento
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sorrento have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sorrento
    • Sorrento is located in San Diego County
  • Selwyn ‑ Historic
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Selwyn have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Selwyn
    • Selwyn is located in San Diego County
  • El Cajon
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
  • La Mesa
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
  • Del Mar
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
  • San Marcos
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Continue List   (15 more) ...
    • Spring Valley
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
    • El Capitan ‑ Historic
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for El Capitan have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for El Capitan
      • El Capitan is located in San Diego County
    • Encinitas
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)

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

The official website for Poway: www.ci.poway.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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Poway) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Poway. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 32.9676, Longitude: -117.0362    
<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 Poway, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024