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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 Tehachapi (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 Tehachapi. 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 doctors and hospitals 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.

Tehachapi is located in Kern 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 Kern County: Inyo, Kings, Los Angeles, Monterey, San Bernardino, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Tulare & Ventura.

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

  • Kern County     (The home county of Tehachapi)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Tehachapi, with the one closest to Tehachapi listed first.
    • Summit
      (Less than 2 miles to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Summit have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Summit
      • Summit is located in Kern County
    • Golden Hills
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Golden Hills
      • Golden Hills is located in Kern County
    • Old Town
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Old Town have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Old Town
      • Old Town is located in Kern County
    • Girard ‑ Historic
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Girard. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Girard
      • Girard is located in Kern County
    • Woodford
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Woodford have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodford
      • Woodford is located in Kern County
    • Keene
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Bear Valley Springs
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Stallion Springs
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stallion Springs
      • Stallion Springs is located in Kern County
    • Bealville
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bealville have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bealville
      • Bealville is located in Kern County
    • Caliente
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Mojave
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
    • Reefer City ‑ Historic
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
      • 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
  • Los Angeles County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Tehachapi, with the one closest to Tehachapi listed first.
    • Neenach
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Neenach
      • Neenach is located in Los Angeles County
    • Antelope Acres
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Antelope Acres
      • Antelope Acres is located in Los Angeles County

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Tehachapi ...

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 50 newspapers that have been published in the area around Tehachapi.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Tehachapi. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Tehachapi and those printed in the larger area surrounding Tehachapi.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 27 miles [43.5 km]<4> of Tehachapi.

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 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 Tehachapi:

Cemeteries Near Tehachapi ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Tehachapi.

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

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

  • Tehachapi Public Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Tehachapi Public Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located outside and to the east of Tehachapi.
    • The Tehachapi Public Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Tehachapi Eastside Cemetery
    • Tehachapi Protestant Cemetery
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Tehachapi Public Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2137484 <5>
  • Tehachapi Westside Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Tehachapi Westside Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located outside and to the northwest of Tehachapi.
    • The Tehachapi Westside Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Tehachapi Catholic Cemetery
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Tehachapi Westside Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2137488 <5>
  • Old Tehachapi Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
  • James Foley Gravesite
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for the James Foley Gravesite. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the James Foley Gravesite is located 10 miles [16.1 km]<4> to the east of Mojave.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the James Foley Gravesite
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2188029 <5>
  • Sand Canyon Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
  • Cesar E. Chavez National Monument
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
  • Fickert Family Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
  • Tejon Indian Settlement Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
  • Bakersfield National Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
  • East Kern Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the East Kern Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located in Mojave.
    • The East Kern Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Mojave Cemetery
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the East Kern Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #1990430 <5>
  • Rankin Cemetery
    (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
  • Williams Gravesite
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
  • Continue List   (7 more) ...
    • Islamic Cemetery
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
    • South Kern Cemetery District
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
    • Old Havilah Cemetery
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
      • To give a relative sense of its location, the Old Havilah Cemetery is located in the vicinity of Havilah
      • The Old Havilah Cemetery has also been known as:
      • Havilah Cemetery
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Old Havilah Cemetery
      • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #1982323 <5>

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.<6>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Tehachapi had a population of 255 people in 1895 with railroad service and no post office. In 2020, Tehachapi had a population of 12,746 people.

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

  • Girard ‑ Historic
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Girard. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Girard
    • Girard is located in Kern County
  • Keene
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Rowen
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rowen have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rowen
    • Rowen is located in Kern County
  • Bealville
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bealville have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bealville
    • Bealville is located in Kern County
  • Caliente
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Mojave
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
  • Rosamond
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
  • Neenach
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Neenach
    • Neenach is located in Los Angeles County
  • Havilah
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Havilah
    • Havilah is located in Kern County
  • Fairmont
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
    • 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

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

The official website for Tehachapi: www.tehachapicityhall.com/

The official website for Kern County: www.co.kern.ca.us/

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>An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace.
<3>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<4>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Tehachapi) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Tehachapi. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 35.1321, Longitude: -118.4476    
<5>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.
<6>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 Tehachapi, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024