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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 Alamosa (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 Alamosa. 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 hospitals and 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.

Alamosa is located in Alamosa County and is the County Seat.

To see how the shape of Colorado's counties have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Alamosa County: Conejos, Costilla, Huerfano, Rio Grande & Saguache.

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

  • Alamosa County     (The home county of Alamosa)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Alamosa, with the one closest to Alamosa listed first.
    • Alamosa East
      (Less than 2 miles to the east)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Alamosa East. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alamosa East
      • Alamosa East is located in Alamosa County
    • Henry
      (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Henry
      • Henry is located in Alamosa County
    • Waverly
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Waverly
      • Waverly is located in Alamosa County
    • Parma
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Parma have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Parma
      • Parma is located in Alamosa County
    • Mosca
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mosca have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mosca
      • Mosca is located in Alamosa County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Mosca <3>
    • Hooper
      (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
  • Conejos County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Alamosa, with the one closest to Alamosa listed first.
    • La Jara
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
    • Sanford
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sanford have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sanford
      • Sanford is located in Conejos County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 900 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Sanford <3>
    • Bountiful
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bountiful
      • Bountiful is located in Conejos County
    • Capulin
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Capulin have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Capulin
      • Capulin is located in Conejos County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Capulin <3>
    • Manassa
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
    • Romeo
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Romeo have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Romeo
      • Romeo is located in Conejos County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 417 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Romeo <3>
    • Conejos
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
    • Antonito
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
    • Paisaje
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Paisaje have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Paisaje
      • Paisaje is located in Conejos County
    • Mogote
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mogote
      • Mogote is located in Conejos County
  • Costilla County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Alamosa, with the one closest to Alamosa listed first.
    • Blanca
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
    • Fort Garland
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
    • San Acacio
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Garland City ‑ Historic
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Garland City have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Garland City
      • Garland City is located in Costilla County
  • Rio Grande County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Alamosa, with the one closest to Alamosa listed first.
    • Homelake
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Homelake have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Homelake
      • Homelake is located in Rio Grande County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Homelake <3>
    • Monte Vista
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Monte Vista have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Monte Vista
      • Monte Vista is located in Rio Grande County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 4,067 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Monte Vista <3>
    • Center
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Center
      • Center is located in Rio Grande County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,385 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Center <3>
    • Del Norte
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Saguache County
    • Liberty ‑ Historic
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Liberty
      • Liberty is located in Saguache County

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Alamosa ...

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 62 newspapers that have been published in the area around Alamosa.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Alamosa. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Alamosa and those printed in the larger area surrounding Alamosa.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 29 miles [46.7 km]<4> of Alamosa.

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 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 Alamosa:

Cemeteries Near Alamosa ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Alamosa.

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

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

  • Becker Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Becker Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Becker Cemetery
  • La Jara Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the La Jara Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the La Jara Cemetery
  • Sanford Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Sanford Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Sanford Cemetery
  • Capulin Cemetery
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Capulin Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Capulin Cemetery
  • St. Joseph Cemetery
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Joseph Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Joseph Cemetery
  • Speiser Cemetery
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Speiser Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Speiser Cemetery
  • Lasauses Cemetery
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Lasauses Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Lasauses Cemetery
  • Pioneer Urraca Cemetery
    (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Pioneer Urraca Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Pioneer Urraca Cemetery
  • Rock Creek Cemetery
    (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Rock Creek Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Rock Creek Cemetery
  • Lariat Cemetery
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
    • The Lariat Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Workers Union Cemetery
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Lariat Cemetery
  • Monte Vista Cemetery
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
  • De la Luz Cemetery
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the De la Luz Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the De la Luz Cemetery
  • Continue List   (19 more) ...
    • San Luis Valley Cemetery
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the San Luis Valley Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the San Luis Valley Cemetery
    • Nance Family Cemetery
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for the Nance Family Cemetery. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Nance Family Cemetery
    • Old Manassa Cemetery
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)

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>

While we didn't find Alamosa in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Alamosa.

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

  • Parma
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Parma have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Parma
    • Parma is located in Alamosa County
  • La Jara
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
  • Sanford
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sanford have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sanford
    • Sanford is located in Conejos County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 900 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Sanford <3>
  • Lasauses
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lasauses have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lasauses
    • Lasauses is located in Conejos County
  • Monte Vista
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Monte Vista have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Monte Vista
    • Monte Vista is located in Rio Grande County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 4,067 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Monte Vista <3>
  • Hooper
    (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
  • Capulin
    (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Capulin have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Capulin
    • Capulin is located in Conejos County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Capulin <3>
  • Manassa
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
  • Blanca
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
  • Continue List   (6 more) ...
    • Los Cerritos
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Los Cerritos have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Los Cerritos
      • Los Cerritos is located in Conejos County
    • Fort Garland
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
    • Conejos
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
    • Antonito
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
    • Garland City ‑ Historic
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Garland City have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Garland City
      • Garland City is located in Costilla County
    • Del Norte
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)

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

The official website for Alamosa: www.cityofalamosa.org/

The official website for State of Colorado: https://www.colorado.gov/

Footnotes ...

<1>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.
<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>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 '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- Alamosa) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Alamosa. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.4726, Longitude: -105.8743    
<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 Alamosa, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024