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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 Aurora (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 Aurora. 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 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.

Aurora is located in San Miguel County.

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

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of San Miguel County: Guadalupe, Harding, Mora, Quay, Santa Fe & Torrance.

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

  • San Miguel County     (The home county of Aurora)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Aurora, with the one closest to Aurora listed first.
    • Villanueva
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • El Cerrito
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for El Cerrito
      • El Cerrito is located in San Miguel County
    • Coruco
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coruco
      • Coruco is located in San Miguel County
    • Ribera
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
    • San Miguel
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for San Miguel have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for San Miguel
      • San Miguel is located in San Miguel County
    • El Ancon
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for El Ancon
      • El Ancon is located in San Miguel County
    • Serafina
      (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
    • Chapelle
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chapelle
      • Chapelle is located in San Miguel County
    • Ilfeld
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
    • Apache Springs
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Apache Springs
      • Apache Springs is located in San Miguel County
    • Tecolote
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Tecolote have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tecolote
      • Tecolote is located in San Miguel County
    • Rowe
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Romero
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Romero have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Romero
      • Romero is located in San Miguel County
  • Guadalupe County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Aurora, with the one closest to Aurora listed first.
    • Dahlia
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Dahlia have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dahlia
      • Dahlia is located in Guadalupe County
    • Upper Anton Chico
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Upper Anton Chico
      • Upper Anton Chico is located in Guadalupe County
    • Anton Chico
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
    • Dilia
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dilia
      • Dilia is located in Guadalupe County
  • Santa Fe County
  • Torrance County

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

Newspapers Published in Aurora ...

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 1 newspapers that have been published in the area around Aurora.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Aurora, there are papers which were published within 29 miles [46.7 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Aurora.

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 Aurora:

Cemeteries Near Aurora ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Aurora.

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

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

  • San Juan Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for the San Juan Cemetery. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<4>
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the San Juan Cemetery is located 8 miles [12.9 km]<3> to the north of Villanueva.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the San Juan Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #38416 <5>
  • San Isidro De Labador Church Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
  • Santo Nino de Atocha Church Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
  • Tapia Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
  • El Cerrito Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Pueblo Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
  • Old Anton Chico Cemetery
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
  • Rencona Cemetery
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
  • Lagunita Cemetery
    (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
  • Red Hills Cemetery
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
  • Dilia Cemetery
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
  • Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic Cemetery
    (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
  • Continue List   (15 more) ...
    • Sombrio Cemetery
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Aguilar Cemetery
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Aguilar Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Aguilar Cemetery
    • Sagrada Familia Parish Cemetery
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
      • To give a relative sense of its location, the Sagrada Familia Parish Cemetery is located outside and to the northeast of Rowe.
      • The Sagrada Familia Parish Cemetery has also been known as:
      • Holy Family Catholic Cemetery
      • Sagrada Familia Churchyard Cemetery
      • St. Josephs Chapel Cemetery
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Sagrada Familia Parish Cemetery
      • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2353488 <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>

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

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

  • Villanueva
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
  • San Miguel
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for San Miguel have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for San Miguel
    • San Miguel is located in San Miguel County
  • Blanchard
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Blanchard have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blanchard
    • Blanchard is located in San Miguel County
  • Sands
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sands have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sands
    • Sands is located in San Miguel County
  • Bernal
    (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bernal have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bernal
    • Bernal is located in San Miguel County
  • Tecolote
    (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Tecolote have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tecolote
    • Tecolote is located in San Miguel County
  • Rowe
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
  • Romero
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Romero have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Romero
    • Romero is located in San Miguel County

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

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

The official website for State of New Mexico: www.newmexico.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 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Aurora) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Aurora. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 35.1467, Longitude: -105.4492       In this case, the coordinates for Aurora have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<4>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.
<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 Aurora, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.









 

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024