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 Carlsbad (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 Carlsbad. 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.

Name Variations for Carlsbad ...

When searching records, keep in mind that names and their spelling can change over time. Our sources include documents like maps, railroad schedules, Travel, Express and Shipping Guides. Many of these documents date from the 1800's and it's common to find spelling differences.

Although we can't give a definitive list, hopefully the following will give you a feel for the variations that might have occurred.

Carlsbad was originally named Eddy

If you have information about these names (such as the reason for the change, date of change, the origin of the name), please Contact Us.

A Few Details for Carlsbad ...

While it's still very early in our research, we found that:

• The community of Carlsbad was established in 1888.
• It was incorporated in 1899.

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.

Carlsbad is located in Eddy County and is the County Seat.

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 Eddy County: Chaves, Lea, Otero, Culberson (TX), Loving (TX) & Reeves (TX).

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

• Eddy County     (The home county of Carlsbad)
  • The following are listed by their distance from Carlsbad, with the one closest to Carlsbad listed first.
  • La Huerta
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for La Huerta
    • La Huerta is located in Eddy County
    • Former name for La Huerta:
    • Carlsbad North
  • Loving
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Loving have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Loving
    • Loving is located in Eddy County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,372 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Loving <2>
  • Black River Village
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Black River Village have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Black River Village
    • Black River Village is located in Eddy County
  • Malaga
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Malaga
    • Malaga is located in Eddy County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Malaga <2>
  • Whites City
    (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Whites City
    • Whites City is located in Eddy County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Whites City <2>
  • Artesia
    (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Artesia
    • Artesia is located in Eddy County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 12,214 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Artesia <2>

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Carlsbad ...

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 40 newspapers that have been published in the area around Carlsbad.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

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

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 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 Carlsbad:

• Websites specific to New Mexico
  • Jump to Cyndi's List
  • Jump to Family Search
  • Jump to Genealogy Trails
  • Website for the State Records Center and Archives

• Pages specific to Eddy County
  • Jump to Cyndi's List
  • Jump to Family Search
  • Jump to Genealogy Trails

• Genealogy information for nearby counties

• Cemetery Information and Directories for New Mexico
  • Cemetery Junction: Cemeteries of New Mexico
  • Cyndi's List
  • Cemeteries of New Mexico
  • Cemeteries of Eddy County
  • FamilySearch.org: Cemeteries of New Mexico
  • Find-A-Grave: Home Page
  • Interment.net
  • Cemeteries of New Mexico
  • Cemeteries of Eddy County

Cemeteries Near Carlsbad ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Carlsbad.

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

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

• Rocky Arroyo Cemetery
  (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Rocky Arroyo Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Rocky Arroyo Cemetery
• Lookout Cemetery
  (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Lookout Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Lookout Cemetery
• Seven Rivers Cemetery
  (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Seven Rivers Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Seven Rivers Cemetery
• South Cemetery
  (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the South Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the South Cemetery
• Old Lakewood Cemetery
  (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Old Lakewood Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Old Lakewood Cemetery
• Lakewood Cemetery
  (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Lakewood Cemetery
• McDonald Cemetery
  (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the McDonald Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the McDonald Cemetery

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.<4>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Carlsbad had a population of 278 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Carlsbad had a population of 29,664 people.

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

• Lookout ‑ Historic
  (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lookout have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lookout
  • Lookout is located in Eddy County
• Seven Rivers
  (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Seven Rivers have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Seven Rivers
  • Seven Rivers is located in Eddy County
• Red Bluff
  (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Red Bluff have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Red Bluff
  • Red Bluff is located in Eddy County

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

Off-the-Road Links ...

The official website for Carlsbad: www.cityofcarlsbadnm.com/

The official website for Eddy County: www.caverns.net/ecourt/

The official website for State of New Mexico: www.newmexico.gov/