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Our Genealogy Helper

Introduction ...

So far, we found very little information about Sweetwater. The little that we've found leads us believe that the community is historic.<1>

We've added Sweetwater to our Gazetteer with the hope that we can develop more information. If you can help us with Sweetwater, please Contact Us.

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 Sweetwater (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 Sweetwater. 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 Sweetwater ...

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.

Another variation: Sweet Water.

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.

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 and hospitals 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.

Although our information shows that the community of Sweetwater is historic, it would have been located within present day Colfax 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 Colfax County: Costilla (CO), Las Animas (CO), Harding, Mora, Taos & Union.

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

  • Colfax County     (The home county of Sweetwater)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Sweetwater, with the one closest to Sweetwater listed first.
    • Miami
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Colmor ‑ Historic
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Colmor
      • Colmor is located in Colfax County
    • Cimarron
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
    • Springer
      (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Springer have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Springer
      • Springer is located in Colfax County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 910 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Springer <2>
    • Ute Park
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Angel Fire
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
    • Eagle Nest
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Eagle Nest have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eagle Nest
      • Eagle Nest is located in Colfax County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 251 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Eagle Nest <2>
    • Lakeview Pines
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lakeview Pines
      • Lakeview Pines is located in Colfax County
    • Dawson ‑ Historic
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dawson
      • Dawson is located in Colfax County
    • Maxwell
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Maxwell have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maxwell
      • Maxwell is located in Colfax County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 213 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Maxwell <2>
    • Virginia City ‑ Historic
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Virginia City have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Virginia City
      • Virginia City is located in Colfax County
    • Idlewild
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Idlewild
      • Idlewild is located in Colfax County
  • Mora County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Sweetwater, with the one closest to Sweetwater listed first.
    • Ocate
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Los Huerros
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Los Huerros
      • Los Huerros is located in Mora County
    • Ojo Feliz
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Guadalupita
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Wagon Mound
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Rainsville
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Chacon
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
    • La Cueva
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for La Cueva
      • La Cueva is located in Mora County
  • Taos County

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

Newspapers Published in Sweetwater ...

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 33 newspapers that have been published in the area around Sweetwater.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Sweetwater, there are papers which were published within 27 miles [43.5 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Sweetwater.

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 websites either 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 Sweetwater:

Cemeteries Near Sweetwater ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Sweetwater.

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

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

  • Abreu Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Abreu Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Abreu Cemetery
  • Miami Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Miami Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Miami Cemetery
  • Halls Peak Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
  • Strong Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
  • Calhoun Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
  • Ocate Catholic Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Ocate Catholic Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Ocate Catholic Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #38283 <5>
  • Los LeFebres Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Cimmarron Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Cimmarron Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located outside and to the southwest of Cimarron.
    • The Cimmarron Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Mountain View Cemetery
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Cimmarron Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #38005 <5>
  • Mountain View Cemetery
    (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
  • Church of Christ Cemetery
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
  • San Yasdiro Cemetery
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
  • Casias Cemetery
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
  • Continue List   (17 more) ...
    • Black Lake Cemetery
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Black Lake Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Black Lake Cemetery
    • Hillside Cemetery
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Santa Clara Cemetery
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)

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.

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

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

  • Halls Peak ‑ Historic
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Halls Peak have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Halls Peak
    • Halls Peak is located in Mora County
  • Ocate
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
  • Colmor ‑ Historic
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Colmor
    • Colmor is located in Colfax County
  • Cimarron
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
  • Levy
    (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Levy have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Levy
    • Levy is located in Mora County
  • Springer
    (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Springer have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Springer
    • Springer is located in Colfax County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 910 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Springer <2>
  • Guadalupita
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
  • Wagon Mound
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
  • Lucero
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lucero have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lucero
    • Lucero is located in Mora County
  • Maxwell
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Maxwell have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maxwell
    • Maxwell is located in Colfax County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 213 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Maxwell <2>

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

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

Footnotes ...

<1>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 Sweetwater, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<3>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.
<4>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Sweetwater) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Sweetwater. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 36.2836, Longitude: -104.9131       In this case, the coordinates for Sweetwater have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<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.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024