Our Genealogy Helper
Introduction ...
So far, we found very little information about Alpha. The little that we've found leads us believe that the community is historic.<1>
We've added Alpha to our Gazetteer with the hope that we can develop more information. If you can help us with Alpha, 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 Alpha (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 Alpha. 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 Alpha ...
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: Aalpha.
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 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 Alpha is historic, it would have been located within present day Eureka County.
To see how the shape of Nevada's counties have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.
The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Eureka County: Elko, Lander, Nye & White Pine.
Below are the counties that are near Alpha. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Alpha:
- Eureka County (The home county of Alpha)
- The following are listed by their distance from Alpha, with the one closest to Alpha listed first.
- Mineral ‑ Historic
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the north) - Mineral Hill ‑ Historic
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)- Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Mineral Hill. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mineral Hill
- Mineral Hill is located in Eureka County
- Blackburn ‑ Historic
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blackburn
- Blackburn is located in Eureka County
- Diamond City ‑ Historic
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Diamond City have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Diamond City
- Diamond City is located in Eureka County
- Lander County
- Cortez ‑ Historic
(23 miles [37 km] to the west)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cortez
- Cortez is located in Lander County
- Cortez ‑ Historic
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Alpha, see our County-by-County Page for Alpha.
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 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 Alpha:
- Websites specific to Nevada
- Jump to Cyndi's List
- Jump to Family Search
- Jump to Genealogy Trails
- Website for the Nevada State Library and Archives
- Pages specific to Eureka County
- Jump to Cyndi's List
- Jump to Family Search
- Jump to Genealogy Trails
- Genealogy information for nearby counties
- Lander County
- Jump to Cyndi's List
- Jump to Family Search
- Jump to Genealogy Trails
- Lander County
- Cemetery Information and Directories for Nevada
- Cemetery Junction: Cemeteries of Nevada
- Cyndi's List
- Cemeteries of Nevada
- Cemeteries of Eureka County
- FamilySearch.org: Cemeteries of Nevada
- Find-A-Grave: Home Page
- Interment.net
- Cemeteries of Nevada
- Cemeteries of Eureka County
Cemeteries Near Alpha ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Alpha.
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 Alpha covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Alpha, with the one closest to Alpha listed first.
- Mineral Hill Cemetery
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Mineral Hill Cemetery
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2391652 <4>
- Cortez Cemetery
(23 miles [37 km] to the west)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Cortez Cemetery
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2245626 <4>
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.
Alpha itself is historic and was described in the Rand McNally Atlas as having railroad service and no post office.
These communities are listed based on their distance from Alpha, with the one closest to Alpha listed first.
- White ‑ Historic
(5 miles [8 km] to the south) - Mineral ‑ Historic
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the north) - Blackburn ‑ Historic
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blackburn
- Blackburn is located in Eureka County
- Diamond City ‑ Historic
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Diamond City have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Diamond City
- Diamond City is located in Eureka County
We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Alpha. See our List of 1890's Communities around Alpha.
Off-the-Road Links ...
The official website for Eureka County: www.co.eureka.nv.us/
The official website for State of Nevada: nv.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 Alpha, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <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> | 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. |
| <4> | 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. |