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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 Benson (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 Benson. 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 northeast corner of their home county. During their lives, most hospitals and doctors were in the next county to the east. 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 east 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.

Benson is located in Cochise County.

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

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Cochise County: Graham, Greenlee, Pima, Santa Cruz & Hidalgo (NM).

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

  • Cochise County     (The home county of Benson)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Benson, with the one closest to Benson listed first.
    • Pomerene
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Whetstone
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Whetstone have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Whetstone
      • Whetstone is located in Cochise County
    • Saint David
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Mescal
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mescal
      • Mescal is located in Cochise County
    • Contention City ‑ Historic
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Contention City have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Contention City
      • Contention City is located in Cochise County
      • Contention City has also been known as:
      • Contention
    • Dragoon
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
    • Fairbank ‑ Historic
      (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fairbank
      • Fairbank is located in Cochise County
    • Tombstone
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Charleston ‑ Historic
      (23 miles [37 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Charleston have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Charleston
      • Charleston is located in Cochise County
    • Huachuca City
      (23 miles [37 km] to the south)
    • Cochise
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
    • De Anza Village
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for De Anza Village have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for De Anza Village
      • De Anza Village is located in Cochise County
    • Fort Huachuca
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
  • Pima County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Benson, with the one closest to Benson listed first.
    • Harrington Place ‑ Historic
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Harrington Place have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harrington Place
      • Harrington Place is located in Pima County
    • Vail
      (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
    • Corona de Tucson
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Corona de Tucson have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Corona de Tucson
      • Corona de Tucson is located in Pima County
    • Esmond
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Esmond have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Esmond
      • Esmond is located in Pima County
    • Greaterville ‑ Historic
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Greaterville have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greaterville
      • Greaterville is located in Pima County
    • Helvetia ‑ Historic
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Helvetia have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Helvetia
      • Helvetia is located in Pima County
  • Santa Cruz County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Benson, with the one closest to Benson listed first.
    • Elgin
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Sonoita
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Benson ...

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 61 newspapers that have been published in the area around Benson.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Benson. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Benson and those printed in the larger area surrounding Benson.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 29 miles [46.7 km]<3> of Benson.

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 helpful 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 Benson:

Cemeteries Near Benson ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Benson.

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

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

  • Benson Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Benson Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Benson Cemetery
  • Cochise Gardens of Rest Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
  • St. David Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. David Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. David Cemetery
  • White Cross Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the White Cross Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the White Cross Cemetery
  • Dragoon Springs Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Dragoon Springs Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Dragoon Springs Cemetery
  • Apodaca Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Apodaca Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Apodaca Cemetery
  • Fairbank Pioneer Cemetery
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for the Fairbank Pioneer Cemetery. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<5>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Fairbank Pioneer Cemetery
  • Tombstone Cemetery (New)
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
  • Tombstone Cemetery (Old)
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
  • Boothill Cemetery
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
  • Cochise Cemetery
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
  • Fruitland Cemetery
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
  • Continue List   (13 more) ...
    • Vail Childrens' Cemetery
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Vail Childrens' Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Vail Childrens' Cemetery
    • Rincon Congregational Church Columbarium
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Rincon Congregational Church Columbarium have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Rincon Congregational Church Columbarium
    • Soza Cemetery
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)

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>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Benson had a population of 348 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Benson had a population of 4,890 people.

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

  • Saint David
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Contention City ‑ Historic
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Contention City have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Contention City
    • Contention City is located in Cochise County
    • Contention City has also been known as:
    • Contention
  • Dragoon
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
  • Pantano
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Pantano have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pantano
    • Pantano is located in Pima County
  • Fairbank ‑ Historic
    (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fairbank
    • Fairbank is located in Cochise County
  • Tombstone
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
  • Vail
    (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
  • Fort Huachuca
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
  • Esmond
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Esmond have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Esmond
    • Esmond is located in Pima County
  • Sonoita
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)

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

The official website for Benson: www.cityofbenson.com/

The official website for Cochise County: www.cochise.az.gov/

The official website for State of Arizona: https://az.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 'straight-line' (or 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- Benson) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Benson. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 31.9679, Longitude: -110.2945    
<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.
<5>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.
<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 Benson, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024