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The Commemorative Quarter for Arizona





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 Congress (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 Congress. 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 doctors 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.

Congress is located in Yavapai 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 Yavapai County: Coconino, Gila, La Paz, Maricopa & Mohave.

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

  • Yavapai County     (The home county of Congress)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Congress, with the one closest to Congress listed first.
    • Stanton ‑ Historic
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Stanton have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stanton
      • Stanton is located in Yavapai County
    • Glen Ilah
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glen Ilah
      • Glen Ilah is located in Yavapai County
    • Yarnell
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Weaver ‑ Historic
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Weaver. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Weaver
      • Weaver is located in Yavapai County
    • Camp Date Creek ‑ Historic
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Camp Date Creek
      • Camp Date Creek is located in Yavapai County
    • Octave ‑ Historic
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Octave have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Octave
      • Octave is located in Yavapai County
    • Peeples Valley
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Constellation ‑ Historic
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Constellation have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Constellation
      • Constellation is located in Yavapai County
    • Kirkland Junction
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kirkland Junction
      • Kirkland Junction is located in Yavapai County
    • Wagoner ‑ Historic
      (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wagoner
      • Wagoner is located in Yavapai County
    • Kirkland
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Walnut Grove
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Walnut Grove
      • Walnut Grove is located in Yavapai County
  • Maricopa County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Congress, with the one closest to Congress listed first.
    • Wickenburg
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Vulture City ‑ Historic
      (23 miles [37 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vulture City
      • Vulture City is located in Maricopa County
      • Vulture City has also been known as:
      • Vulture Mine
      • Vulture
    • Aguila
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
    • Morristown
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Circle City
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Circle City have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Circle City
      • Circle City is located in Maricopa County

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Congress ...

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 19 newspapers that have been published in the area around Congress.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Congress. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Congress and those printed in the larger area surrounding Congress.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 15 miles [24.1 km]<4> of Congress.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we first turn to 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 Congress:

Cemeteries Near Congress ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Congress.

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

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

  • Congress Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
  • Old Congress Pioneer Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
  • Camp Date Creek Pioneer Military Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Octave Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for the Octave Cemetery. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Octave Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2292708 <5>
  • Camp Date Creek Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for the Camp Date Creek Cemetery. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Camp Date Creek Cemetery
  • Genung Memorial Park
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Genung Memorial Park is a large cemetery that is located outside and to the east of Peeples Valley.
    • The Genung Memorial Park has also been known as:
    • Genung Cemetery
    • Genung Memorial Park Cemetery
    • Peeples Valley Pioneer Cemetery
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Genung Memorial Park
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2279078 <5>
  • Garcia Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
  • St. Alban's Episcopal Church Memorial Garden
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
  • Brill Ranch Cemetery
    (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for the Brill Ranch Cemetery. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • The Brill Ranch Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Martin Family Cemetery
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Brill Ranch Cemetery
  • Constellation Cemetery
    (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for the Constellation Cemetery. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Constellation Cemetery
  • Walnut Grove Cemetery
    (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
  • Kirkland Cemetery
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
  • Continue List   (13 more) ...
    • Thompson Valley Cemetery
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for the Thompson Valley Cemetery. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Thompson Valley Cemetery
      • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2434323 <5>
    • Copperopolis Cemetery
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
    • Tom Walder Memorial Park
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Tom Walder Memorial Park have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Tom Walder Memorial Park

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 Congress had a population of 242 people in 1895 with a post office and no railroad service.

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

  • Stanton ‑ Historic
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Stanton have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stanton
    • Stanton is located in Yavapai County
  • Wickenburg
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
  • Hillside ‑ Historic
    (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hillside have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hillside
    • Hillside is located in Yavapai County
  • Walnut Grove
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Walnut Grove
    • Walnut Grove is located in Yavapai County
  • Briggs
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Briggs have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Briggs
    • Briggs is located in Yavapai County
  • Vulture City ‑ Historic
    (23 miles [37 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vulture City
    • Vulture City is located in Maricopa County
    • Vulture City has also been known as:
    • Vulture Mine
    • Vulture
  • Skull Valley
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
  • Crown King
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)

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

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

The official website for Yavapai County: www.co.yavapai.az.us/

The official website for State of Arizona: https://az.gov/

Footnotes ...

<1>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.
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or 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- Congress) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Congress. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 34.1620, Longitude: -112.8533    
<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 Congress, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024