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 Midway (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 Midway. 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 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.
Midway is located in Maricopa 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 Maricopa County: Gila, La Paz, Pima, Pinal, Yavapai & Yuma.
Below are the counties that are near Midway. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Midway:
- Maricopa County (The home county of Midway)
- The following are listed by their distance from Midway, with the one closest to Midway listed first.
- Theba
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Theba
- Theba is located in Maricopa County
- Gila Bend
(23 miles [37 km] to the north)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gila Bend
- Gila Bend is located in Maricopa County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 2,118 people
- Former name for Gila Bend:
- Gila
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Gila Bend <1>
- San Lucy Village
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for San Lucy Village have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for San Lucy Village
- San Lucy Village is located in Maricopa County
- Bosque
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
- Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Bosque. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bosque
- Bosque is located in Maricopa County
- Pima County
- The following are listed by their distance from Midway, with the one closest to Midway listed first.
- Childs
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Childs
- Childs is located in Pima County
- Ajo
(18 miles [29 km] to the south)
- Mexican Town
(18 miles [29 km] to the south)
- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mexican Town have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mexican Town
- Mexican Town is located in Pima County
- Why
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
- Schuchuli
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
- Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Schuchuli. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Schuchuli
- Schuchuli is located in Pima County
- Schuchuli has also been known as:
- Gunsight Ranch
- Gunsight Well
- Gunsight
- Sialatuck
- Charco
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Charco
- Charco is located in Pima County
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Midway, see our County-by-County Page for Midway.
Cemeteries Near Midway ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Midway.
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 Midway covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Midway, with the one closest to Midway listed first.
- Childs Cemetery
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Childs Cemetery
- To give a relative sense of its location, the Childs Cemetery is located 3 miles [4.8 km]<4> to the southeast of Childs.
- Ajo Cemetery
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
- Darby Wells Cemetery
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Darby Wells Cemetery
- To give a relative sense of its location, the Darby Wells Cemetery is located 2 miles [3.2 km]<4> to the northeast of Ajo.
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2368628 <5>
- Stout Cemetery
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Stout Cemetery
- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Stout Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Stoa Pitk Cemetery
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Stoa Pitk Cemetery
- To give a relative sense of its location, the Stoa Pitk Cemetery is located 20 miles [32.2 km]<4> to the west of Ajo.
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2310463 <5>
- Pioneer Cemetery
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
- Hee - A - Hand Park
(23 miles [37 km] to the north)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Hee - A - Hand Park
- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Hee - A - Hand Park have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Bosque Cemetery
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Bosque Cemetery
- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Bosque Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Hickiwan Cemetery
(29 miles [46.7 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.<6>
While we didn't find Midway in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Midway.
These communities are listed based on their distance from Midway, with the one closest to Midway listed first.
- Gila Bend
(23 miles [37 km] to the north)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gila Bend
- Gila Bend is located in Maricopa County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 2,118 people
- Former name for Gila Bend:
- Gila
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Gila Bend <1>
- Sentinel
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sentinel have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sentinel
- Sentinel is located in Maricopa County
- Bosque
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
- Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Bosque. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bosque
- Bosque is located in Maricopa County
We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Midway. See our List of 1890's Communities around Midway.
Newspapers Published in Midway ...
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 6 newspapers that have been published in the area around Midway.
Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Midway, there are papers which were published within 23 miles [37 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Midway.
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 Midway:
- Websites specific to Arizona
- Pages specific to Maricopa County
- Genealogy information for nearby counties
- Cemetery Information and Directories for Arizona
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Midway. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for Maricopa County: www.maricopa.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> | 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 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Midway) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Midway. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 32.6337, Longitude: -112.8552 In this case, the coordinates for Midway 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. |
<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 Midway, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |