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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 Sierra Vista (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 Sierra Vista. 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 Sierra Vista ...

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.

For example, a typical abbreviation for Sierra Vista: Sierra Vis.

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 northeast corner of their home county. During their lives, most doctors and hospitals 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.

Sierra Vista 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 Sierra Vista. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Sierra Vista:

  • Cochise County     (The home county of Sierra Vista)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Sierra Vista, with the one closest to Sierra Vista listed first.
    • Coronado Village
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Coronado Village have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coronado Village
      • Coronado Village is located in Cochise County
    • De Anza Village
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for De Anza Village have been provided by the GNIS.<1> 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
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Signal Village
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Signal Village have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Signal Village
      • Signal Village is located in Cochise County
    • Huachuca City
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Charleston ‑ Historic
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Charleston have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Charleston
      • Charleston is located in Cochise County
    • Hereford
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Nicksville
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Nicksville have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nicksville
      • Nicksville is located in Cochise County
    • Sunnyside ‑ Historic
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunnyside
      • Sunnyside is located in Cochise County
    • Fairbank ‑ Historic
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fairbank
      • Fairbank is located in Cochise County
    • Miracle Valley
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Miracle Valley
      • Miracle Valley is located in Cochise County
    • Palominas
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Palominas
      • Palominas is located in Cochise County
  • Santa Cruz County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Sierra Vista, with the one closest to Sierra Vista listed first.
    • Canelo ‑ Historic
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Canelo have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Canelo
      • Canelo is located in Santa Cruz County
      • Former name for Canelo:
      • Canille
    • Elgin
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Sonoita
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
    • Lochiel ‑ Historic
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lochiel
      • Lochiel is located in Santa Cruz County
    • Casa Blanca ‑ Historic
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Casa Blanca. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Casa Blanca
      • Casa Blanca is located in Santa Cruz County
    • Crittenden ‑ Historic
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Crittenden. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crittenden
      • Crittenden is located in Santa Cruz County
    • Harshaw ‑ Historic
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Harshaw have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harshaw
      • Harshaw is located in Santa Cruz County
    • Mowry ‑ Historic
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Mowry. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mowry
      • Mowry is located in Santa Cruz County
    • Duquesne
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Duquesne
      • Duquesne is located in Santa Cruz County
    • Washington Camp ‑ Historic
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Washington Camp
      • Washington Camp is located in Santa Cruz County
    • Patagonia
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
    • Kentucky Camp ‑ Historic
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kentucky Camp
      • Kentucky Camp is located in Santa Cruz County

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Sierra Vista ...

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 80 newspapers that have been published in the area around Sierra Vista.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Sierra Vista. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Sierra Vista and those printed in the larger area surrounding Sierra Vista.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 29 miles [46.7 km]<4> of Sierra Vista.

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 professional and volunteer 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 Sierra Vista:

Cemeteries Near Sierra Vista ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Sierra Vista.

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

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

  • Tompkins Memorial Park
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Tompkins Memorial Park have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Tompkins Memorial Park
  • Fry Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
  • Southern Arizona Veterans Memorial Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
  • Cochise Memory Gardens Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
  • Ft. Huachuca Post Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Ft. Huachuca Post Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located less than 2 miles<4> to the east of Fort Huachuca.
    • The Ft. Huachuca Post Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Ft. Huachuca Cemetery
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Ft. Huachuca Post Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #1968897 <5>
  • Sunnyside Pioneer Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for the Sunnyside Pioneer Cemetery. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Sunnyside Pioneer Cemetery
  • Miracle Valley Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
  • Fairbank Pioneer Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
    • 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.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Fairbank Pioneer Cemetery
  • Boothill Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Tombstone Cemetery (New)
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Tombstone Cemetery (Old)
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Black Oak Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
  • Continue List   (15 more) ...
    • Fruitland Cemetery
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Memory Gardens Cemetery (Don Luis)
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
    • St. David Cemetery
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. David Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. David Cemetery

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 Sierra Vista in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Sierra Vista.

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

  • Fort Huachuca
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
  • Fairbank ‑ Historic
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fairbank
    • Fairbank is located in Cochise County
  • Contention City ‑ Historic
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Contention City have been provided by the GNIS.<1> 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
  • Tombstone
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Bisbee
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
  • Saint David
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
  • Sonoita
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
  • Lochiel ‑ Historic
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lochiel
    • Lochiel is located in Santa Cruz County
  • Harshaw ‑ Historic
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Harshaw have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harshaw
    • Harshaw is located in Santa Cruz County
  • Benson
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)

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

The official website for Sierra Vista: www.ci.sierra-vista.az.us/

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

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 '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- Sierra Vista) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Sierra Vista. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 31.5479, Longitude: -110.2715    
<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 Sierra Vista, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024