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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 Sun City (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 Sun City. 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 and 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.

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

  • Maricopa County     (The home county of Sun City)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Sun City, with the one closest to Sun City listed first.
    • Sunset Village
      (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sunset Village have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunset Village
      • Sunset Village is located in Maricopa County
    • Peoria Polynesian Village
      (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Peoria Polynesian Village have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Peoria Polynesian Village
      • Peoria Polynesian Village is located in Maricopa County
    • Youngtown
      (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Peoria
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Peoria
      • Peoria is located in Maricopa County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 179,872 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Peoria <2>
    • Pioneer Village II
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Pioneer Village II have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pioneer Village II
      • Pioneer Village II is located in Maricopa County
    • Peacock Village
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Peacock Village have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Peacock Village
      • Peacock Village is located in Maricopa County
    • El Mirage
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Westbrook Village
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Westbrook Village have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Westbrook Village
      • Westbrook Village is located in Maricopa County
    • Arrowhead Ranch
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Arrowhead Ranch
      • Arrowhead Ranch is located in Maricopa County
    • Sun City West
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Liberty Village
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Liberty Village have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Liberty Village
      • Liberty Village is located in Maricopa County
    • Glendale
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Pinal County
    • Santa Cruz
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Santa Cruz have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Santa Cruz
      • Santa Cruz is located in Pinal County
  • Yavapai County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Sun City, with the one closest to Sun City listed first.
    • Gillett ‑ Historic
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gillett
      • Gillett is located in Yavapai County
    • Columbia ‑ Historic
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Columbia
      • Columbia is located in Yavapai County

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Sun City ...

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 54 newspapers that have been published in the area around Sun City.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Sun City. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Sun City and those printed in the larger area surrounding Sun City.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 12 miles [19.3 km]<3> of Sun City.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we start 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 Sun City:

Cemeteries Near Sun City ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Sun City.

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

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

  • Sunland Memorial Park
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Sunland Memorial Park have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Sunland Memorial Park
  • Sunwest Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Sunwest Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Sunwest Cemetery
  • Russian Molokan Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Russian Molokan Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Russian Molokan Cemetery
  • Glendale Memorial Park
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Glendale Memorial Park have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Glendale Memorial Park
  • Resthaven Park West Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Resthaven Park West Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Resthaven Park West Cemetery
  • Heath Grave
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Heath Grave have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Heath Grave
  • Goodyear Farms Historic Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Goodyear Farms Historic Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Goodyear Farms Historic Cemetery
  • Holy Cross Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Holy Cross Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Holy Cross Cemetery
  • White Tanks Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
  • Phoenix Memorial Park
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Phoenix Memorial Park have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Phoenix Memorial Park
  • Beth Israel Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Beth Israel Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Beth Israel Cemetery
  • Work Circle Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Work Circle Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Work Circle Cemetery
  • Continue List   (32 more) ...
    • Greenwood Memory Lawn Cemetery
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
      • To give a relative sense of its location, the Greenwood Memory Lawn Cemetery is a very large cemetery that is located in Phoenix.
      • The Greenwood Memory Lawn Cemetery has also been known as:
      • Forest Lawn Cemetery
      • Greenwood Memorial Cemetery
      • Memory Lawn Cemetery
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Greenwood Memory Lawn Cemetery
      • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #57026 <4>
    • Beth El Cemetery
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Beth El Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Beth El Cemetery
    • City Loosley Cemetery
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the City Loosley Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the City Loosley 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.<5>

While we didn't find Sun City in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Sun City.

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

  • Peoria
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Peoria
    • Peoria is located in Maricopa County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 179,872 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Peoria <2>
  • Phoenix
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Phoenix
    • Phoenix is located in Maricopa County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,708,127 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Phoenix <2>
  • Tempe
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tempe
    • Tempe is located in Maricopa County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 200,402 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Tempe <2>
  • Buckeye
    (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
  • Cave Creek
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
  • Kyrene
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kyrene
    • Kyrene is located in Maricopa County
  • Mesa
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mesa
    • Mesa is located in Maricopa County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 528,159 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Mesa <2>
  • Lehi
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lehi have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lehi
    • Lehi 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 Sun City. See our List of 1890's Communities around Sun City.

Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Sun City. 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>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>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Sun City) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Sun City. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 33.5975, Longitude: -112.2721    
<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>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 Sun City, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024