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A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
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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 The Trails III (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 The Trails III. 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 The Trails III ...

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 occur.

While the name of this community is The Trails III, be aware that it's the common practice of mapmakers to remove the apostrophe from possessive names<1>. So The Trails III may originally have been The Trail's III.

Sometimes the trailing 's' might be dropped altogether, in which case The Trails III might be written as The Trail III.

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 southeast 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 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.

The Trails III is located in Maricopa County.

To see how the shape of Arizona's counties may 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 The Trails III. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to The Trails III:

  • Maricopa County     (The home county of The Trails III)
    • The following are listed by their distance from The Trails III, with the one closest to The Trails III listed first.
    • Shadow Mountain Village Scottsdale
      (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Scottsdale
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Tempe
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Tempe is located in Maricopa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tempe
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 200,402 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Tempe <2>
    • Hohokam Village
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
      • Hohokam Village is located in Maricopa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hohokam Village
    • Mesa
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Mesa is located in Maricopa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mesa
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 528,159 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Mesa <2>
    • Papago Peaks Village
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
      • Papago Peaks Village is located in Maricopa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Papago Peaks Village
    • Paradise Valley
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Guadalupe
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Summer Place Village
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Summer Place Village is located in Maricopa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Summer Place Village
    • Continental Village
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
      • Continental Village is located in Maricopa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Continental Village
    • Clearwater Hills
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
      • Clearwater Hills is located in Maricopa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clearwater Hills
    • Kyrene
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
      • Kyrene is located in Maricopa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kyrene
  • Pinal County
    • The following are listed by their distance from The Trails III, with the one closest to The Trails III listed first.
    • Santan
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
      • Santan is located in Pinal County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Santan
    • Stotonic
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
      • Stotonic is located in Pinal County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stotonic
      • Stotonic has also been known as:
      • Stetonic
      • Stotonik
    • Bapchule
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
    • Santa Cruz
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Santa Cruz is located in Pinal County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Santa Cruz
    • Sweetwater
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
      • Sweetwater is located in Pinal County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sweetwater
    • Maricopa Wells ‑ Historic
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Maricopa Wells is located in Pinal County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maricopa Wells
    • Goldfield ‑ Historic
      (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
      • Goldfield is located in Pinal County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Goldfield
    • Youngberg
      (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
      • Youngberg is located in Pinal County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Youngberg
    • Casa Blanca
      (23 miles [37 km] to the south)
      • Casa Blanca is located in Pinal County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Casa Blanca
    • Gold Canyon
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
    • Sacaton
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
    • Maricopa
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)

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

Cemeteries Near The Trails III ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of The Trails III.

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.

Although we don't have the information ourselves, if you need information about a burial or interment, photos, transcripts, how to contact the cemetery or local authorities, please visit our list of websites on our Genealogy Helper Page for The Trails III - one of the links might be able to help.

If not found below, our Cemetery List for The Trails III covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.

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

  • Green Acres Memorial Park
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
  • Governor Hunt Tomb
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
  • City of Mesa Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
  • Mesa City Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
  • St. Francis Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
  • Cross Cut Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
  • Tempe Double Butte Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
  • Twin Buttes Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
  • Camelback Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
  • Resthaven Park East Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Resthaven Park East Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Resthaven Park East Cemetery is a very large cemetery that is located in Phoenix.
    • The Resthaven Park East Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Resthaven / Carr - Tenney Memorial Gardens
    • Resthaven Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #57097 <3>
  • Guadalupe Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Queen of Heaven Catholic Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Queen of Heaven Catholic Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Queen of Heaven Catholic Cemetery is a very large cemetery that is located in Gilbert.
    • The Queen of Heaven Catholic Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Queen of Heaven Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #57094 <3>
  • Continue List   (40 more) ...

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.<4>

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

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

  • Tempe
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Tempe is located in Maricopa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tempe
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 200,402 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Tempe <2>
  • Mesa
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Mesa is located in Maricopa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mesa
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 528,159 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Mesa <2>
  • Lehi
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Lehi is located in Maricopa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lehi
  • Kyrene
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Kyrene is located in Maricopa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kyrene
  • Phoenix
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Phoenix is located in Maricopa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Phoenix
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,708,127 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Phoenix <2>
  • Peoria
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Peoria is located in Maricopa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Peoria
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 179,872 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Peoria <2>
  • Sweetwater
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
    • Sweetwater is located in Pinal County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sweetwater
  • Cave Creek
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
  • Sacaton
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
  • Maricopa
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
  • Heaton
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Heaton is located in Pinal County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Heaton

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

Newspapers Published in The Trails III ...

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 63 newspapers that have been published in the area around The Trails III.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of The Trails III, there are papers which were published within 9 miles [14.5 km]<5>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for The Trails III.

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 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 The Trails III:

Footnotes ...

<1>It's generally believed that possessive apostrophes are removed to prevent confusion on maps where the apostrophe may be confused with a cartographic symbol. While this is generally true, it's not uncommon to find possessive apostrophes in administrative names (such as towns or counties).
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<3>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.
<4>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 The Trails III, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<5>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- The Trails III) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.