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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 Alum Rock (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 Alum Rock. 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 Alum Rock ...

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.

Another variation: Alumrock.

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 northwest corner of their home county. During their lives, most hospitals were in the next county to the west. 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 west 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.

Alum Rock is located in Santa Clara County.

To see how the shape of California's counties have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Santa Clara County: Alameda, Merced, San Benito, San Mateo, Santa Cruz & Stanislaus.

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

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

Cemeteries Near Alum Rock ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Alum Rock.

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

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

  • Calvary Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Calvary Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Calvary Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Calvary Cemetery is located in Alum Rock.
  • Oak Hill Memorial Park
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Oak Hill Memorial Park
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Oak Hill Memorial Park have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • St. Johns Catholic Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Johns Catholic Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Johns Catholic Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Santa Clara Mission Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
  • Mission City Memorial Park
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Mission City Memorial Park
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Mission City Memorial Park have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Cedar Lawn Memorial Park
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
  • Los Gatos Memorial Park
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
  • St. Josephs Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Mission San Jose Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Mission San Jose Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Mission San Jose Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Ohlone Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Ohlones Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Ohlones Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Ohlones Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Madronia Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Madronia Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Madronia Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (44 more) ...
    • Old Mexican Cemetery
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Old Mexican Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Old Mexican Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Hidalgo Cemetery
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Hidalgo Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Hidalgo Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Hacienda Cemetery
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Hacienda Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Hacienda Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.

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

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

  • Berryessa
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Berryessa have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Berryessa
    • Berryessa is located in Santa Clara County
  • College Park
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for College Park have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for College Park
    • College Park is located in Santa Clara County
  • San Jose
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
  • Evergreen
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Evergreen have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Evergreen
    • Evergreen is located in Santa Clara County
  • Milpitas
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Agnew
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
  • Santa Clara
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
  • Campbell
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
  • Alamitos
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Alamitos. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alamitos
    • Alamitos is located in Santa Clara County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Alamitos
    • From Alum Rock to Alamitos
  • Alviso
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Lawrence
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lawrence have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lawrence
    • Lawrence is located in Santa Clara County
  • Greystone ‑ Historic
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Greystone have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greystone
    • Greystone is located in Santa Clara County
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...
    • Los Gatos
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Guadalupe ‑ Historic
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Guadalupe have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Guadalupe
      • Guadalupe is located in Santa Clara County
    • Saratoga
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)

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

Newspapers Published in Alum Rock ...

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 243 newspapers that have been published in the area around Alum Rock.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Alum Rock, there are papers which were published within 16 miles [25.7 km]<6>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Alum Rock.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we first visit 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 Alum Rock:

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

The official website for Santa Clara County: www.sccgov.org/

The official website for State of California: https://www.ca.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>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 Alum Rock, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<6>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- Alum Rock) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Alum Rock. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.3670, Longitude: -121.8267    









 

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In closing, please keep in mind that we can not guarantee the accuracy or timeliness of the information on this website, so use with care. We encourage you to double-check the information that is critical to you.

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This page was last modified/updated: 28 Apr 2025