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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 Aspen Valley (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 Aspen Valley. 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 Aspen Valley ...

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.

For example, a typical abbreviation for Aspen Valley: Aspen Vly. (or less commonly used: Aspen Vally. or Aspen Vlly.)

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 doctors and 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.

Aspen Valley is located in Tuolumne County.

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

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Tuolumne County: Alpine, Calaveras, Madera, Mariposa, Merced, Mono & Stanislaus.

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

  • Tuolumne County     (The home county of Aspen Valley)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Aspen Valley, with the one closest to Aspen Valley listed first.
    • Mather
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
      • Mather is located in Tuolumne County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mather
    • Groveland
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
    • Long Barn
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Big Oak Flat
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
    • Cold Springs
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Mi-Wuk Village
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Pinecrest
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Sierra Village
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Sierra Village is located in Tuolumne County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sierra Village
    • Tuolumne City
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
      • Tuolumne City is located in Tuolumne County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tuolumne City
    • Tuolumne Rancheria
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
      • Tuolumne Rancheria is located in Tuolumne County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tuolumne Rancheria
    • Tuolumne
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
    • Moccasin
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
  • Madera County
    • Nipinnawasee ‑ Historic
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
      • Nipinnawasee is located in Madera County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nipinnawasee
  • Mariposa County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Aspen Valley, with the one closest to Aspen Valley listed first.
    • El Portal
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
    • Yosemite Valley
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Yosemite Valley is located in Mariposa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Yosemite Valley
    • Yosemite Village
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Yosemite Village is located in Mariposa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Yosemite Village
    • Yosemite West
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
      • Yosemite West is located in Mariposa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Yosemite West
    • Curry Village
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Curry Village is located in Mariposa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Curry Village
    • Jerseydale
      (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
      • Jerseydale is located in Mariposa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jerseydale
    • Wawona
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
    • Darrah
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
      • Darrah is located in Mariposa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Darrah
    • Midpines
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
    • Colorado ‑ Historic
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Colorado is located in Mariposa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Colorado
    • Dogtown
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Dogtown is located in Mariposa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dogtown
    • Bagby ‑ Historic
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
      • Bagby is located in Mariposa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bagby
  • Mono County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Aspen Valley, with the one closest to Aspen Valley listed first.
    • Bennettville ‑ Historic
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
      • Bennettville is located in Mono County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bennettville
      • Former names for Bennettville:
      • Bennett City
      • Tioga
    • Dana City ‑ Historic
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
      • Dana City is located in Mono County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dana City

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

Cemeteries Near Aspen Valley ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Aspen Valley.

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 Aspen Valley - one of the links might be able to help.

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

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

  • Coulterville Public Cemetery
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
  • Mariposa Masonic Cemetery
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mariposa Masonic Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Mariposa Masonic Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located in Mariposa.
    • The Mariposa Masonic Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Masonic Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2205021 <2>
  • St. Joseph Cemetery
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
  • Carter's Cemetery
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carter's Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Carter's Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located outside and to the north of Tuolumne.
    • The Carter's Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Tuolumne City Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #1103592 <2>
  • Cherokee Cemetery
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cherokee Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Cherokee Cemetery is located less than 2 miles<3> to the northwest of Tuolumne.
    • The Cherokee Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Arastraville Cemetery
    • Cherokee Memorial Park
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2216200 <2>
  • Tuolumne Cemetery
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
  • Sturdevant Ranch Cemetery
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)

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

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

  • Sequoia
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Sequoia is located in Tuolumne County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sequoia
  • Jerseydale
    (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
    • Jerseydale is located in Mariposa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jerseydale
  • Wawona
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
  • Coulterville
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
  • Mariposa
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
  • Groveland
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
  • Bear Valley
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Bear Valley is located in Mariposa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bear Valley
  • Mount Bullion
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Mount Bullion is located in Mariposa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Bullion
  • Big Oak Flat
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
  • Tuolumne
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
  • Soulsbyville
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)

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

Newspapers Published in Aspen Valley ...

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 32 newspapers that have been published in the area around Aspen Valley.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Aspen Valley, there are papers which were published within 28 miles [45.1 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Aspen Valley.

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 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 Aspen Valley:

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 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.
<3>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- Aspen Valley) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Aspen Valley, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.