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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 Big Sandy Rancheria (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 Big Sandy Rancheria. 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 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.

Big Sandy Rancheria is located in Fresno 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 Fresno County: Inyo, Kings, Madera, Merced, Mono, San Benito & Tulare.

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

  • Fresno County     (The home county of Big Sandy Rancheria)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Big Sandy Rancheria, with the one closest to Big Sandy Rancheria listed first.
    • Meadow Lakes
      (Less than 2 miles to the east)
      • Meadow Lakes is located in Fresno County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadow Lakes
    • Auberry
      (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Prather
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Pineridge
      (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
      • Pineridge is located in Fresno County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pineridge
    • Tollhouse
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Dora Belle
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
      • Dora Belle is located in Fresno County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dora Belle
    • Shaver Lake
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Sentinel ‑ Historic
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
      • Sentinel is located in Fresno County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sentinel
    • Bretz Mill
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
      • Bretz Mill is located in Fresno County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bretz Mill
    • Big Creek
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Big Creek is located in Fresno County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Big Creek
      • Former names for Big Creek:
      • Big Creek Flats
      • Cascada
      • Manzanita Park
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Big Creek <1>
    • Friant
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Huntington Lake
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Piedra
      (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
  • Madera County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Big Sandy Rancheria, with the one closest to Big Sandy Rancheria listed first.
    • North Fork
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Millerton ‑ Historic
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Millerton is located in Madera County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Millerton
    • O'Neals
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
    • Wishon
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
      • Wishon is located in Madera County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wishon
    • Bass Lake
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
    • The Pines
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
      • The Pines is located in Madera County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for The Pines
    • Coarsegold
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Yosemite Lakes Park
      (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
      • Yosemite Lakes Park is located in Madera County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Yosemite Lakes Park
      • Yosemite Lakes Park has also been known as:
      • Yosemite Lakes
    • Oakhurst
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Yosemite Forks
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Yosemite Forks is located in Madera County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Yosemite Forks
    • Bonadelle Ranchos - Madera Ranchos
      (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
    • Ahwahnee
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Knowles ‑ Historic
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
      • Knowles is located in Madera County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Knowles
  • Mariposa County
    • Fish Camp
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
  • Nevada County
    • Cedar Crest
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
      • Cedar Crest is located in Nevada County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Crest

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

Cemeteries Near Big Sandy Rancheria ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Big Sandy Rancheria.

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 Big Sandy Rancheria - one of the links might be able to help.

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Big Sandy Rancheria, with the one closest to Big Sandy Rancheria listed first.

  • Big Sandy Rancheria Tribal Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
  • Tollhouse Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
  • Auberry Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
  • North Fork Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
  • Winchell Cove Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Winchell Cove Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Winchell Cove Cemetery is located outside and to the east of Friant.
  • Walker Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Fine Gold Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Winchell Cove Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Watts Valley Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Academy Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
  • Hughes Creek Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
  • Picayune Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
  • Continue List   (20 more) ...
    • Redbank Cemetery
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
    • Hazelton Cemetery
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
    • Oakhill Cemetery
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)

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 Big Sandy Rancheria in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Big Sandy Rancheria.

These communities are listed based on their distance from Big Sandy Rancheria, with the one closest to Big Sandy Rancheria listed first.

  • Auberry
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
  • Tollhouse
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
  • Sentinel ‑ Historic
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Sentinel is located in Fresno County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sentinel
  • Letcher ‑ Historic
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
    • Letcher is located in Fresno County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Letcher
  • Grub Gulch ‑ Historic
    (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
    • Grub Gulch is located in Madera County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grub Gulch
  • Knowles ‑ Historic
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
    • Knowles is located in Madera County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Knowles
  • Fresno
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
  • Sanger
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
  • Yokuts
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
  • Raymond
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
    • Raymond is located in Madera County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Raymond
  • Muscatel
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Muscatel is located in Fresno County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Muscatel
  • Lone Star
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Lone Star is located in Fresno County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lone Star

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

Newspapers Published in Big Sandy Rancheria ...

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 60 newspapers that have been published in the area around Big Sandy Rancheria.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Big Sandy Rancheria, there are papers which were published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Big Sandy Rancheria.

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 Big Sandy Rancheria:

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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Big Sandy Rancheria) 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 Big Sandy Rancheria, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.