RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of California >> Mariposa County >> Big Tree >> Genealogy HelperIndex...

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 Tree (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 Tree. 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 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 Tree is located in Mariposa 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 Mariposa County: Madera, Merced, Mono, Stanislaus & Tuolumne.

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

  • Mariposa County     (The home county of Big Tree)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Big Tree, with the one closest to Big Tree listed first.
    • Fish Camp
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Wawona
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Yosemite West
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Yosemite West is located in Mariposa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Yosemite West
    • Darrah
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
      • Darrah is located in Mariposa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Darrah
    • Jerseydale
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
      • Jerseydale is located in Mariposa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jerseydale
    • Curry Village
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
      • Curry Village is located in Mariposa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Curry Village
    • El Portal
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Bootjack
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
      • Bootjack is located in Mariposa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bootjack
    • Yosemite Valley
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
      • Yosemite Valley is located in Mariposa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Yosemite Valley
    • Yosemite Village
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
      • Yosemite Village is located in Mariposa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Yosemite Village
    • Midpines
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
    • Mariposa
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
  • Fresno County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Big Tree, with the one closest to Big Tree listed first.
    • Huntington Lake
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Big Creek
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
      • 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>
    • Lakeshore
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Auberry
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
  • Madera County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Big Tree, with the one closest to Big Tree listed first.
    • Yosemite Forks
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
      • Yosemite Forks is located in Madera County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Yosemite Forks
    • Nipinnawasee ‑ Historic
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Nipinnawasee is located in Madera County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nipinnawasee
    • Ahwahnee
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Bass Lake
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
    • Oakhurst
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
    • The Pines
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
      • The Pines is located in Madera County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for The Pines
    • Wishon
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
      • Wishon is located in Madera County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wishon
    • Coarsegold
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
    • North Fork
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
    • Yosemite Lakes Park
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
      • 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
    • Knowles ‑ Historic
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Knowles is located in Madera County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Knowles
    • O'Neals
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
  • Nevada County
    • Cedar Crest
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Cedar Crest is located in Nevada County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Crest
  • Tuolumne County
    • Mather
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Mather is located in Tuolumne County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mather

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

Cemeteries Near Big Tree ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Big Tree.

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 Tree - one of the links might be able to help.

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

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

  • Oakhill Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
  • St. Joseph Cemetery
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
  • North Fork Cemetery
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
  • Mariposa Masonic Cemetery
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
    • 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>
  • Picayune Cemetery
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
  • Walker Cemetery
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
  • Fine Gold Cemetery
    (23 miles [37 km] to the south)
  • White Rock Cemetery
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
  • Catheys Valley Cemetery
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
  • Raymond Cemetery
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)

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

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

  • Wawona
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
  • Jerseydale
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
    • Jerseydale is located in Mariposa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jerseydale
  • Grub Gulch ‑ Historic
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Grub Gulch is located in Madera County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grub Gulch
  • Mariposa
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
  • Ben Hur
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Ben Hur is located in Mariposa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ben Hur
  • Mount Bullion
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
    • Mount Bullion is located in Mariposa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Bullion
  • Knowles ‑ Historic
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Knowles is located in Madera County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Knowles
  • Raymond
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Raymond is located in Madera County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Raymond
  • Sequoia
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Sequoia is located in Tuolumne County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sequoia
  • Bear Valley
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
    • Bear Valley is located in Mariposa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bear Valley

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

Newspapers Published in Big Tree ...

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 27 newspapers that have been published in the area around Big Tree.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Big Tree, there are papers which were published within 24 miles [38.6 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Big Tree.

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 helpful 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 Tree:

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