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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 Bluff Heights (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 Bluff Heights. 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 Bluff Heights ...

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 Bluff Heights: Bluff Hts. (in Canada, 'Hgts.' is the more common abbreviation.)

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

Bluff Heights is located in Los Angeles 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 Los Angeles County: Kern, Orange, San Bernardino & Ventura.

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

  • Los Angeles County     (The home county of Bluff Heights)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Bluff Heights, with the one closest to Bluff Heights listed first.
    • Cambodia Town
      (Less than 2 miles to the north)
      • Cambodia Town is located in Los Angeles County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cambodia Town
    • Belmont Shore
      (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Long Beach
      (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Signal Hill
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Los Altos
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Los Altos is located in Los Angeles County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Los Altos
    • Naples
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Naples is located in Los Angeles County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Naples
    • Los Cerritos
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Los Cerritos is located in Los Angeles County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Los Cerritos
    • Lakewood
      (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Dominguez
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
      • Dominguez is located in Los Angeles County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dominguez
    • Lincoln Village
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
      • Lincoln Village is located in Los Angeles County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lincoln Village
    • Avalon Village
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Avalon Village is located in Los Angeles County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Avalon Village
    • Dana Strand Village
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
      • Dana Strand Village is located in Los Angeles County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dana Strand Village
  • Orange County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Bluff Heights, with the one closest to Bluff Heights listed first.
    • Seal Beach
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Rossmoor
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
      • Rossmoor is located in Orange County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rossmoor
    • Los Alamitos
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Sunset Beach
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Surfside
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Barber City
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
      • Barber City is located in Orange County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Barber City
    • Cypress
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • La Palma
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Green Lantern Village
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Stanton
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Westminster
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Wintersburg
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
      • Wintersburg is located in Orange County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wintersburg
  • San Bernardino County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Bluff Heights, with the one closest to Bluff Heights listed first.
    • Chino Hills
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Los Serranos
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Los Serranos is located in San Bernardino County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Los Serranos

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

Cemeteries Near Bluff Heights ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Bluff Heights.

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 Bluff Heights - one of the links might be able to help.

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

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

  • Long Beach Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Long Beach Cemetery
    • The Long Beach Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Long Beach Municipal Cemetery
  • Sunnyside Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
  • Table Top Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
  • All Souls Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
  • Forest Lawn Park Cemetery (Long Beach)
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Forest Lawn Park Cemetery (Long Beach)
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Forest Lawn Park Cemetery (Long Beach) is located in Long Beach.
    • The Forest Lawn Park Cemetery (Long Beach) has also been known as:
    • Forest Lawn Memorial Cemetery - Long Beach
    • Forest Lawn Memorial Park - Long Beach
    • Long Beach Forest Lawn Memorial Cemetery
    • Long Beach Forest Lawn Park Cemetery
    • Sunnyside Memorial Park
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #180662 <2>
  • Wilmington Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wilmington Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Wilmington Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located in Wilmington.
    • The Wilmington Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Historic Wilmington Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #152636 <2>
  • Forest Lawn Memorial Park
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Artesia Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Harbor View Memorial Park
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
  • Green Hills Memorial Park
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
  • Angeles Abbey Memorial Park
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
  • Westminster Memorial Park
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
  • Continue List   (68 more) ...
    • Woodlawn Cemetery
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Young Israel Cemetery
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Lincoln Memorial Park
      (9 miles [14.5 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.<3>

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

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

  • Long Beach
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
  • Thenard
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Thenard is located in Los Angeles County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Thenard
  • Dominguez
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Dominguez is located in Los Angeles County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dominguez
  • Wilmington
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Wilmington is located in Los Angeles County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wilmington
  • San Pedro
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • San Pedro is located in Los Angeles County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for San Pedro
  • Artesia
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Artesia is located in Los Angeles County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Artesia
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 16,168 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Artesia <1>
  • Clearwater
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Clearwater is located in Los Angeles County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clearwater
  • Cerritos
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
  • Compton
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Compton is located in Los Angeles County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Compton
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 93,967 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Compton <1>
  • Westminster
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
  • Carmenita
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Carmenita is located in Los Angeles County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carmenita
  • Norwalk
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Norwalk is located in Los Angeles County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Norwalk
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 102,635 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Norwalk <1>
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...
    • Lynwood
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
      • Lynwood is located in Los Angeles County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lynwood
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 68,508 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Lynwood <1>
    • Bolsa
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
      • Bolsa is located in Orange County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bolsa
    • Almond
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Almond is located in Orange County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Almond

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

Newspapers Published in Bluff Heights ...

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 53 newspapers that have been published in the area around Bluff Heights.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Bluff Heights, there are papers which were published within 13 miles [20.9 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Bluff Heights.

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 Bluff Heights:

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>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 Bluff Heights, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>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 drawn from Point A (ie- Bluff Heights) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.