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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 Camp Thayer (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 Camp Thayer. 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 Camp Thayer ...

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 occur.

For example, a typical abbreviation for Camp Thayer: Cp. Thayer

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 southeast corner of their home county. During their lives, most hospitals and doctors were in the next county to the east. Almost all of the nearby churches and cemeteries were in the county to the south.

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 south 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.

Camp Thayer is located in Sonoma 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 Sonoma County: Contra Costa, Lake, Marin, Mendocino, Napa & Solano.

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

  • Sonoma County     (The home county of Camp Thayer)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Camp Thayer, with the one closest to Camp Thayer listed first.
    • Duncans Mills
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Villa Grande
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Guerneville
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Cazadero
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Monte Rio
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Jenner
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Rio Nido
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Serena Del Mar
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
      • Serena Del Mar is located in Sonoma County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Serena Del Mar
    • Camp Meeker
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Carmet
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
      • Carmet is located in Sonoma County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carmet
    • Occidental
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Forestville
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Fort Ross
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
      • Fort Ross is located in Sonoma County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fort Ross
  • Lake County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Camp Thayer, with the one closest to Camp Thayer listed first.
    • Glenbrook
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Glenbrook is located in Lake County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glenbrook
    • Pine Grove
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Pine Grove is located in Lake County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine Grove
    • Cobb
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Middletown
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Marin County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Camp Thayer, with the one closest to Camp Thayer listed first.
    • Dillon Beach
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
    • Tomales
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
    • Hamlet
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
      • Hamlet is located in Marin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hamlet
    • Nicks Cove
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
      • Nicks Cove is located in Marin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nicks Cove
    • Marshall
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Millerton
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Millerton is located in Marin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Millerton
    • Inverness
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Mendocino County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Camp Thayer, with the one closest to Camp Thayer listed first.
    • Hermitage ‑ Historic
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
      • Hermitage is located in Mendocino County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hermitage
    • Yorkville
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
  • Napa County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Camp Thayer, with the one closest to Camp Thayer listed first.
    • Woodleaf
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
      • Woodleaf is located in Napa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodleaf
    • Calistoga
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)

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

Cemeteries Near Camp Thayer ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Camp Thayer.

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 Camp Thayer - one of the links might be able to help.

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

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

  • Duncans Mills Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
  • Redwood Memorial Gardens
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
  • McPeak Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
  • Druids Occidental Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
  • Forestview Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
  • Seaview Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
  • Gilliam Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
  • Green Valley Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
  • Bodega Calvary Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bodega Calvary Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Bodega Calvary Cemetery is located outside and to the south of Bodega.
  • Benitz Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
  • Bodega Bay Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
  • Spring Hill Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Continue List   (46 more) ...

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.<2>

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

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

  • Duncans Mills
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
  • Cazadero
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
  • Guerneville
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
  • Occidental
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
  • Forestville
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
  • Seaview
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Seaview is located in Sonoma County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Seaview
  • Fort Ross
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Fort Ross is located in Sonoma County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fort Ross
  • Freestone
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Trenton
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
    • Trenton is located in Sonoma County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Trenton
  • Windsor
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
  • Valley Ford
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
  • Fulton
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
  • Continue List   (13 more) ...
    • Bloomfield
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Bloomfield is located in Sonoma County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bloomfield
    • Geyserville
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Tomales
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)

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

Newspapers Published in Camp Thayer ...

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 63 newspapers that have been published in the area around Camp Thayer.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Camp Thayer, there are papers which were published within 22 miles [35.4 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Camp Thayer.

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 Camp Thayer:

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>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 Camp Thayer, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<3>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Camp Thayer) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.