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The Commemorative Quarter for California





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 Colma (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 Colma. 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 northeast 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 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.

Colma is located in San Mateo County.

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

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of San Mateo County: Alameda, San Francisco, Santa Clara & Santa Cruz.

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

  • San Mateo County     (The home county of Colma)
  • Alameda County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Colma, with the one closest to Colma listed first.
    • Campbell Village
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Campbell Village have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Campbell Village
      • Campbell Village is located in Alameda County
    • Alameda
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Brooklyn ‑ Historic
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Brooklyn. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brooklyn
      • Brooklyn is located in Alameda County
      • Former names for Brooklyn:
      • Antonio
      • Clinton
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Brooklyn
      • From Colma to Brooklyn
    • Oakland
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
    • West Oakland
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Emeryville
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Fruitvale
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Brookfield Village
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Brookfield Village have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brookfield Village
      • Brookfield Village is located in Alameda County
    • Allendale
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
    • East Oakland ‑ Historic
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for East Oakland. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Oakland
      • East Oakland is located in Alameda County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to East Oakland
      • From Colma to East Oakland
    • South Berkeley
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Berkeley
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Havenscourt
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Contra Costa County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Colma, with the one closest to Colma listed first.
    • Point Richmond
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
    • Atchison Village
      (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Atchison Village have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Atchison Village
      • Atchison Village is located in Contra Costa County
    • Easter Hill Village
      (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Easter Hill Village have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Easter Hill Village
      • Easter Hill Village is located in Contra Costa County
    • Nystrom Village
      (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Nystrom Village have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nystrom Village
      • Nystrom Village is located in Contra Costa County
    • El Cerrito
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
    • Kensington
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
    • Richmond
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
    • San Pablo
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
    • East Richmond Heights
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for East Richmond Heights have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Richmond Heights
      • East Richmond Heights is located in Contra Costa County
    • Orinda Village
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Orinda Village have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Orinda Village
      • Orinda Village is located in Contra Costa County
    • Orinda
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Rollingwood
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rollingwood have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rollingwood
      • Rollingwood is located in Contra Costa County
    • Moraga
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
  • Marin County
  • San Francisco County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Colma, with the one closest to Colma listed first.
    • Stonestown
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Doelger City
      (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Doelger City have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Doelger City
      • Doelger City is located in San Francisco County
    • Golden Gate Heights
      (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • San Francisco
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Amanico Ergina Village
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Amanico Ergina Village have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Amanico Ergina Village
      • Amanico Ergina Village is located in San Francisco County
    • Friendship Village
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Friendship Village have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Friendship Village
      • Friendship Village is located in San Francisco County
    • Chinatown
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Sydney Town ‑ Historic
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sydney Town have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sydney Town
      • Sydney Town is located in San Francisco County
  • Santa Clara County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Colma, with the one closest to Colma listed first.
    • Palo Alto
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
    • Stanford
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
    • Escondido Village
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Escondido Village have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Escondido Village
      • Escondido Village is located in Santa Clara County
    • Ventura
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Castro City
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Castro City have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Castro City
      • Castro City is located in Santa Clara County
    • Los Altos Hills
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Los Altos
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Mountain View
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Loyola
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Loyola have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Loyola
      • Loyola is located in Santa Clara County
  • Solano County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Colma, with the one closest to Colma listed first.
    • Mare Island ‑ Historic
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Mare Island. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mare Island
      • Mare Island is located in Solano County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Mare Island
      • From Colma to Mare Island
    • Benicia
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)

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

Cemeteries Near Colma ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Colma.

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.

If you need information about a burial or interment, photos, transcripts, how to contact the cemetery or local authorities, please visit our selection of Genealogy Websites (see below).

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

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

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.<5>

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

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

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Colma ...

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 223 newspapers that have been published in the area around Colma.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Colma. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Colma and those printed in the larger area surrounding Colma.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 15 miles [24.1 km]<6> of Colma.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we first visit 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 Colma:

The official website for Colma: www.colma.ca.gov/

The official website for San Mateo County: www.co.sanmateo.ca.us/

The official website for State of California: https://www.ca.gov/

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 location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required.
<3>An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace.
<4>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.
<5>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 Colma, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<6>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- Colma) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Colma. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.6761, Longitude: -122.4603    









 

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This page was last modified/updated: 28 Apr 2025