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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 Comstock Ranch (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 Comstock Ranch. 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 Comstock Ranch ...

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 Comstock Ranch: Comstock Rnch.

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 doctors and hospitals 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.

Comstock Ranch is located in Tuolumne 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 Tuolumne County: Alpine, Calaveras, Madera, Mariposa, Merced, Mono & Stanislaus.

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

  • Tuolumne County     (The home county of Comstock Ranch)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Comstock Ranch, with the one closest to Comstock Ranch listed first.
    • Twain Harte
      (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Cedar Ridge
      (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
      • Cedar Ridge is located in Tuolumne County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Ridge
    • Cedar Rock Lodge
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Cedar Rock Lodge is located in Tuolumne County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Rock Lodge
    • Phoenix Lake - Cedar Ridge
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Mono Vista
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
      • Mono Vista is located in Tuolumne County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mono Vista
    • Mi-Wuk Village
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Soulsbyville
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Tuolumne Rancheria
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
      • Tuolumne Rancheria is located in Tuolumne County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tuolumne Rancheria
    • Sierra Village
      (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
      • Sierra Village is located in Tuolumne County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sierra Village
    • Peaceful Valley
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
      • Peaceful Valley is located in Tuolumne County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Peaceful Valley
    • Greenley Oaks
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Greenley Oaks is located in Tuolumne County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenley Oaks
    • Mono Village
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Mono Village is located in Tuolumne County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mono Village
    • Martinez
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
      • Martinez is located in Tuolumne County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Martinez
  • Alpine County
  • Amador County
    • Electra ‑ Historic
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Electra is located in Amador County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Electra
  • Calaveras County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Comstock Ranch, with the one closest to Comstock Ranch listed first.
    • Cedar Vista
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Cedar Vista is located in Calaveras County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Vista
    • Douglas Flat
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Forest Meadows
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Forest Meadows is located in Calaveras County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Forest Meadows
    • Hathaway Pines
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Vallecito
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Avery
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Murphys
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Fly-In Acres
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
      • Fly-In Acres is located in Calaveras County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fly-In Acres
    • Pinebrook
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
      • Pinebrook is located in Calaveras County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pinebrook
    • Melones ‑ Historic
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
      • Melones is located in Calaveras County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Melones
    • Arnold
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
    • Meadowmont
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
      • Meadowmont is located in Calaveras County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadowmont
    • Lakemont Pines
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Lakemont Pines is located in Calaveras County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lakemont Pines
  • Mariposa County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Comstock Ranch, with the one closest to Comstock Ranch listed first.
    • Coulterville
      (23 miles [37 km] to the south)
    • Dogtown
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
      • Dogtown is located in Mariposa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dogtown
  • Stanislaus County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Comstock Ranch, with the one closest to Comstock Ranch listed first.
    • Knights Ferry
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
    • La Grange
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)

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

Cemeteries Near Comstock Ranch ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Comstock Ranch.

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 Comstock Ranch - one of the links might be able to help.

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

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

  • Cherokee Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cherokee Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Cherokee Cemetery is located less than 2 miles<2> to the northwest of Tuolumne.
    • The Cherokee Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Arastraville Cemetery
    • Cherokee Memorial Park
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2216200 <3>
  • Carter's Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carter's Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Carter's Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located outside and to the north of Tuolumne.
    • The Carter's Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Tuolumne City Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #1103592 <3>
  • Tuolumne Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
  • Catholic Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Mountain Shadow Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Masonic Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Public Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
  • Catholic Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
  • Shaws Flat Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
  • Sonora City Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
  • Sonora Hebrew Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sonora Hebrew Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Sonora Hebrew Cemetery is located in Sonora.
    • The Sonora Hebrew Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Pioneer Jewish Cemetery
  • Jewish Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
  • Continue List   (24 more) ...
    • IOOF Cemetery
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Jamestown Cemetery
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Vallecito Cemetery
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)

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

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

  • Soulsbyville
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
  • Tuolumne
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
  • Sonora
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Columbia
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
  • Jamestown
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
  • Tuttletown
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Tuttletown is located in Tuolumne County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tuttletown
  • Douglas Flat
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Avery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Murphys
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Groveland
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
  • Chinese Camp
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
  • Big Oak Flat
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
  • Continue List   (13 more) ...
    • Sheep Ranch
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Angels Camp
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
    • Big Trees
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
      • Big Trees is located in Calaveras County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Big Trees

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

Newspapers Published in Comstock Ranch ...

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 34 newspapers that have been published in the area around Comstock Ranch.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Comstock Ranch, there are papers which were published within 15 miles [24.1 km]<2>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Comstock Ranch.

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 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 Comstock Ranch:

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>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- Comstock Ranch) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>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.
<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 Comstock Ranch, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.