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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 Cortena (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 Cortena. 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.

Cortena is located in Colusa 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 Colusa County: Butte, Glenn, Lake, Sutter & Yolo.

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

  • Colusa County     (The home county of Cortena)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Cortena, with the one closest to Cortena listed first.
    • Maxwell
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Williams
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Colusa Rancheria
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
      • Colusa Rancheria is located in Colusa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Colusa Rancheria
    • Colusa
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Sites
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Sites is located in Colusa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sites
    • Genevra
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Genevra is located in Colusa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Genevra
    • Leesville
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
      • Leesville is located in Colusa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leesville
    • Princeton
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Devils Elbow
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Devils Elbow is located in Colusa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Devils Elbow
    • Arbuckle
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
    • College City
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Wilbur Springs
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Lodoga
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
      • Lodoga is located in Colusa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lodoga
  • Butte County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Cortena, with the one closest to Cortena listed first.
    • Gridley
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
    • Bigg's
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Peachton
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
      • Peachton is located in Butte County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Peachton
    • Richvale
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Glenn County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Cortena, with the one closest to Cortena listed first.
    • Afton
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
      • Afton is located in Glenn County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Afton
    • Butte City
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Willows
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
    • Glenn
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Artois
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
  • Lake County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Cortena, with the one closest to Cortena listed first.
    • Hough Springs
      (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
      • Hough Springs is located in Lake County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hough Springs
    • Pole Garden ‑ Historic
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
      • Pole Garden is located in Lake County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pole Garden
    • Bartlett Springs
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
      • Bartlett Springs is located in Lake County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bartlett Springs
    • Clearlake Oaks
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Clearlake
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Clearlake Park
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Santa Cruz County
  • Sutter County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Cortena, with the one closest to Cortena listed first.
    • Meridian
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
    • Tarke
      (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
      • Tarke is located in Sutter County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tarke
    • Pennington
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
      • Pennington is located in Sutter County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pennington
    • Sutter
      (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
    • Live Oak
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
      • Live Oak is located in Sutter County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Live Oak
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 9,048 people
    • Tierra Buena
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
      • Tierra Buena is located in Sutter County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tierra Buena
    • South Yuba City
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
      • South Yuba City is located in Sutter County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Yuba City
    • Yuba City
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
  • Yolo County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Cortena, with the one closest to Cortena listed first.
    • Hershey
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Hershey is located in Yolo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hershey
    • Rumsey
      (23 miles [37 km] to the south)
    • Dunnigan
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Guinda
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)

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

Cemeteries Near Cortena ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Cortena.

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

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

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

  • Maxwell Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
  • Williams Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
  • Sites Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
  • Arbuckle Catholic Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Arbuckle Catholic Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Arbuckle Catholic Cemetery is located outside and to the north of Arbuckle.
  • Pryor Grave
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Arbuckle Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Arbuckle Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Arbuckle Cemetery is located outside and to the north of Arbuckle.
  • Grand Island Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
  • Meridian Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
  • Princeton Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
  • Cypress Hill Cemetery
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
  • Marvin Chapel Cemetery
    (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
  • Stohlman Cemetery
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
  • Continue List   (17 more) ...
    • Pugh Cemetery
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
    • North Butte Cemetery
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
    • Butte City Cemetery
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)

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

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

  • Maxwell
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
  • Lurline ‑ Historic
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Lurline is located in Colusa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lurline
  • Williams
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
  • Colusa
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
  • Sites
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Sites is located in Colusa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sites
  • Genevra
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Genevra is located in Colusa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Genevra
  • Leesville
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
    • Leesville is located in Colusa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leesville
  • Norman
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
    • Norman is located in Glenn County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Norman
  • Sycamore
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Sycamore is located in Colusa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sycamore
  • Arbuckle
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
  • Meridian
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
  • College City
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...
    • Grimes
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
    • Afton
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
      • Afton is located in Glenn County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Afton
    • Harrington
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
      • Harrington is located in Colusa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harrington

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

Newspapers Published in Cortena ...

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 69 newspapers that have been published in the area around Cortena.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Cortena, there are papers which were published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Cortena.

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 Cortena:

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 obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Cortena) 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 Cortena, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.