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 Cortez (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 Cortez. 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 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.
Cortez is located in Merced 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 Merced County: Fresno, Madera, Mariposa, San Benito, Santa Clara & Stanislaus.
Below are the counties that are near Cortez. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Cortez:
- Merced County (The home county of Cortez)
- The following are listed by their distance from Cortez, with the one closest to Cortez listed first.
- Ballico
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
- Delhi
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
- Cressey
(5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
- Livingston
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
- Arundel ‑ Historic
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
- Arundel is located in Merced County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Arundel
- Hilmar
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
- The Grove
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
- The Grove is located in Merced County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for The Grove
- Winton
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
- Amsterdam
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
- Amsterdam is located in Merced County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Amsterdam
- Atwater
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
- Fluhr
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
- Fluhr is located in Merced County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fluhr
- Stevinson
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
- Calaveras County
- The Shores of Poker Flat
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
- Mariposa County
- Hornitos
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
- San Joaquin County
- The following are listed by their distance from Cortez, with the one closest to Cortez listed first.
- Escalon
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
- Alba
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
- Alba is located in San Joaquin County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alba
- Cometa
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
- Cometa is located in San Joaquin County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cometa
- Ripon
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
- Ripon is located in San Joaquin County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ripon
- Population from the 2020 Census: 16,774 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Ripon <1>
- Stanislaus County
- The following are listed by their distance from Cortez, with the one closest to Cortez listed first.
- Denair
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
- Turlock
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
- Hickman
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
- Waterford
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
- Hughson
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
- Keyes
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
- Ceres
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
- Empire
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
- Bret Harte
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
- Bret Harte is located in Stanislaus County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bret Harte
- Bystrom
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
- Bystrom is located in Stanislaus County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bystrom
- Shackelford
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
- Shackelford is located in Stanislaus County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shackelford
- Modesto
(18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Cortez, see our County-by-County Page for Cortez.
Cemeteries Near Cortez ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Cortez.
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 Cortez - one of the links might be able to help.
If not found below, our Cemetery List for Cortez covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Cortez, with the one closest to Cortez listed first.
- Denair Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
- Turlock Memorial Park
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
- North Hilmar Cemetery
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
- Winton Cemetery
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Winton Cemetery
- To give a relative sense of its location, the Winton Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located outside and to the southwest of Winton.
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #8453 <2>
- South Hilmar Cemetery
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
- Hopeton Cemetery
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
- Roberts Ferry Cemetery
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
- Lakewood Memorial Park
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
- Stevinson Sunnyside Cemetery
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
- Snelling Pioneer Cemetery
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
- St. Stanislaus Cemetery
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
- Hills Ferry Cemetery
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
- Continue List (22 more) ...
- Calvary Cemetery
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Calvary Cemetery
- To give a relative sense of its location, the Calvary Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located in Merced.
- The Calvary Cemetery has also been known as:
- Calvary Catholic Cemetery
- Calvary Merced Cemetery District
- Be careful not to confuse this cemetery with another one that is also named Calvary Cemetery (located 56 miles to the north).
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #7873 <2>
- Evergreen Cemetery
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
- Ivett Ranch Family Cemetery
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
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 Cortez in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Cortez.
These communities are listed based on their distance from Cortez, with the one closest to Cortez listed first.
- Delhi
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
- Montpelier
(5 miles [8 km] to the north)
- Montpelier is located in Stanislaus County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Montpelier
- Livingston
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
- Turlock
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
- Arena
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
- Arena is located in Merced County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Arena
- Hickman
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
- Atwater
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
- Hopeton
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
- Hopeton is located in Merced County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hopeton
- Keyes
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
- Waterford
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
- Ceres
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
- Snelling
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
- Continue List (13 more) ...
- Newman
(18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
- Merced
(18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
- Modesto
(18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Cortez. See our List of 1890's Communities around Cortez.
Newspapers Published in Cortez ...
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 103 newspapers that have been published in the area around Cortez.
Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Cortez, there are papers which were published within 29 miles [46.7 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Cortez.
Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...
When we do our genealogical research, we first turn to the websites from Cyndi's List, FamilySearch and Genealogy Trails. These websites either 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 Cortez:
- Websites specific to California
- Pages specific to Merced County
- Genealogy information for nearby counties
- Calaveras County
- Mariposa County
- San Joaquin County
- Stanislaus County
- Cemetery Information and Directories for California
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 Cortez, 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' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Cortez) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |