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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 Cottonwood (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 Cottonwood. 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 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.

Cottonwood is located in Yolo 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 Yolo County: Colusa, Lake, Napa, Sacramento, Solano & Sutter.

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

  • Yolo County     (The home county of Cottonwood)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Cottonwood, with the one closest to Cottonwood listed first.
    • Madison
      (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Esparto
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Capay
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Winters
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Yolo
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Zamora
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Plainfield
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Plainfield is located in Yolo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plainfield
    • Woodland
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
    • Brooks
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Davis
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Dunnigan
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
    • Guinda
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
    • El Macero
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Colusa County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Cottonwood, with the one closest to Cottonwood listed first.
    • Harrington
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
      • Harrington is located in Colusa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harrington
    • College City
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
    • Arbuckle
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
    • Genevra
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
      • Genevra is located in Colusa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Genevra
    • Grimes
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
  • Napa County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Cottonwood, with the one closest to Cottonwood listed first.
    • Monticello ‑ Historic
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
      • Monticello is located in Napa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Monticello
    • Redbud Park ‑ Historic
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
      • Redbud Park is located in Napa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Redbud Park
    • Las Putas ‑ Historic
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
      • Las Putas is located in Napa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Las Putas
    • Spanish Flat
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Pope Valley
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
    • Angwin
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
    • Oakville
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Yountville
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Rutherford
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Deer Park
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
    • Saint Helena
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
    • Union
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Union is located in Napa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Union
    • Napa
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Napa is located in Napa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Napa
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 77,032 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Napa <1>
  • Placer County
    • Riego
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
      • Riego is located in Placer County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Riego
  • Sacramento County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Cottonwood, with the one closest to Cottonwood listed first.
    • Sacramento
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
    • Sutterville ‑ Historic
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
      • Sutterville is located in Sacramento County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sutterville
    • Elverta
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
    • Rio Linda
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
    • Freeport
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Freeport is located in Sacramento County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Freeport
    • Ben Ali
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
      • Ben Ali is located in Sacramento County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ben Ali
    • Parkway - South Sacramento
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
    • Town and Country Village
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
  • Solano County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Cottonwood, with the one closest to Cottonwood listed first.
    • Allendale
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
      • Allendale is located in Solano County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Allendale
    • Hartley
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
      • Hartley is located in Solano County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hartley
    • Dixon
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Dixon is located in Solano County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dixon
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 20,440 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Dixon <1>
    • Batavia
      (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
      • Batavia is located in Solano County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Batavia
    • Leisure Town
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
      • Leisure Town is located in Solano County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leisure Town
    • Vacaville
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
    • Elmira
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
    • Cannon ‑ Historic
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
      • Cannon is located in Solano County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cannon
    • Mankas Corner
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
      • Mankas Corner is located in Solano County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mankas Corner
    • Travis Field
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
      • Travis Field is located in Solano County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Travis Field
    • Fairfield
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
    • Green Valley
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
    • Suisun City
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
      • Suisun City is located in Solano County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Suisun City
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 29,305 people
      • Suisun City has also been known as:
      • Suisun
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Suisun City <1>
  • Sutter County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Cottonwood, with the one closest to Cottonwood listed first.
    • Robbins
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Marcuse ‑ Historic
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Marcuse is located in Sutter County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marcuse
    • Nicolas
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Nicolaus
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Pleasant Grove
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Rio Oso
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)

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

Cemeteries Near Cottonwood ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Cottonwood.

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

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

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

  • Cottonwood Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cottonwood Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Cottonwood Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located 4 miles [6.4 km]<2> to the southeast of Esparto.
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #7919 <3>
  • Corbin Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
  • Gordon Family Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • The Gordon Family Cemetery is located on private property - be sure to secure permission before visiting and respect the owner's property rights.
    • We're sorry, but we do not have contact information for the owner.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gordon Family Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Gordon Family Cemetery is located 8 miles [12.9 km]<2> to the west of Woodland.
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2414016 <3>
  • Capay Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Capay Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Capay Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located outside and to the west of Esparto.
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #7881 <3>
  • Monument Hill Memorial Park
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
  • Winters Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Winters Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Winters Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located in Winters.
    • The Winters Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Masonic Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #8452 <3>
  • Woodland Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodland Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Woodland Cemetery is a very large cemetery that is located in Woodland.
    • The Woodland Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Woodland City Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #8455 <3>
  • St. Joseph Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
  • St. Joseph's Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for St. Joseph's Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the St. Joseph's Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located in Woodland.
    • The St. Joseph's Cemetery has also been known as:
    • St. Joseph's Catholic Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #1990865 <3>
  • Cacheville Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cacheville Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Cacheville Cemetery is located outside and to the north of Yolo.
    • The Cacheville Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Old Yolo Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2344398 <3>
  • Mary's Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Davis Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Davis Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Davis Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located in Davis.
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #7930 <3>
  • Continue List   (45 more) ...
    • Knights Landing Cemetery
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Monticello Cemetery
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Wragg Canyon Cemetery
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)

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

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

  • Citrona
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Citrona is located in Yolo County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Citrona
  • Madison
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
  • Esparto
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
  • Capay
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
  • Winters
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
  • Plainfield
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Plainfield is located in Yolo County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plainfield
  • Yolo
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
  • Merritt
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
    • Merritt is located in Yolo County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Merritt
  • Mullen ‑ Historic
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
    • Mullen is located in Yolo County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mullen
  • Woodland
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
  • Brooks
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Tancred
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Tancred is located in Yolo County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tancred
  • Continue List   (15 more) ...
    • Monticello ‑ Historic
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
      • Monticello is located in Napa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Monticello
    • Allendale
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
      • Allendale is located in Solano County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Allendale
    • Davis
      (14 miles [22.5 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 Cottonwood. See our List of 1890's Communities around Cottonwood.

Newspapers Published in Cottonwood ...

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 180 newspapers that have been published in the area around Cottonwood.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Cottonwood, there are papers which were published within 27 miles [43.5 km]<2>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Cottonwood.

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 Cottonwood:

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 from Point A (ie- Cottonwood) 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 Cottonwood, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.