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 Cowell (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 Cowell. 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 hospitals and 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.
Cowell is located in Contra Costa 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 Contra Costa County: Alameda, Marin, Sacramento, San Francisco, San Joaquin & Solano.
Below are the counties that are near Cowell. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Cowell:
- Contra Costa County (The home county of Cowell)
- The following are listed by their distance from Cowell, with the one closest to Cowell listed first.
- Clayton
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
- Concord
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
- Pleasant Hill
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
- Waldon
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
- Waldon is located in Contra Costa County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Waldon
- Bay Point
(5 miles [8 km] to the north)
- West Pittsburg
(5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
- West Pittsburg is located in Contra Costa County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Pittsburg
- Clyde
(5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
- Clyde is located in Contra Costa County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clyde
- Pacheco
(5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
- Walnut Creek
(5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
- Port Chicago ‑ Historic
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
- Port Chicago is located in Contra Costa County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Port Chicago
- Vine Hill
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
- Vine Hill is located in Contra Costa County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vine Hill
- Alamo
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
- Alameda County
- The following are listed by their distance from Cowell, with the one closest to Cowell listed first.
- Canyon
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
- Montclair
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
- Montclair is located in Alameda County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Montclair
- Laurel
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
- Laurel is located in Alameda County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Laurel
- Piedmont
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
- Rochedale Village
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
- Rochedale Village is located in Alameda County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rochedale Village
- Normandy Village
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
- Normandy Village is located in Alameda County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Normandy Village
- Komandorski Village
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
- Komandorski Village is located in Alameda County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Komandorski Village
- San Ramon Village
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
- San Ramon Village is located in Alameda County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for San Ramon Village
- Allendale
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
- Allendale is located in Alameda County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Allendale
- Havenscourt
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
- Havenscourt is located in Alameda County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Havenscourt
- South Berkeley
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
- South Berkeley is located in Alameda County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Berkeley
- Former name for South Berkeley:
- Lorin
- Berkeley
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
- Marin County
- The following are listed by their distance from Cowell, with the one closest to Cowell listed first.
- Fort McDowell
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
- Fort McDowell is located in Marin County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fort McDowell
- Belvedere
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
- Paradise Cay
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
- Paradise Cay is located in Marin County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Paradise Cay
- San Quentin
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
- Tiburon
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
- Sausalito
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
- Bel Aire
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
- Bel Aire is located in Marin County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bel Aire
- Corte Madera
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
- Marin City
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
- Marin City is located in Marin County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marin City
- Strawberry
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
- Strawberry is located in Marin County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Strawberry
- Black Point - Green Point
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
- Cerro
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
- Cerro is located in Marin County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cerro
- Napa County
- The following are listed by their distance from Cowell, with the one closest to Cowell listed first.
- American Canyon
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
- Lombard
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
- Lombard is located in Napa County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lombard
- Middleton
(23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
- Middleton is located in Napa County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Middleton
- Suscol ‑ Historic
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
- Suscol is located in Napa County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Suscol
- Suscol has also been known as:
- Soscol
- Susqual
- Merazo
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
- Merazo is located in Napa County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Merazo
- Napa
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
- Union
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
- Union is located in Napa County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Union
- Sacramento County
- The following are listed by their distance from Cowell, with the one closest to Cowell listed first.
- Isleton
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
- Ryde
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
- San Francisco County
- The following are listed by their distance from Cowell, with the one closest to Cowell listed first.
- Sydney Town ‑ Historic
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
- Sydney Town is located in San Francisco County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sydney Town
- Chinatown
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
- Chinatown is located in San Francisco County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chinatown
- Friendship Village
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
- Friendship Village is located in San Francisco County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Friendship Village
- Mission District
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
- Mission District is located in San Francisco County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mission District
- San Francisco
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
- Amanico Ergina Village
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
- Amanico Ergina Village is located in San Francisco County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Amanico Ergina Village
- Golden Gate Heights
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
- Golden Gate Heights is located in San Francisco County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Golden Gate Heights
- Doelger City
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
- Doelger City is located in San Francisco County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Doelger City
- Stonestown
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
- Stonestown is located in San Francisco County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stonestown
- San Joaquin County
- The following are listed by their distance from Cowell, with the one closest to Cowell listed first.
- Terminous
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
- Terminous is located in San Joaquin County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Terminous
- Holt
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
- San Mateo County
- The following are listed by their distance from Cowell, with the one closest to Cowell listed first.
- Brisbane
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
- South San Francisco
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
- Solano County
- The following are listed by their distance from Cowell, with the one closest to Cowell listed first.
- Benicia
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
- Birds Landing
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
- Vallejo
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
- Mare Island ‑ Historic
(18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
- Mare Island is located in Solano County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mare Island
- Denverton
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
- Denverton is located in Solano County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Denverton
- Solano City ‑ Historic
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
- Solano City is located in Solano County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Solano City
- Suisun City
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
- 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>
- Guadalcanal Village
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
- Guadalcanal Village is located in Solano County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Guadalcanal Village
- Fairfield
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
- Rio Vista
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
- Travis Field
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
- Travis Field is located in Solano County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Travis Field
- Green Valley
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
- Sonoma County
- The following are listed by their distance from Cowell, with the one closest to Cowell listed first.
- Sears Point
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
- Sears Point is located in Sonoma County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sears Point
- McGill
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
- McGill is located in Sonoma County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for McGill
- Wingo ‑ Historic
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
- Wingo is located in Sonoma County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wingo
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Cowell, see our County-by-County Page for Cowell.
Cemeteries Near Cowell ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Cowell.
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 Cowell - one of the links might be able to help.
If not found below, our Cemetery List for Cowell covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Cowell, with the one closest to Cowell listed first.
- Live Oak Cemetery
(Less than 2 miles to the east)
- St. Stephen Cemetery
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
- Memory Gardens Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
- Rose Hill Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
- Oakmont Memorial Park
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oakmont Memorial Park
- To give a relative sense of its location, the Oakmont Memorial Park is a very large cemetery that is located outside and to the west of Pleasant Hill.
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #8221 <2>
- Oakmount Memorial Park
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
- Queen of Heaven Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
- Queen of Haven Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
- Lafayette Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
- Alhambra Cemetery
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alhambra Cemetery
- To give a relative sense of its location, the Alhambra Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located outside and to the west of Martinez.
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #7834 <2>
- Catholic Cemetery
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
- St. Dominics Cemetery
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
- Continue List (54 more) ...
- Military Cemetery
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
- Benicia City Cemetery
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Benicia City Cemetery
- To give a relative sense of its location, the Benicia City Cemetery is located in Benicia.
- New Holy Cross Cemetery
(12 miles [19.3 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 Cowell in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Cowell.
These communities are listed based on their distance from Cowell, with the one closest to Cowell listed first.
- Clayton
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
- Concord
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
- Walnut Creek
(5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
- Nortonville ‑ Historic
(5 miles [8 km] to the east)
- Nortonville is located in Contra Costa County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nortonville
- Bay Point
(5 miles [8 km] to the north)
- Pacheco
(5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
- Somersville ‑ Historic
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
- Somersville is located in Contra Costa County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Somersville
- McAvoy
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
- McAvoy is located in Contra Costa County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for McAvoy
- Alamo
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
- Stewartville ‑ Historic
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
- Stewartville is located in Contra Costa County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stewartville
- Cornwall
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
- Cornwall is located in Contra Costa County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cornwall
- Avon
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
- Avon is located in Contra Costa County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Avon
- Continue List (14 more) ...
- Lafayette
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
- Danville
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
- Danville is located in Contra Costa County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Danville
- Population from the 2020 Census: 44,883 people
- Former name for Danville:
- Inmanville
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Danville <1>
- Martinez
(9 miles [14.5 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 Cowell. See our List of 1890's Communities around Cowell.
Newspapers Published in Cowell ...
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 49 newspapers that have been published in the area around Cowell.
Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Cowell, there are papers which were published within 17 miles [27.4 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Cowell.
Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...
When we do our genealogical research, we begin with 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 Cowell:
- Websites specific to California
- Pages specific to Contra Costa County
- Genealogy information for nearby counties
- Alameda County
- Marin County
- Napa County
- Sacramento County
- San Francisco County
- San Joaquin County
- San Mateo County
- Solano County
- Sonoma 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 Cowell, 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 obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Cowell) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |