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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 Desert Hot Springs (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 Desert Hot Springs. 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 Desert Hot Springs ...

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 have occurred.

For example, a typical abbreviation for Desert Hot Springs: Desert Hot Spgs. (or less commonly used: Desert Hot Spngs. or Desert Hot Sprngs.)

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 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.

Desert Hot Springs is located in Riverside County.

To see how the shape of California's counties have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Riverside County: La Paz (AZ), Imperial, Orange, San Bernardino & San Diego.

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

  • Riverside County     (The home county of Desert Hot Springs)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Desert Hot Springs, with the one closest to Desert Hot Springs listed first.
    • North Palm Springs
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Garnet
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Garnet
      • Garnet is located in Riverside County
    • Bonnie Bell
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bonnie Bell
      • Bonnie Bell is located in Riverside County
    • White Water
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for White Water have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for White Water
      • White Water is located in Riverside County
    • Palm Springs
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Sky Valley
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Thousand Palms
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Cathedral City
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
    • Rancho Mirage
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
    • Cabazon
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
    • Palm Desert Country
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Palm Desert Country have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Palm Desert Country
      • Palm Desert Country is located in Riverside County
    • Palm Desert
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
  • San Bernardino County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Desert Hot Springs, with the one closest to Desert Hot Springs listed first.
    • Morongo Valley
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Yucca Valley
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
    • Pioneertown
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
    • Joshua Tree
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Panorama Heights
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Panorama Heights
      • Panorama Heights is located in San Bernardino County
    • Landers
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
    • Forest Falls
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
    • Sugarloaf
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Oak Glen
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
    • The Plaza
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for The Plaza
      • The Plaza is located in San Bernardino County
    • Big Bear City
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Moonridge
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Desert Hot Springs ...

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 133 newspapers that have been published in the area around Desert Hot Springs.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Desert Hot Springs. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Desert Hot Springs and those printed in the larger area surrounding Desert Hot Springs.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<3> of Desert Hot Springs.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we start 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 Desert Hot Springs:

Cemeteries Near Desert Hot Springs ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Desert Hot Springs.

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.

If you need information about a burial or interment, photos, transcripts, how to contact the cemetery or local authorities, please visit our selection of Genealogy Websites (see below).

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

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

  • Palm Springs District Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Palm Springs District Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Palm Springs District Cemetery
  • Desert Memorial Park
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
  • Mountain Valley Memorial Park
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Mountain Valley Memorial Park have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Mountain Valley Memorial Park
  • Sunnyslope Cemetery
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Sunnyslope Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Sunnyslope Cemetery
  • Coachella Valley Cemetery
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Coachella Valley Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Coachella Valley Cemetery
  • Twentynine Palms Cemetery
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
  • Sunnyslope Cemetery
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Sunnyslope Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Sunnyslope Cemetery
  • Mt. View Cemetery
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Mt. View Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Mt. View Cemetery
  • Chemehuevi Indian Cemetery
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Chemehuevi Indian Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Chemehuevi Indian Cemetery
  • San Jacinto Valley Cemetery
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Forest Lawn Memorial Gardens
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Forest Lawn Memorial Gardens have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Forest Lawn Memorial Gardens

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.<5>

While we didn't find Desert Hot Springs in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Desert Hot Springs.

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

  • Idyllwild
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
  • Banning
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)

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

The official website for Desert Hot Springs: www.desert-hot-springs.us/

The official website for Riverside County: www.co.riverside.ca.us/

The official website for State of California: https://www.ca.gov/

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 location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required.
<3>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 from Point A (ie- Desert Hot Springs) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Desert Hot Springs. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 33.9615, Longitude: -116.5014    
<4>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.
<5>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 Desert Hot Springs, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024