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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 Dolores (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 Dolores. 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 southwest 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 south.

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 south 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.

Dolores is located in Los Angeles 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 Los Angeles County: Kern, Orange, San Bernardino & Ventura.

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

  • Los Angeles County     (The home county of Dolores)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Dolores, with the one closest to Dolores listed first.
    • Dominguez
      (Less than 2 miles to the east)
      • Dominguez is located in Los Angeles County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dominguez
    • Lincoln Village
      (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
      • Lincoln Village is located in Los Angeles County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lincoln Village
    • Los Cerritos
      (Less than 2 miles to the east)
      • Los Cerritos is located in Los Angeles County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Los Cerritos
    • Avalon Village
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Avalon Village is located in Los Angeles County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Avalon Village
    • Rancho Dominguez
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Signal Hill
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Wilmington
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Wilmington is located in Los Angeles County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wilmington
    • Carson
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
      • Carson is located in Los Angeles County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carson
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 89,860 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Carson <1>
    • West Carson
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
      • West Carson is located in Los Angeles County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Carson
    • Compton
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
      • Compton is located in Los Angeles County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Compton
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 93,967 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Compton <1>
    • Cambodia Town
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Cambodia Town is located in Los Angeles County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cambodia Town
    • Dana Strand Village
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Dana Strand Village is located in Los Angeles County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dana Strand Village
  • Orange County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Dolores, with the one closest to Dolores listed first.
    • Rossmoor
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
      • Rossmoor is located in Orange County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rossmoor
    • Los Alamitos
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Seal Beach
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Cypress
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
    • La Palma
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
    • Sunset Beach
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Surfside
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Barber City
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Barber City is located in Orange County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Barber City
    • Buena Park
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
    • Stanton
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
    • Green Lantern Village
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
    • Westminster
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
  • San Bernardino County
    • Chino Hills
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)

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

Cemeteries Near Dolores ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Dolores.

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

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

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

  • Wilmington Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wilmington Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Wilmington Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located in Wilmington.
    • The Wilmington Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Historic Wilmington Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #152636 <2>
  • Woodlawn Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
  • Sunnyside Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
  • Long Beach Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Long Beach Cemetery
    • The Long Beach Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Long Beach Municipal Cemetery
  • Table Top Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
  • Lincoln Memorial Park
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
  • All Souls Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
  • Forest Lawn Park Cemetery (Long Beach)
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Forest Lawn Park Cemetery (Long Beach)
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Forest Lawn Park Cemetery (Long Beach) is located in Long Beach.
    • The Forest Lawn Park Cemetery (Long Beach) has also been known as:
    • Forest Lawn Memorial Cemetery - Long Beach
    • Forest Lawn Memorial Park - Long Beach
    • Long Beach Forest Lawn Memorial Cemetery
    • Long Beach Forest Lawn Park Cemetery
    • Sunnyside Memorial Park
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #180662 <2>
  • Angeles Abbey Memorial Park
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
  • Roosevelt Memorial Park
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
  • Green Hills Memorial Park
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Artesia Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
  • Continue List   (67 more) ...
    • Old Downey Cemetery
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Harbor View Memorial Park
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Young Israel Cemetery
      (8 miles [12.9 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.<3>

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

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

  • Dominguez
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Dominguez is located in Los Angeles County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dominguez
  • Wilmington
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Wilmington is located in Los Angeles County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wilmington
  • Thenard
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Thenard is located in Los Angeles County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Thenard
  • Long Beach
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
  • Compton
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Compton is located in Los Angeles County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Compton
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 93,967 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Compton <1>
  • Clearwater
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Clearwater is located in Los Angeles County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clearwater
  • Lynwood
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Lynwood is located in Los Angeles County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lynwood
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 68,508 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Lynwood <1>
  • Gardena
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Gardena is located in Los Angeles County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gardena
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 58,498 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Gardena <1>
  • Moneta
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Moneta is located in Los Angeles County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Moneta
  • San Pedro
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • San Pedro is located in Los Angeles County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for San Pedro
  • South Los Angeles
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • South Los Angeles is located in Los Angeles County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Los Angeles
  • Artesia
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Artesia is located in Los Angeles County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Artesia
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 16,168 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Artesia <1>
  • Continue List   (15 more) ...
    • Cerritos
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Norwalk
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Norwalk is located in Los Angeles County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Norwalk
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 102,635 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Norwalk <1>
    • Studebaker
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Studebaker is located in Los Angeles County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Studebaker

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

Newspapers Published in Dolores ...

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 138 newspapers that have been published in the area around Dolores.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Dolores, there are papers which were published within 11 miles [17.7 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Dolores.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we like to start with the websites from Cyndi's List, FamilySearch and Genealogy Trails. These professional and volunteer 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 Dolores:

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 Dolores, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a '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- Dolores) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.