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Our Genealogy Helper

Introduction ...

So far, we found very little information about El Capitan. The little that we've found leads us believe that the community is historic.<1>

We've added El Capitan to our Gazetteer with the hope that we can develop more information. If you can help us with El Capitan, please Contact Us.

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 El Capitan (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 El Capitan. 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 hospitals 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.

Although our information shows that the community of El Capitan is historic, it would have been located within present day San Diego 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 San Diego County: Imperial, Orange & Riverside.

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

  • San Diego County     (The home county of El Capitan)
    • The following are listed by their distance from El Capitan, with the one closest to El Capitan listed first.
    • San Diego Country Estates
      (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for San Diego Country Estates have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for San Diego Country Estates
      • San Diego Country Estates is located in San Diego County
    • Alpine
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • The Willows
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for The Willows
      • The Willows is located in San Diego County
    • Flinn Springs
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flinn Springs
      • Flinn Springs is located in San Diego County
    • Mussey Grove ‑ Historic
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mussey Grove have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mussey Grove
      • Mussey Grove is located in San Diego County
    • Harbison Canyon
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Harbison Canyon have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harbison Canyon
      • Harbison Canyon is located in San Diego County
    • Ramona
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Descanso
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Crest
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Crest have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crest
      • Crest is located in San Diego County
    • Glenview
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glenview
      • Glenview is located in San Diego County
    • Lakeside
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Eucalyptus Hills
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eucalyptus Hills
      • Eucalyptus Hills is located in San Diego County
    • Granite Hills
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Granite Hills have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Granite Hills
      • Granite Hills is located in San Diego County

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

Newspapers Published in El Capitan ...

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 111 newspapers that have been published in the area around El Capitan.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of El Capitan, there are papers which were published within 24 miles [38.6 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for El Capitan.

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 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 El Capitan:

Cemeteries Near El Capitan ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of El Capitan.

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 El Capitan covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.

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

  • Memory Gardens Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Memory Gardens Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Memory Gardens Cemetery
  • El Cajon Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Julian Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Julian Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Julian Cemetery
  • Dearborn Memorial Park
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
  • St. Francis Xavier Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Francis Xavier Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Francis Xavier Cemetery
  • Oak Hill Memorial Park
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Oak Hill Memorial Park have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Oak Hill Memorial Park
  • El Camino Memorial Park
    (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
  • Holy Cross Cemetery
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
  • Greenwood Cemetery
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Greenwood Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Greenwood Cemetery
  • Greenwood Memorial Park
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
  • Miramar National Cemetery
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
  • Home of Peace Cemetery
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
  • Continue List   (11 more) ...
    • Mt. Hope Cemetery
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
    • La Vista Cemetery
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the La Vista Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the La Vista Cemetery
    • Indian Cemetery
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Indian Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Indian Cemetery

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.

El Capitan itself is historic and was described in the Rand McNally Atlas as having a post office and no railroad service.

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

  • Alpine
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
  • Ballena
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ballena have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ballena
    • Ballena is located in San Diego County
  • Riverview
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Riverview have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Riverview
    • Riverview is located in San Diego County
  • Lakeside
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
  • Descanso
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
  • Dehesa
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Dehesa have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dehesa
    • Dehesa is located in San Diego County
  • Cuyamaca ‑ Historic
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cuyamaca have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cuyamaca
    • Cuyamaca is located in San Diego County
  • Santee
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Santee
    • Santee is located in San Diego County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 57,770 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Santee <3>
  • Wynola
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Wynola have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wynola
    • Wynola is located in San Diego County
  • Santa Ysabel
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
  • El Cajon
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
  • Julian
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
  • Continue List   (17 more) ...
    • San Pasqual
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for San Pasqual have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for San Pasqual
      • San Pasqual is located in San Diego County
    • Poway
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Poway
      • Poway is located in San Diego County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 49,246 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Poway <3>
    • Jamul
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)

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

The official website for San Diego County: www.sdcounty.ca.gov/

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

Footnotes ...

<1>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 El Capitan, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<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>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 from Point A (ie- El Capitan) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in El Capitan. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 32.9347, Longitude: -116.7741       In this case, the coordinates for El Capitan have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>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.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024