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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 El Potrero de San Carlos (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 Potrero de San Carlos. 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 doctors and 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.

El Potrero de San Carlos is located in Monterey 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 Monterey County: Fresno, Kings, San Benito, San Luis Obispo & Santa Cruz.

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

  • Monterey County     (The home county of El Potrero de San Carlos)
    • The following are listed by their distance from El Potrero de San Carlos, with the one closest to El Potrero de San Carlos listed first.
    • Carmel Highlands
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Carmel Highlands is located in Monterey County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carmel Highlands
    • Carmelito ‑ Historic
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
      • Carmelito is located in Monterey County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carmelito
    • Carmel-by-the-Sea
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Pebble Beach
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Monterey
      (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Del Rey Oaks
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
      • Del Rey Oaks is located in Monterey County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Del Rey Oaks
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,645 people
    • Del Monte Forest
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
      • Del Monte Forest is located in Monterey County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Del Monte Forest
    • Pacific Grove
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Point Alones ‑ Historic
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
      • Point Alones is located in Monterey County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Point Alones
    • Sand City
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Seaside
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Fort Ord Village ‑ Historic
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
      • Fort Ord Village is located in Monterey County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fort Ord Village
  • San Benito County
    • The following are listed by their distance from El Potrero de San Carlos, with the one closest to El Potrero de San Carlos listed first.
    • San Juan Bautista
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
    • River Oaks
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
      • River Oaks is located in San Benito County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for River Oaks
  • Santa Cruz County
    • The following are listed by their distance from El Potrero de San Carlos, with the one closest to El Potrero de San Carlos listed first.
    • Colache Town
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
      • Colache Town is located in Santa Cruz County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Colache Town
    • Watsonville
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
    • La Selva Beach
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
    • Freedom
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
    • Rio del Mar
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
    • Amesti
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
      • Amesti is located in Santa Cruz County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Amesti
    • Aptos Hills - Larkin Valley
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
    • Interlaken
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
      • Interlaken is located in Santa Cruz County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Interlaken
    • Opal Cliffs
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
      • Opal Cliffs is located in Santa Cruz County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Opal Cliffs

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

Cemeteries Near El Potrero de San Carlos ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of El Potrero de San Carlos.

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 El Potrero de San Carlos - one of the links might be able to help.

If not found below, our Cemetery List for El Potrero de San Carlos covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from El Potrero de San Carlos, with the one closest to El Potrero de San Carlos listed first.

  • Carmel Mission Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carmel Mission Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Carmel Mission Cemetery is located in Carmel-by-the-Sea.
    • The Carmel Mission Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Mission Carmel Cemetery
    • Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmel Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #640417 <2>
  • El Encinal Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
  • St. Johns Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
  • San Carlos Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
  • El Carmeto Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
  • Mission Memorial Park
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Yamat Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
  • IOOF Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Chinese Cemetery
    (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chinese Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Chinese Cemetery is located in Salinas.
  • Monterey County Cemetery
    (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
  • Castroville Public Cemetery
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Castroville Public Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Castroville Public Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located outside and to the south of Moss Landing.
    • The Castroville Public Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Castroville Cemetery
    • Castroville / Moss Landing Cemetery
    • Moss Landing Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #7885 <2>
  • Queen of Heaven Cemetery
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
  • Continue List   (7 more) ...
    • Hambey Cemetery
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Gonzales Cemetery
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
    • IOOF Cemetery
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)

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 El Potrero de San Carlos in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of El Potrero de San Carlos.

These communities are listed based on their distance from El Potrero de San Carlos, with the one closest to El Potrero de San Carlos listed first.

  • Monterey
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
  • Pacific Grove
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
  • Seaside
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Blanco
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Blanco is located in Monterey County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blanco
  • Salinas
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
  • Spence
    (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
    • Spence is located in Monterey County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spence
  • Santa Rita
    (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
    • Santa Rita is located in Monterey County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Santa Rita
  • Castroville
    (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
  • Chualar
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
  • Posts
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
    • Posts is located in Monterey County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Posts
  • Natividad
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Natividad is located in Monterey County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Natividad
  • Elkhorn
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
    • Elkhorn is located in Monterey County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elkhorn
  • Continue List   (4 more) ...
    • Gonzales
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
    • Vega ‑ Historic
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
      • Vega is located in Monterey County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vega
    • Pajaro
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
      • Pajaro is located in Monterey County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pajaro

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

Newspapers Published in El Potrero de San Carlos ...

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 60 newspapers that have been published in the area around El Potrero de San Carlos.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of El Potrero de San Carlos, there are papers which were published within 29 miles [46.7 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for El Potrero de San Carlos.

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 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 Potrero de San Carlos:

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 El Potrero de San Carlos, 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' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- El Potrero de San Carlos) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.