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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 Fig Orchard (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 Fig Orchard. 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 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.

Fig Orchard is located in Kern 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 Kern County: Inyo, Kings, Los Angeles, Monterey, San Bernardino, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Tulare & Ventura.

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

  • Kern County     (The home county of Fig Orchard)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Fig Orchard, with the one closest to Fig Orchard listed first.
    • Caliente
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Bealville
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bealville have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bealville
      • Bealville is located in Kern County
    • Keene
      (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Woodford
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Woodford have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodford
      • Woodford is located in Kern County
    • Girard ‑ Historic
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Girard. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Girard
      • Girard is located in Kern County
    • Bear Valley Springs
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
    • Piute ‑ Historic
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Piute have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Piute
      • Piute is located in Kern County
    • Golden Hills
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Golden Hills
      • Golden Hills is located in Kern County
    • Old Town
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Old Town have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Old Town
      • Old Town is located in Kern County
    • Havilah
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Havilah
      • Havilah is located in Kern County
    • Tehachapi
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Stallion Springs
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stallion Springs
      • Stallion Springs is located in Kern County
    • Arvin
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
  • Tulare County
    • South Lake
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for South Lake have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Lake
      • South Lake is located in Tulare County

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

Newspapers Published in Fig Orchard ...

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 75 newspapers that have been published in the area around Fig Orchard.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Fig Orchard, 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 Fig Orchard.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we first turn to 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 Fig Orchard:

Cemeteries Near Fig Orchard ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Fig Orchard.

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 Fig Orchard covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.

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

  • Cesar E. Chavez National Monument
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
  • Rankin Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
  • Bakersfield National Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Fickert Family Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
  • Williams Gravesite
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
  • Old Tehachapi Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
  • Tehachapi Westside Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Tehachapi Westside Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located outside and to the northwest of Tehachapi.
    • The Tehachapi Westside Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Tehachapi Catholic Cemetery
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Tehachapi Westside Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2137488 <5>
  • Old Havilah Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Old Havilah Cemetery is located in the vicinity of Havilah
    • The Old Havilah Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Havilah Cemetery
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Old Havilah Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #1982323 <5>
  • Tehachapi Public Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Tehachapi Public Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located outside and to the east of Tehachapi.
    • The Tehachapi Public Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Tehachapi Eastside Cemetery
    • Tehachapi Protestant Cemetery
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Tehachapi Public Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2137484 <5>
  • South Kern Cemetery District
    (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
  • Tejon Indian Settlement Cemetery
    (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
  • Hillcrest Memorial Park
    (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
  • Continue List   (16 more) ...
    • Sand Canyon Cemetery
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
    • James Foley Gravesite
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for the James Foley Gravesite. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • To give a relative sense of its location, the James Foley Gravesite is located 10 miles [16.1 km]<4> to the east of Mojave.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the James Foley Gravesite
      • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2188029 <5>
    • Palmer Family Cemetery
      (21 miles [33.8 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.<6>

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

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

  • Caliente
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
  • Bealville
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bealville have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bealville
    • Bealville is located in Kern County
  • Rowen
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rowen have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rowen
    • Rowen is located in Kern County
  • Keene
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
  • Girard ‑ Historic
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Girard. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Girard
    • Girard is located in Kern County
  • Tehachapi
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
  • Havilah
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Havilah
    • Havilah is located in Kern County
  • Bakersfield
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
  • Mojave
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)

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

Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Fig Orchard. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.

The official website for Kern County: www.co.kern.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>An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace.
<4>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Fig Orchard) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Fig Orchard. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 35.3086, Longitude: -118.5826       In this case, the coordinates for Fig Orchard 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.
<6>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 Fig Orchard, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024