RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of California >> Madera County >> Fine Gold >> Genealogy HelperIndex...

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 Fine Gold (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 Fine Gold. 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 southeast 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 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 east 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.

Fine Gold is located in Madera 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 Madera County: Fresno, Mariposa, Merced & Mono.

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

  • Madera County     (The home county of Fine Gold)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Fine Gold, with the one closest to Fine Gold listed first.
    • O'Neals
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • North Fork
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Coarsegold
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Wishon
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
      • Wishon is located in Madera County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wishon
    • Yosemite Lakes Park
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
      • Yosemite Lakes Park is located in Madera County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Yosemite Lakes Park
      • Yosemite Lakes Park has also been known as:
      • Yosemite Lakes
    • Bass Lake
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Oakhurst
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • The Pines
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
      • The Pines is located in Madera County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for The Pines
    • Yosemite Forks
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
      • Yosemite Forks is located in Madera County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Yosemite Forks
    • Ahwahnee
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Millerton ‑ Historic
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
      • Millerton is located in Madera County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Millerton
    • Knowles ‑ Historic
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
      • Knowles is located in Madera County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Knowles
  • Fresno County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Fine Gold, with the one closest to Fine Gold listed first.
    • Auberry
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Meadow Lakes
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Meadow Lakes is located in Fresno County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadow Lakes
    • Prather
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Friant
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
    • Pineridge
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Pineridge is located in Fresno County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pineridge
    • Tollhouse
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Dora Belle
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
      • Dora Belle is located in Fresno County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dora Belle
    • Shaver Lake
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
    • Sentinel ‑ Historic
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Sentinel is located in Fresno County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sentinel
    • Big Creek
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
      • Big Creek is located in Fresno County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Big Creek
      • Former names for Big Creek:
      • Big Creek Flats
      • Cascada
      • Manzanita Park
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Big Creek <1>
    • Huntington Lake
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
    • Gordon
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
      • Gordon is located in Fresno County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gordon
  • Mariposa County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Fine Gold, with the one closest to Fine Gold listed first.
    • Fish Camp
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
    • Bootjack
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
      • Bootjack is located in Mariposa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bootjack
    • Wawona
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
    • Darrah
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Darrah is located in Mariposa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Darrah
    • Jerseydale
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Jerseydale is located in Mariposa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jerseydale
    • Mariposa
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Midpines
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Nevada County
    • Cedar Crest
      (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
      • Cedar Crest is located in Nevada County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Crest

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

Cemeteries Near Fine Gold ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Fine Gold.

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 Fine Gold - one of the links might be able to help.

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

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

  • Fine Gold Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
  • Walker Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
  • Picayune Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
  • North Fork Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
  • Oakhill Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
  • Big Sandy Rancheria Tribal Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Auberry Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
  • Winchell Cove Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
  • Winchell Cove Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Winchell Cove Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Winchell Cove Cemetery is located outside and to the east of Friant.
  • Tollhouse Cemetery
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
  • Raymond Cemetery
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
  • Academy Cemetery
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
  • Continue List   (10 more) ...

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.<4>

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

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

  • Auberry
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
  • Grub Gulch ‑ Historic
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Grub Gulch is located in Madera County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grub Gulch
  • Knowles ‑ Historic
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
    • Knowles is located in Madera County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Knowles
  • Raymond
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
    • Raymond is located in Madera County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Raymond
  • Tollhouse
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Sentinel ‑ Historic
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Sentinel is located in Fresno County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sentinel
  • Letcher ‑ Historic
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
    • Letcher is located in Fresno County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Letcher
  • Ben Hur
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Ben Hur is located in Mariposa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ben Hur
  • Wawona
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
  • Jerseydale
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Jerseydale is located in Mariposa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jerseydale
  • Mariposa
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
  • Herndon
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Herndon is located in Fresno County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Herndon
  • Fresno
    (29 miles [46.7 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 Fine Gold. See our List of 1890's Communities around Fine Gold.

Newspapers Published in Fine Gold ...

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 73 newspapers that have been published in the area around Fine Gold.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Fine Gold, there are papers which were published within 29 miles [46.7 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Fine Gold.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we begin 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 Fine Gold:

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>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 drawn from Point A (ie- Fine Gold) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<4>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 Fine Gold, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.