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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 Fortuna (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 Fortuna. 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.

Fortuna is located in Humboldt 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 Humboldt County: Del Norte, Mendocino, Siskiyou & Trinity.

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

  • Humboldt County     (The home county of Fortuna)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Fortuna, with the one closest to Fortuna listed first.
    • Rohnerville
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rohnerville
      • Rohnerville is located in Humboldt County
    • Alton
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alton
      • Alton is located in Humboldt County
    • Loleta
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Hydesville
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Falk ‑ Historic
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Falk. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Falk
      • Falk is located in Humboldt County
    • Table Bluff
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Table Bluff
      • Table Bluff is located in Humboldt County
    • Ferndale
      (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Hookton
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hookton
      • Hookton is located in Humboldt County
    • Carlotta
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Port Kenyon
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Port Kenyon
      • Port Kenyon is located in Humboldt County
    • Rio Dell
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Scotia
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Fortuna ...

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 78 newspapers that have been published in the area around Fortuna.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Fortuna. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Fortuna and those printed in the larger area surrounding Fortuna.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 24 miles [38.6 km]<3> of Fortuna.

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 either 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 Fortuna:

Cemeteries Near Fortuna ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Fortuna.

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

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

  • Masons & IOOF Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Masons & IOOF Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Masons & IOOF Cemetery
  • IOOF Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the IOOF Cemetery is located outside and to the southwest of Hydesville.
    • The IOOF Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Hydesville IOOF Cemetery
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the IOOF Cemetery
  • Hydesville Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
  • Town Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Town Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Town Cemetery
  • Ferndale Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
  • St. Marys Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Marys Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Marys Cemetery
  • Atwell Family Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
  • Sunset Memorial Park
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Sunset Memorial Park have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Sunset Memorial Park
  • Spear Family Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
  • Oceanview Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Oceanview Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Oceanview Cemetery
  • St. Bernard's Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
  • Myrtle Grove Memorial
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Myrtle Grove Memorial have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Myrtle Grove Memorial
  • Continue List   (6 more) ...
    • Bull Creek Cemetery
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
    • Greenwood Cemetery
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Greenwood Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Greenwood Cemetery
    • St. Marys Cemetery
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Marys Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Marys 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.<7>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that in 1895, Fortuna had a post office and no railroad service. In 2020, Fortuna had a population of 12,107 people.

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

  • Rohnerville
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rohnerville
    • Rohnerville is located in Humboldt County
  • Waddington
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Waddington have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Waddington
    • Waddington is located in Humboldt County
  • Alton
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alton
    • Alton is located in Humboldt County
  • Hydesville
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
  • Ferndale
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
  • Beatrice
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Beatrice have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beatrice
    • Beatrice is located in Humboldt County
  • Table Bluff
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Table Bluff
    • Table Bluff is located in Humboldt County
  • Port Kenyon
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Port Kenyon
    • Port Kenyon is located in Humboldt County
  • Rio Dell
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
  • Scotia
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
  • Fields Landing
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
  • Freshwater
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Freshwater
    • Freshwater is located in Humboldt County
  • Continue List   (13 more) ...
    • Pepperwood
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Pepperwood have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pepperwood
      • Pepperwood is located in Humboldt County
    • Capetown
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Capetown have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Capetown
      • Capetown is located in Humboldt County
    • Eureka
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eureka
      • Eureka is located in Humboldt County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 26,652 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Eureka <1>

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

The official website for Fortuna: www.sunnyfortuna.com/

The official website for Humboldt County: www.co.humboldt.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>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.
<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- Fortuna) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Fortuna. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.5980, Longitude: -124.1545    
<4>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.
<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>To help visualize the location of the cemetery, we've drawn a straight line between the communities of Freshwater Corners and Freshwater. The cemetery can be found near that line and roughly halfway between the two communities. Remember that this is just an approximate location.
<7>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 Fortuna, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024