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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 Governors Village (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 Governors Village. 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.

Name Variations for Governors Village ...

When searching records, keep in mind that names and their spelling can change over time. Our sources include documents like maps, railroad schedules, Travel, Express and Shipping Guides. Many of these documents date from the 1800's and it's common to find spelling differences.

Although we can't give a definitive list, hopefully the following will give you a feel for the variations that might occur.

  • A typical abbreviation for Governors Village: Governors Vlg. (in Canada, 'Vlge.' is the more common abbreviation.)
  • While the name of this community is Governors Village, be aware that it's the common practice of mapmakers to remove the apostrophe from possessive names<1>. So Governors Village may originally have been Governor's Village.

    Sometimes the trailing 's' might be dropped altogether, in which case Governors Village might be written as Governor Village.

If you have information about these names (such as the reason for the change, date of change, the origin of the name), please Contact Us.

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 and 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.

Governors Village is located in El Dorado 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 El Dorado County: Alpine, Amador, Placer, Sacramento & Douglas (NV).

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

  • El Dorado County     (The home county of Governors Village)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Governors Village, with the one closest to Governors Village listed first.
    • Stonegate Village
      (Less than 2 miles to the east)
      • Stonegate Village is located in El Dorado County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stonegate Village
    • Saint Andrews Village
      (Less than 2 miles to the north)
      • Saint Andrews Village is located in El Dorado County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saint Andrews Village
    • Crown Village
      (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
      • Crown Village is located in El Dorado County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crown Village
    • El Dorado Hills
      (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Oak Ridge Village
      (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
      • Oak Ridge Village is located in El Dorado County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oak Ridge Village
    • Franciscan Village
      (Less than 2 miles to the north)
      • Franciscan Village is located in El Dorado County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Franciscan Village
    • Highland Village
      (Less than 2 miles to the north)
      • Highland Village is located in El Dorado County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Highland Village
    • Marina Village
      (Less than 2 miles to the north)
      • Marina Village is located in El Dorado County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marina Village
    • Oak Tree Village
      (Less than 2 miles to the north)
      • Oak Tree Village is located in El Dorado County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oak Tree Village
    • Lakeridge Oaks
      (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
      • Lakeridge Oaks is located in El Dorado County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lakeridge Oaks
    • La Cresta Village
      (Less than 2 miles to the south)
      • La Cresta Village is located in El Dorado County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for La Cresta Village
    • Ridgeview Village
      (Less than 2 miles to the south)
      • Ridgeview Village is located in El Dorado County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ridgeview Village
    • Clarksville
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Clarksville is located in El Dorado County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clarksville
  • Amador County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Governors Village, with the one closest to Governors Village listed first.
    • May ‑ Historic
      (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
      • May is located in Amador County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for May
    • Carbondale ‑ Historic
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
      • Carbondale is located in Amador County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carbondale
    • Plymouth
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
    • River Pines
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Drytown
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Fiddletown
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Amador City
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
    • Ione
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
      • Ione is located in Amador County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ione
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 8,326 people
      • Former names for Ione:
      • Bedbug
      • Freeze Out
      • Hardscrabble
      • Ione City
      • Ione Valley
      • Jone City
      • Jone Valley
      • Rickeyville
      • Woosterville
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Ione <2>
    • Sutter Creek
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Martell
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Jackson
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Camanche Village
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
      • Camanche Village is located in Amador County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Camanche Village
    • Pine Grove
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Nevada County
    • Lake of the Pines
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
      • Lake of the Pines is located in Nevada County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake of the Pines
  • Placer County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Governors Village, with the one closest to Governors Village listed first.
    • Granite Bay
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Loomis
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Rocklin
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Roseville
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Penryn
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Newcastle
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
    • Auburn
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
    • Ophir
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
      • Ophir is located in Placer County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ophir
    • Whitney ‑ Historic
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Whitney is located in Placer County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Whitney
    • North Auburn
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
      • North Auburn is located in Placer County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Auburn
    • Virginiatown
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Virginiatown is located in Placer County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Virginiatown
    • Bowman
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
    • Lincoln
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
  • Sacramento County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Governors Village, with the one closest to Governors Village listed first.
    • Mormon Island ‑ Historic
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Mormon Island is located in Sacramento County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mormon Island
    • Folsom
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
      • Folsom is located in Sacramento County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Folsom
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 82,726 people
      • Folsom has also been known as:
      • Folsom City
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Folsom <2>
    • Represa
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
      • Represa is located in Sacramento County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Represa
    • Natoma
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
      • Natoma is located in Sacramento County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Natoma
    • Prairie City
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
      • Prairie City is located in Sacramento County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prairie City
    • Folsom Junction
      (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
      • Folsom Junction is located in Sacramento County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Folsom Junction
    • Orangevale
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Gold River
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Citrus Heights
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Fair Oaks
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Rancho Murieta
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
    • Rancho Cordova
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Carmichael
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
  • Sutter County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Governors Village, with the one closest to Governors Village listed first.
    • Pleasant Grove
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
    • Nicolas
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Nicolaus
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Yolo County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Governors Village, with the one closest to Governors Village listed first.
    • Broderick
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
    • Bryte
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
    • West Sacramento
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
    • Clarksburg
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Yuba County
    • Wheatland
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)

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

Cemeteries Near Governors Village ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Governors Village.

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 Governors Village - one of the links might be able to help.

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

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

  • Mormon Island Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
  • Clarksville Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
  • Green Valley Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
  • Folsom Prison Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
  • Lakeside Memorial Lawn Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
  • Jayhawk Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jayhawk Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Jayhawk Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located in the vicinity of Jayhawk
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #8083 <3>
  • Bryant Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
  • Mt. Vernon Memorial Park
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
  • Fair Oaks Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
  • Pilot Hill Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
  • Mathew Kilgore Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Gold Hill Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • The Gold Hill Cemetery is located on private property - be sure to secure permission before visiting.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gold Hill Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Gold Hill Cemetery is located in Gold Hill.
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2348365 <3>
  • Continue List   (82 more) ...
    • Uniontown Cemetery
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Roseville Cemetery
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Sylvan Cemetery
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)

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 Governors Village in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Governors Village.

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

  • Clarksville
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Clarksville is located in El Dorado County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clarksville
  • Folsom
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Folsom is located in Sacramento County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Folsom
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 82,726 people
    • Folsom has also been known as:
    • Folsom City
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Folsom <2>
  • White Rock
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • White Rock is located in Sacramento County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for White Rock
  • Salmon Falls ‑ Historic
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Salmon Falls is located in El Dorado County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Salmon Falls
  • Natoma
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Natoma is located in Sacramento County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Natoma
  • Alder Creek
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Alder Creek is located in Sacramento County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alder Creek
  • Shingle Springs
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
  • Orangevale
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
  • Salsbury ‑ Historic
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Salsbury is located in Sacramento County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Salsbury
  • Latrobe
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Latrobe is located in El Dorado County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Latrobe
  • Loomis
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
  • Pilot Hill
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
  • Continue List   (16 more) ...
    • Rocklin
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Roseville
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Penryn
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)

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

Newspapers Published in Governors Village ...

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 41 newspapers that have been published in the area around Governors Village.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Governors Village, there are papers which were published within 18 miles [29 km]<5>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Governors Village.

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 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 Governors Village:

Footnotes ...

<1>It's generally believed that possessive apostrophes are removed to prevent confusion on maps where the apostrophe may be confused with a cartographic symbol. While this is generally true, it's not uncommon to find possessive apostrophes in administrative names (such as towns or counties).
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<3>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.
<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 Governors Village, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<5>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Governors Village) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.