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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 Hams (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 Hams. 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.

Hams is located in Calaveras 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 Calaveras County: Alpine, Amador, San Joaquin, Stanislaus & Tuolumne.

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

  • Calaveras County     (The home county of Hams)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Hams, with the one closest to Hams listed first.
    • Wilseyville
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Bummerville
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bummerville have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bummerville
      • Bummerville is located in Calaveras County
    • Sandy Gulch
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sandy Gulch
      • Sandy Gulch is located in Calaveras County
    • West Point
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Rail Road Flat
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Glencoe
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Arnold
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Big Trees
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Big Trees
      • Big Trees is located in Calaveras County
    • Camp Connell
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Lakemont Pines
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lakemont Pines
      • Lakemont Pines is located in Calaveras County
    • Meadowmont
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadowmont
      • Meadowmont is located in Calaveras County
    • Mountain Ranch
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Big Trees Village
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Big Trees Village
      • Big Trees Village is located in Calaveras County
  • Alpine County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Hams, with the one closest to Hams listed first.
    • Bear Valley
      (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
    • Lake Alpine
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Alpine
      • Lake Alpine is located in Alpine County
    • Kirkwood
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Amador County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Hams, with the one closest to Hams listed first.
    • Pioneer
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Volcano
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Pine Grove
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Electra ‑ Historic
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Electra have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Electra
      • Electra is located in Amador County
    • Jackson
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
    • Fiddletown
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
    • Martell
      (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
    • Sutter Creek
      (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
    • River Pines
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Amador City
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
    • Drytown
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
    • Plymouth
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
    • Ione
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ione
      • Ione is located in Amador County
      • 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 <1>
  • El Dorado County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Hams, with the one closest to Hams listed first.
    • Grizzly Flatx
      (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
    • Fair Play
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
    • Mount Aukum
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Somerset
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Pleasant Valley
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Valley
      • Pleasant Valley is located in El Dorado County
    • Newtown
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Newtown
      • Newtown is located in El Dorado County
    • Fresh Pond
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Fresh Pond have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fresh Pond
      • Fresh Pond is located in El Dorado County
    • Pacific
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Pacific have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pacific
      • Pacific is located in El Dorado County
    • Tiger Lily
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tiger Lily
      • Tiger Lily is located in El Dorado County
    • Pollock Pines
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
    • Riverton
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Riverton have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Riverton
      • Riverton is located in El Dorado County
    • Sportsman Hall ‑ Historic
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sportsman Hall
      • Sportsman Hall is located in El Dorado County
    • Camino
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Tuolumne County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Hams, with the one closest to Hams listed first.
    • Columbia
      (23 miles [37 km] to the south)
    • Cedar Ridge
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Ridge
      • Cedar Ridge is located in Tuolumne County
    • Columbia Village
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Columbia Village have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Columbia Village
      • Columbia Village is located in Tuolumne County
    • Martinez
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Martinez have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Martinez
      • Martinez is located in Tuolumne County
    • Phoenix Lake - Cedar Ridge
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Phoenix Lake - Cedar Ridge. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Phoenix Lake - Cedar Ridge
      • Phoenix Lake - Cedar Ridge is located in Tuolumne County
    • Squabbletown
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Squabbletown have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Squabbletown
      • Squabbletown is located in Tuolumne County
    • Tuttletown
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tuttletown
      • Tuttletown is located in Tuolumne County
    • Cold Springs
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Long Barn
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Mi-Wuk Village
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Sierra Village
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sierra Village have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sierra Village
      • Sierra Village is located in Tuolumne County
    • Twain Harte
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Bumblebee
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bumblebee have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bumblebee
      • Bumblebee is located in Tuolumne County

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

Newspapers Published in Hams ...

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 70 newspapers that have been published in the area around Hams.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Hams, there are papers which were published within 23 miles [37 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Hams.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we start with 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 Hams:

Cemeteries Near Hams ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Hams.

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

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

  • Inedpendence Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
  • Mountain Ranch Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
  • Catholic Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Catholic Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Catholic Cemetery
  • Protestant Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Protestant Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Protestant Cemetery
  • Pine Grove Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
  • Jesus Maria Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Andreason Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Andreason Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Andreason Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #7839 <5>
  • Indian Diggings Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Indian Diggings Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Indian Diggings Cemetery
  • Peoples Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Peoples Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Peoples Cemetery
  • Briseno Ranch Burial Ground
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
  • Jackson Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Jackson Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Jackson Cemetery
  • Pioneer Cemetery
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Pioneer Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Pioneer Cemetery
  • Continue List   (43 more) ...
    • Catholic Cemetery
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Catholic Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Catholic Cemetery
    • St. Sava Servian Orthodox Cemetery
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
    • Fiddletown Cemetery
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)

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

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

  • Rail Road Flat
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
  • West Point
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
  • Glencoe
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
  • Rich Gulch
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rich Gulch have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rich Gulch
    • Rich Gulch is located in Calaveras County
  • Mountain Ranch
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
  • Big Trees
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Big Trees
    • Big Trees is located in Calaveras County
  • Volcano
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
  • Pine Grove
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
  • Sheep Ranch
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
  • Avery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Mokelumne Hill
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
  • Omo Ranch
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Omo Ranch have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Omo Ranch
    • Omo Ranch is located in El Dorado County
  • Continue List   (17 more) ...

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

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

The official website for Calaveras County: www.co.calaveras.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 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Hams) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Hams. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.3741, Longitude: -120.4621       In this case, the coordinates for Hams 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 Hams, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024