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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 Happy Valley (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 Happy Valley. 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 Happy Valley ...

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.

For example, a typical abbreviation for Happy Valley: Happy Vly. (or less commonly used: Happy Vally. or Happy Vlly.)

You might be interested in other communities that are also named Happy Valley. More information can be found on our Tidbits & Trivia Page for Happy Valley.

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 southeast 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 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.

Happy Valley 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 Happy Valley. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Happy Valley:

  • El Dorado County     (The home county of Happy Valley)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Happy Valley, with the one closest to Happy Valley listed first.
    • Grizzly Flatx
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Fresh Pond
      (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
      • Fresh Pond is located in El Dorado County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fresh Pond
    • Pollock Pines
      (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Pleasant Valley
      (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
      • Pleasant Valley is located in El Dorado County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Valley
    • Pacific
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Pacific is located in El Dorado County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pacific
    • Sportsman Hall ‑ Historic
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Sportsman Hall is located in El Dorado County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sportsman Hall
    • Newtown
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
      • Newtown is located in El Dorado County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Newtown
    • Camino
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Somerset
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Riverton
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
      • Riverton is located in El Dorado County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Riverton
    • Fair Play
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Motor City
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
      • Motor City is located in El Dorado County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Motor City
  • Amador County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Happy Valley, with the one closest to Happy Valley listed first.
    • River Pines
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Volcano
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
    • Fiddletown
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Pioneer
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
    • Pine Grove
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
    • Plymouth
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Amador City
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Drytown
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Kit Carson
      (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
    • Sutter Creek
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
    • Electra ‑ Historic
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
      • Electra is located in Amador County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Electra
    • Jackson
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
  • Calaveras County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Happy Valley, with the one closest to Happy Valley listed first.
    • Bummerville
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
      • Bummerville is located in Calaveras County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bummerville
    • West Point
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
    • Sandy Gulch
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
      • Sandy Gulch is located in Calaveras County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sandy Gulch
    • Wilseyville
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
    • Glencoe
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
    • Rail Road Flat
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
    • Big Bar
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
      • Big Bar is located in Calaveras County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Big Bar
    • Mokelumne Hill
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
    • Camp Connell
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Big Meadow
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Big Meadow is located in Calaveras County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Big Meadow
    • Big Trees Village
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Big Trees Village is located in Calaveras County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Big Trees Village
    • Dorrington
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Placer County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Happy Valley, with the one closest to Happy Valley listed first.
    • Michigan Bluff
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
      • Michigan Bluff is located in Placer County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Michigan Bluff
    • Greekstore
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
      • Greekstore is located in Placer County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greekstore
    • Foresthill
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Yankee Jims
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Yankee Jims is located in Placer County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Yankee Jims
    • Last Chance ‑ Historic
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
      • Last Chance is located in Placer County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Last Chance
  • Sacramento County
    • Mormon Island ‑ Historic
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
      • Mormon Island is located in Sacramento County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mormon Island

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

Cemeteries Near Happy Valley ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Happy Valley.

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 Happy Valley - one of the links might be able to help.

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

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

  • Indian Diggings Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
  • Andreason Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
  • Smith Flat Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
  • Oak Hill Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
  • Bennett Memorial Park
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
  • Catholic Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
  • Placerville Union Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Placerville Union Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Placerville Union Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located in Placerville.
    • The Placerville Union Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Union Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #1812538 <2>
  • Middletown Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
  • Westwood Hills Memorial Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
  • Shenandoah Valley Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Fiddletown Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Catholic Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
  • Continue List   (41 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.<3>

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

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

  • Grizzly Flatx
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
  • Bryants
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Bryants is located in El Dorado County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bryants
  • Pleasant Valley
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Pleasant Valley is located in El Dorado County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Valley
  • Omo Ranch
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Omo Ranch is located in El Dorado County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Omo Ranch
  • Pacific
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Pacific is located in El Dorado County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pacific
  • Fair Play
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
  • Placerville
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
  • El Dorado
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
  • Nashville
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Nashville is located in El Dorado County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nashville
  • Fiddletown
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Volcano
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
  • Kelsey
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Kelsey is located in El Dorado County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kelsey
  • Continue List   (15 more) ...

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

Newspapers Published in Happy Valley ...

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 Happy Valley.

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

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 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 Happy Valley:

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>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 Happy Valley, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<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- Happy Valley) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.