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Our Genealogy Helper

Introduction ...

So far, we found very little information about Hoff. The little that we've found leads us believe that the community is historic.<1>

We've added Hoff to our Gazetteer with the hope that we can develop more information. If you can help us with Hoff, please Contact Us.

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 Hoff (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 Hoff. 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 hospitals and doctors 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.

Although our information shows that the community of Hoff is historic, it would have been located within present day Merced 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 Merced County: Fresno, Madera, Mariposa, San Benito, Santa Clara & Stanislaus.

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

  • Merced County     (The home county of Hoff)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Hoff, with the one closest to Hoff listed first.
    • Fluhr
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Fluhr is located in Merced County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fluhr
    • Merced
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Atwater
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • The Grove
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
      • The Grove is located in Merced County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for The Grove
    • Winton
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Amsterdam
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
      • Amsterdam is located in Merced County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Amsterdam
    • Arundel ‑ Historic
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
      • Arundel is located in Merced County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Arundel
    • Cressey
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Tuttle
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
      • Tuttle is located in Merced County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tuttle
    • Livingston
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Ballico
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Planada
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
    • Athlone
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
      • Athlone is located in Merced County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Athlone
  • Madera County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Hoff, with the one closest to Hoff listed first.
    • Chowchilla
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Lincoln ‑ Historic
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
      • Lincoln is located in Madera County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lincoln
    • Berenda
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Berenda is located in Madera County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Berenda
  • Mariposa County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Hoff, with the one closest to Hoff listed first.
    • Hornitos
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Catheys Valley
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
    • Bear Valley
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Bear Valley is located in Mariposa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bear Valley
    • Bagby ‑ Historic
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Bagby is located in Mariposa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bagby
    • Mount Bullion
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Mount Bullion is located in Mariposa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Bullion
  • Stanislaus County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Hoff, with the one closest to Hoff listed first.
    • Denair
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Turlock
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
      • Turlock is located in Stanislaus County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Turlock
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 73,059 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Turlock <2>
    • La Grange
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
    • Hickman
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Waterford
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Hughson
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Keyes
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Newman
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
      • Newman is located in Stanislaus County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Newman
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 11,702 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Newman <2>
    • Ceres
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Ceres is located in Stanislaus County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ceres
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 48,603 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Ceres <2>
    • Empire
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Crows Landing
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)

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

Cemeteries Near Hoff ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Hoff.

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 Hoff - one of the links might be able to help.

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

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

  • Calvary Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Calvary Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Calvary Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located in Merced.
    • The Calvary Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Calvary Catholic Cemetery
    • Calvary Merced Cemetery District
    • Be careful not to confuse this cemetery with another one that is also named Calvary Cemetery (located 56 miles to the north).
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #7873 <3>
  • Evergreen Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
  • Winton Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Winton Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Winton Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located outside and to the southwest of Winton.
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #8453 <3>
  • Hopeton Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
  • Ivett Ranch Family Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
  • Snelling Pioneer Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
  • Helm - Turner Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
  • Pate Cemetery
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
  • Santa Cruz Cemetery
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
  • North Hilmar Cemetery
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
  • South Hilmar Cemetery
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
  • Gwin Cemetery
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
  • Continue List   (15 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.

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

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

  • Merced
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
  • Atwater
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
  • Arena
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Arena is located in Merced County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Arena
  • Hopeton
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Hopeton is located in Merced County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hopeton
  • Livingston
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
  • Athlone
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Athlone is located in Merced County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Athlone
  • Plainsburg
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Plainsburg is located in Merced County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plainsburg
  • Snelling
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
  • Delhi
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Montpelier
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Montpelier is located in Stanislaus County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Montpelier
  • Merced Falls
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Merced Falls is located in Merced County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Merced Falls
  • Hornitos
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
  • Continue List   (13 more) ...
    • Turlock
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
      • Turlock is located in Stanislaus County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Turlock
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 73,059 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Turlock <2>
    • Hickman
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
    • La Grange
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)

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

Newspapers Published in Hoff ...

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 71 newspapers that have been published in the area around Hoff.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Hoff, there are papers which were published within 29 miles [46.7 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Hoff.

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 Hoff:

Footnotes ...

<1>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 Hoff, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<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>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Hoff) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.