Our Genealogy Helper
Introduction ...
So far, we found very little information about Houston. The little that we've found leads us believe that the community is historic.<1>
We've added Houston to our Gazetteer with the hope that we can develop more information. If you can help us with Houston, 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 Houston (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 Houston. 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 northeast 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 north.
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 north 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 Houston is historic, it would have been located within present day Shasta 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 Shasta County: Lassen, Modoc, Plumas, Siskiyou, Tehama & Trinity.
Below are the counties that are near Houston. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Houston:
- Shasta County (The home county of Houston)
- The following are listed by their distance from Houston, with the one closest to Houston listed first.
- Bella Vista
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
- Pine Grove ‑ Historic
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
- Pine Grove is located in Shasta County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine Grove
- Mountain Gate
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
- Mountain Gate is located in Shasta County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mountain Gate
- Former names for Mountain Gate:
- Bass
- Fish's Station
- Project City ‑ Historic
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
- Project City is located in Shasta County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Project City
- Shasta Lake
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
- Shasta Lake is located in Shasta County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shasta Lake
- Population from the 2020 Census: 10,379 people
- Former names for Shasta Lake:
- Boomtown
- Central Valley
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Shasta Lake <2>
- Loomis Corners ‑ Historic
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
- Loomis Corners is located in Shasta County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Loomis Corners
- Bayha
(5 miles [8 km] to the north)
- Bayha is located in Shasta County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bayha
- McColl ‑ Historic
(5 miles [8 km] to the north)
- McColl is located in Shasta County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for McColl
- Summit City ‑ Historic
(5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
- Summit City is located in Shasta County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Summit City
- Toyon ‑ Historic
(5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
- Toyon is located in Shasta County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Toyon
- Former name for Toyon:
- Seaman's Place
- Buckeye
(5 miles [8 km] to the west)
- Buckeye is located in Shasta County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Buckeye
- Churntown ‑ Historic
(5 miles [8 km] to the west)
- Churntown is located in Shasta County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Churntown
- Former name for Churntown:
- One Wagon Town
- Newtown
(5 miles [8 km] to the west)
- Newtown is located in Shasta County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Newtown
- Tehama County
- The following are listed by their distance from Houston, with the one closest to Houston listed first.
- Hooker
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
- Hooker is located in Tehama County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hooker
- Dales
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
- Dales is located in Tehama County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dales
- Bend
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
- Bend is located in Tehama County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bend
- Manton
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
- Paynes Creek
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
- Trinity County
- The following are listed by their distance from Houston, with the one closest to Houston listed first.
- Deadwood ‑ Historic
(23 miles [37 km] to the west)
- Deadwood is located in Trinity County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Deadwood
- Lewiston
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
- Minersville ‑ Historic
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
- Minersville is located in Trinity County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Minersville
- Trinity Center
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Houston, see our County-by-County Page for Houston.
Cemeteries Near Houston ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Houston.
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 Houston - one of the links might be able to help.
If not found below, our Cemetery List for Houston covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Houston, with the one closest to Houston listed first.
- Houston Cemetery
(Less than 2 miles to the east)
- Central Valley Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
- Churntown Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
- Lawncrest Memorial Park
(5 miles [8 km] to the south)
- Buckeye Pioneer Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the west)
- Redding Memorial Park
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
- St. Joseph Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
- St. Josephs Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
- St. Joseph Cemetery
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
- Bates Pioneer Cemetery
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
- Masonic Cemetery
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
- IOOF Cemetery
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
- Continue List (33 more) ...
- Millville IOOF Cemetery
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
- Shasta Catholic Cemetery
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
- Shasta Union Cemetery
(10 miles [16.1 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.
While we didn't find Houston in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Houston.
These communities are listed based on their distance from Houston, with the one closest to Houston listed first.
- Buckeye
(5 miles [8 km] to the west)
- Buckeye is located in Shasta County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Buckeye
- Redding
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
- Hart ‑ Historic
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
- Hart is located in Shasta County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hart
- Hart has also been known as:
- Hart Village
- Hart's Camp
- Waugh ‑ Historic
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
- Waugh is located in Shasta County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Waugh
- Kennett ‑ Historic
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
- Kennett is located in Shasta County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kennett
- Copley ‑ Historic
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
- Copley is located in Shasta County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Copley
- Former name for Copley:
- Motion
- Baird ‑ Historic
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
- Baird is located in Shasta County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Baird
- Millville
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
- Morley ‑ Historic
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
- Morley is located in Shasta County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Morley
- Ydaloom ‑ Historic
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
- Ydaloom is located in Shasta County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ydaloom
- Shasta
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
- Girvan
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
- Girvan is located in Shasta County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Girvan
- Continue List (14 more) ...
- Mabel ‑ Historic
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
- Mabel is located in Shasta County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mabel
- Elmore ‑ Historic
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
- Elmore is located in Shasta County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elmore
- Anderson
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
- Anderson is located in Shasta County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Anderson
- Population from the 2020 Census: 10,565 people
- Former name for Anderson:
- American Ranch
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Anderson <2>
We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Houston. See our List of 1890's Communities around Houston.
Newspapers Published in Houston ...
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 55 newspapers that have been published in the area around Houston.
Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Houston, there are papers which were published within 26 miles [41.8 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Houston.
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 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 Houston:
- Websites specific to California
- Pages specific to Shasta County
- Genealogy information for nearby counties
- Tehama County
- Trinity County
- Cemetery Information and Directories for California
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 Houston, 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 drawn from Point A (ie- Houston) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |