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 McHenry (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 McHenry. 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 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.
McHenry is located in Stanislaus 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 Stanislaus County: Alameda, Calaveras, Mariposa, Merced, San Joaquin & Santa Clara.
Below are the counties that are near McHenry. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to McHenry:
- Stanislaus County (The home county of McHenry)
- The following are listed by their distance from McHenry, with the one closest to McHenry listed first.
- Stewart
(Less than 2 miles to the north)
- Stewart is located in Stanislaus County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stewart
- Del Rio
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
- Del Rio is located in Stanislaus County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Del Rio
- Riverbank
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
- Modesto
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
- Salida
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
- Bystrom
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
- Bystrom is located in Stanislaus County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bystrom
- Shackelford
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
- Shackelford is located in Stanislaus County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shackelford
- West Modesto
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
- West Modesto is located in Stanislaus County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Modesto
- Bret Harte
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
- Bret Harte is located in Stanislaus County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bret Harte
- Riverdale Park
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
- Riverdale Park is located in Stanislaus County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Riverdale Park
- Empire
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
- Ceres
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
- Adela
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
- Adela is located in Stanislaus County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Adela
- Calaveras County
- The following are listed by their distance from McHenry, with the one closest to McHenry listed first.
- Telegraph City
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
- Telegraph City is located in Calaveras County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Telegraph City
- Milton
(23 miles [37 km] to the north)
- Milton is located in Calaveras County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Milton
- Copper Cove Village
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
- Copper Cove Village is located in Calaveras County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Copper Cove Village
- The Shores of Poker Flat
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
- Jenny Lind
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
- Jenny Lind is located in Calaveras County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jenny Lind
- Copperopolis
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
- Carmen City
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
- Carmen City is located in Calaveras County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carmen City
- Lost City ‑ Historic
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
- Lost City is located in Calaveras County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lost City
- Rancho Calaveras
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
- Rancho Calaveras is located in Calaveras County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rancho Calaveras
- Merced County
- The following are listed by their distance from McHenry, with the one closest to McHenry listed first.
- Delhi
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
- Hilmar
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
- Ballico
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
- Stevinson
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
- Cressey
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
- Livingston
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
- Arundel ‑ Historic
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
- Arundel is located in Merced County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Arundel
- The Grove
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
- The Grove is located in Merced County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for The Grove
- Winton
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
- San Joaquin County
- The following are listed by their distance from McHenry, with the one closest to McHenry listed first.
- Alba
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
- Alba is located in San Joaquin County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alba
- Escalon
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
- Ripon
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
- Ripon is located in San Joaquin County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ripon
- Population from the 2020 Census: 16,774 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Ripon <1>
- Atlanta
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
- Atlanta is located in San Joaquin County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Atlanta
- Cometa
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
- Cometa is located in San Joaquin County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cometa
- Five Corners
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
- Five Corners is located in San Joaquin County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Five Corners
- Trigo ‑ Historic
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
- Trigo is located in San Joaquin County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Trigo
- Manteca
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
- Farmington
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
- Lathrop
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
- Manteca Junction
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
- Manteca Junction is located in San Joaquin County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Manteca Junction
- Vernalis
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
- French Camp
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
- Tuolumne County
- Yosemite Junction
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
- Yosemite Junction is located in Tuolumne County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Yosemite Junction
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to McHenry, see our County-by-County Page for McHenry.
Cemeteries Near McHenry ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of McHenry.
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 McHenry - one of the links might be able to help.
If not found below, our Cemetery List for McHenry covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from McHenry, with the one closest to McHenry listed first.
- Woodcolony Cemetery
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodcolony Cemetery
- To give a relative sense of its location, the Woodcolony Cemetery is located outside and to the northwest of Modesto.
- St. Stanislaus Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
- Burwood Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
- Langworth Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
- Ripon Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
- St. Johns Catholic Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
- Lakewood Memorial Park
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
- Citizens Cemetery
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
- Valley Home Memorial Park
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
- Atlanta Cemetery
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
- Grayson Cemetery
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
- St. Joseph Cemetery
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
- Continue List (30 more) ...
- Highland View Memorial Gardens
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
- East Union Cemetery
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
- Patterson Cemetery District
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
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 McHenry in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of McHenry.
These communities are listed based on their distance from McHenry, with the one closest to McHenry listed first.
- Modesto
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
- Salida
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
- Ripon
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
- Ripon is located in San Joaquin County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ripon
- Population from the 2020 Census: 16,774 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Ripon <1>
- Ceres
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
- Oakdale
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
- Atlanta
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
- Atlanta is located in San Joaquin County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Atlanta
- Cometa
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
- Cometa is located in San Joaquin County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cometa
- Keyes
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
- Trigo ‑ Historic
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
- Trigo is located in San Joaquin County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Trigo
- Grayson
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
- Grayson is located in Stanislaus County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grayson
- Waterford
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
- Westley
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
- Continue List (15 more) ...
- Hickman
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
- Collegeville
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
- Collegeville is located in San Joaquin County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Collegeville
- Farmington
(15 miles [24.1 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 McHenry. See our List of 1890's Communities around McHenry.
Newspapers Published in McHenry ...
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 130 newspapers that have been published in the area around McHenry.
Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of McHenry, there are papers which were published within 27 miles [43.5 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for McHenry.
Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...
When we do our genealogical research, we first turn to 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 McHenry:
- Websites specific to California
- Pages specific to Stanislaus County
- Genealogy information for nearby counties
- Calaveras County
- Merced County
- San Joaquin County
- Tuolumne County
- Cemetery Information and Directories for California
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> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- McHenry) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |
| <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 McHenry, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |