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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 Midco (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 Midco. 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 northwest corner of their home county. During their lives, most hospitals and doctors were in the next county to the west. 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 west 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.

Midco is located in Santa Barbara 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 Santa Barbara County: Kern, San Luis Obispo & Ventura.

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

  • Santa Barbara County     (The home county of Midco)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Midco, with the one closest to Midco listed first.
    • Santa Maria
      (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Betteravia
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Betteravia is located in Santa Barbara County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Betteravia
    • Orcutt
      (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Guadalupe
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Casmalia
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Garey
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
      • Garey is located in Santa Barbara County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Garey
    • Vandenberg Village
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
      • Vandenberg Village is located in Santa Barbara County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vandenberg Village
    • Lompoc Landing ‑ Historic
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Lompoc Landing is located in Santa Barbara County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lompoc Landing
    • Sisquoc
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
      • Sisquoc is located in Santa Barbara County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sisquoc
    • Mission Hills
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
      • Mission Hills is located in Santa Barbara County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mission Hills
    • Los Alamos
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Lompoc
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
      • Lompoc is located in Santa Barbara County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lompoc
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 42,253 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Lompoc <1>
  • San Luis Obispo County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Midco, with the one closest to Midco listed first.
    • Nipomo
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Callender
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Arroyo Grande
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Fairoaks
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Fairoaks is located in San Luis Obispo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fairoaks
    • Oceano
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Grover Beach
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Pismo Beach
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Reeds ‑ Historic
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
      • Reeds is located in San Luis Obispo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Reeds
    • Musick ‑ Historic
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
      • Musick is located in San Luis Obispo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Musick
    • Shell Beach
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Avila Beach
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
    • San Miguelito
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
      • San Miguelito is located in San Luis Obispo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for San Miguelito

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

Cemeteries Near Midco ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Midco.

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

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

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

  • Santa Maria Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
  • Guadalupe Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
  • Foxen Canyon Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
  • Ontiveros Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
  • Halcyon Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Los Alamos Cemetery
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
  • Mission La Purisima Concepcion Cemetery
    (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
  • Ryon Memorial Park
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ryon Memorial Park
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Ryon Memorial Park is located in Lompoc.
  • Lompoc Evergreen Cemetery
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
  • Continue List   (6 more) ...
    • Old Mission Cemetery
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
    • San Luis Cemetery
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for San Luis Cemetery
      • To give a relative sense of its location, the San Luis Cemetery is located outside and to the southwest of San Luis Obispo.
    • Sutcliffe Cemetery
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sutcliffe Cemetery
      • To give a relative sense of its location, the Sutcliffe Cemetery is located outside and to the southwest of San Luis Obispo.
    • St. Marks in the Valley Episcopal Church Memorial Garden
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Oak Hill Cemetery
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oak Hill Cemetery
      • To give a relative sense of its location, the Oak Hill Cemetery is located in Ballard.
      • The Oak Hill Cemetery has also been known as:
      • Oak Hill Memorial Cemetery
      • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #8210 <3>
    • Solvang Cemetery
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)

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

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

  • Santa Maria
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
  • Guadalupe
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
  • Nipomo
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
  • Garey
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Garey is located in Santa Barbara County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Garey
  • Summit ‑ Historic
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Summit is located in San Luis Obispo County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Summit
  • Los Berros
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Los Berros is located in San Luis Obispo County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Los Berros
  • Huasna
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
    • Huasna is located in San Luis Obispo County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Huasna
  • Arroyo Grande
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Verde
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
    • Verde is located in San Luis Obispo County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Verde
  • Los Alamos
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
  • Sisquoc
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
    • Sisquoc is located in Santa Barbara County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sisquoc
  • Reeds ‑ Historic
    (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
    • Reeds is located in San Luis Obispo County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Reeds
  • Continue List   (8 more) ...
    • Lompoc
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
      • Lompoc is located in Santa Barbara County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lompoc
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 42,253 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Lompoc <1>
    • Musick ‑ Historic
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
      • Musick is located in San Luis Obispo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Musick
    • Edna
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Edna is located in San Luis Obispo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Edna

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

Newspapers Published in Midco ...

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 41 newspapers that have been published in the area around Midco.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Midco, there are papers which were published within 29 miles [46.7 km]<2>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Midco.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we begin with the websites from Cyndi's List, FamilySearch and Genealogy Trails. These 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 Midco:

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