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 Morongo 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 Morongo 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 Morongo 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 have occurred.
For example, a typical abbreviation for Morongo Valley: Morongo Vly. (or less commonly used: Morongo Vally. or Morongo Vlly.)
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.
Morongo Valley is located in San Bernardino County.
To see how the shape of California's counties have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.
The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of San Bernardino County: La Paz (AZ), Mohave (AZ), Inyo, Kern, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside & Clark (NV).
Below are the counties that are near Morongo Valley. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Morongo Valley:
- San Bernardino County (The home county of Morongo Valley)
- The following are listed by their distance from Morongo Valley, with the one closest to Morongo Valley listed first.
- Pioneertown
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
- Yucca Valley
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
- Joshua Tree
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
- Landers
(18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
- Sugarloaf
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
- Forest Falls
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
- Big Bear
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
- Moonridge
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
- Oak Glen
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
- Panorama Heights
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
- Big Bear Lake
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
- Angelus Oaks
(23 miles [37 km] to the west)
- Riverside County
- The following are listed by their distance from Morongo Valley, with the one closest to Morongo Valley listed first.
- Desert Hot Springs
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
- Bonnie Bell
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
- North Palm Springs
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
- White Water
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for White Water have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for White Water
- White Water is located in Riverside County
- Garnet
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
- Cabazon
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
- Palm Springs
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
- Rimlon
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rimlon have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rimlon
- Rimlon is located in Riverside County
- Sky Valley
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
- Banning
(18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
- Cathedral City
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
- Thousand Palms
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Morongo Valley, see our County-by-County Page for Morongo Valley.
Cemeteries Near Morongo Valley ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Morongo 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.
If you need information about a burial or interment, photos, transcripts, how to contact the cemetery or local authorities, please visit our selection of Genealogy Websites (see below).
If not found below, our Cemetery List for Morongo Valley covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Morongo Valley, with the one closest to Morongo Valley listed first.
- Moravian Cemetery
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
- Mountain Valley Memorial Park
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Mountain Valley Memorial Park
- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Mountain Valley Memorial Park have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Saint Marys Catholic Cemetery
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
- Jane Augustine Patencio Cemetery
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
- San Gorgonio Memorial Park
(18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
- Sunnyslope Cemetery
(18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Sunnyslope Cemetery
- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Sunnyslope Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Palm Springs District Cemetery
(18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Palm Springs District Cemetery
- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Palm Springs District Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Desert Memorial Park
(18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
- Mountain View Cemetery
(23 miles [37 km] to the west)
- Mt. View Cemetery
(23 miles [37 km] to the west)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Mt. View Cemetery
- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Mt. View Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Sunnyslope Cemetery
(23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Sunnyslope Cemetery
- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Sunnyslope Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Forest Lawn Memorial Gardens
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Forest Lawn Memorial Gardens
- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Forest Lawn Memorial Gardens have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Continue List (4 more) ...
- Wilbur Grave
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Wilbur Grave
- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Wilbur Grave have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Twentynine Palms Cemetery
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
- San Jacinto Valley Cemetery
(29 miles [46.7 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.<5>
While we didn't find Morongo Valley in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Morongo Valley.
These communities are listed based on their distance from Morongo Valley, with the one closest to Morongo Valley listed first.
- Banning
(18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
- Idyllwild
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Morongo Valley. See our List of 1890's Communities around Morongo Valley.
Newspapers Published in Morongo 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 119 newspapers that have been published in the area around Morongo Valley.
Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Morongo Valley, there are papers which were published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Morongo Valley.
Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...
When we do our genealogical research, we 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 Morongo Valley:
- Websites specific to California
- Pages specific to San Bernardino County
- Genealogy information for nearby counties
- 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 location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required. |
<3> | 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- Morongo Valley) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Morongo Valley. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 34.0505, Longitude: -116.5853 |
<4> | 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. |
<5> | 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 Morongo Valley, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |