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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 Mountain Retreat (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 Mountain Retreat. 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 Mountain Retreat ...

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 occur.

For example, a typical abbreviation for Mountain Retreat: Mtn. Retreat

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 northeast 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 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.

Mountain Retreat is located in Calaveras 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 Calaveras County: Alpine, Amador, San Joaquin, Stanislaus & Tuolumne.

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

  • Calaveras County     (The home county of Mountain Retreat)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Mountain Retreat, with the one closest to Mountain Retreat listed first.
    • Pinebrook
      (Less than 2 miles to the south)
      • Pinebrook is located in Calaveras County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pinebrook
    • Big Trees
      (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
      • Big Trees is located in Calaveras County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Big Trees
    • Fly-In Acres
      (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
      • Fly-In Acres is located in Calaveras County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fly-In Acres
    • Arnold
      (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Lakemont Pines
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Lakemont Pines is located in Calaveras County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lakemont Pines
    • Meadowmont
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Meadowmont is located in Calaveras County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadowmont
    • Dorrington
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Camp Connell
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Avery
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Hathaway Pines
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Big Trees Village
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
      • Big Trees Village is located in Calaveras County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Big Trees Village
    • Cedar Vista
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Cedar Vista is located in Calaveras County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Vista
  • Alpine County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Mountain Retreat, with the one closest to Mountain Retreat listed first.
    • Bear Valley
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Lake Alpine
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
      • Lake Alpine is located in Alpine County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Alpine
  • Amador County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Mountain Retreat, with the one closest to Mountain Retreat listed first.
    • Pioneer
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
    • Electra ‑ Historic
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
      • Electra is located in Amador County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Electra
    • Pine Grove
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Volcano
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Jackson
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
    • Martell
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
    • Sutter Creek
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
    • Amador City
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Fiddletown
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Kit Carson
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
    • River Pines
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
  • El Dorado County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Mountain Retreat, with the one closest to Mountain Retreat listed first.
    • Grizzly Flatx
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
    • Fair Play
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Mount Aukum
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Tuolumne County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Mountain Retreat, with the one closest to Mountain Retreat listed first.
    • Cedar Ridge
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
      • Cedar Ridge is located in Tuolumne County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Ridge
    • Phoenix Lake - Cedar Ridge
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
    • Columbia
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
    • Twain Harte
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
    • Long Barn
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Mi-Wuk Village
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Sierra Village
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Sierra Village is located in Tuolumne County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sierra Village
    • Cedar Rock Lodge
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
      • Cedar Rock Lodge is located in Tuolumne County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Rock Lodge
    • Columbia Village
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
      • Columbia Village is located in Tuolumne County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Columbia Village
    • Martinez
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
      • Martinez is located in Tuolumne County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Martinez
    • Squabbletown
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
      • Squabbletown is located in Tuolumne County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Squabbletown
    • Cold Springs
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)

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

Cemeteries Near Mountain Retreat ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Mountain Retreat.

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 Mountain Retreat - one of the links might be able to help.

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

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

  • Mountain Ranch Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
  • Inedpendence Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Briseno Ranch Burial Ground
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
  • Vallecito Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
  • Catholic Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
  • Public Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
  • Altaville Catholic Cemetery
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Altaville Catholic Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Altaville Catholic Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located in Altaville.
    • The Altaville Catholic Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Angels Camp Catholic Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2269483 <3>
  • Altaville Protestant Cemetery
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
  • Altaville Serbian Cemetery
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
  • Catholic Cemetery
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Catholic Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Catholic Cemetery is located in Altaville.
  • Lode Cemetery
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lode Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Lode Cemetery is located in Altaville.
  • Shaws Flat Cemetery
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
  • Continue List   (33 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.<4>

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

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

  • Big Trees
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Big Trees is located in Calaveras County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Big Trees
  • Avery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
  • Sheep Ranch
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
  • Murphys
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
  • Douglas Flat
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Rail Road Flat
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Mountain Ranch
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
  • West Point
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Columbia
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
  • Glencoe
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
  • Angels Camp
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
  • Rich Gulch
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
    • Rich Gulch is located in Calaveras County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rich Gulch
  • Continue List   (15 more) ...
    • Sonora
      (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
    • Soulsbyville
      (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
    • San Andreas
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)

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

Newspapers Published in Mountain Retreat ...

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 28 newspapers that have been published in the area around Mountain Retreat.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Mountain Retreat, there are papers which were published within 18 miles [29 km]<2>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Mountain Retreat.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we first visit 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 Mountain Retreat:

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 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Mountain Retreat) 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 Mountain Retreat, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.