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The Commemorative Quarter for California





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 Otay (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 Otay. 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 hospitals and 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.

Otay is located in San Diego 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 Diego County: Imperial, Orange & Riverside.

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

  • San Diego County     (The home county of Otay)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Otay, with the one closest to Otay listed first.
    • Cockatoo Grove
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cockatoo Grove
      • Cockatoo Grove is located in San Diego County
    • Bonita
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Sunnyside
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunnyside
      • Sunnyside is located in San Diego County
    • San Ysidro
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Paradise Hills
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Paradise Hills
      • Paradise Hills is located in San Diego County
    • Chula Vista
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Palm City
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Palm City have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Palm City
      • Palm City is located in San Diego County
    • La Presa
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for La Presa
      • La Presa is located in San Diego County
    • Lincoln Acres
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • South San Diego
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for South San Diego. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South San Diego
      • South San Diego is located in San Diego County
    • Jamul Indian Village
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Jamul Indian Village have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jamul Indian Village
      • Jamul Indian Village is located in San Diego County
    • Coronado Heights ‑ Historic
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Coronado Heights have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coronado Heights
      • Coronado Heights is located in San Diego County
    • Imperial Beach
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)

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

Cemeteries Near Otay ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Otay.

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 Otay covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.

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

  • Glen Abbey Memorial Park
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
  • La Vista Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the La Vista Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the La Vista Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Mt. Olivet Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Mt. Olivet Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Mt. Olivet Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • St. Francis Xavier Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Francis Xavier Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Francis Xavier Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Holy Cross Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
  • Greenwood Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Greenwood Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Greenwood Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Greenwood Memorial Park
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
  • Mt. Hope Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
  • Home of Peace Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
  • El Cajon Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
  • Ft. Rosecrans National Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
  • Miramar National Cemetery
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
  • Continue List   (4 more) ...
    • Mt. Soledad Veterans Memorial
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
    • El Camino Memorial Park
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
    • Dearborn Memorial Park
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)

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>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that in 1895, Otay had a post office and railroad service.

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

  • Sunnyside
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunnyside
    • Sunnyside is located in San Diego County
  • Bonita
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
  • Nestor
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Nestor have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nestor
    • Nestor is located in San Diego County
  • Chula Vista
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
  • South San Diego
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for South San Diego. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South San Diego
    • South San Diego is located in San Diego County
  • La Presa
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for La Presa
    • La Presa is located in San Diego County
  • National City
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
  • Coronado Heights ‑ Historic
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Coronado Heights have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coronado Heights
    • Coronado Heights is located in San Diego County
  • Jamul
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
  • Spring Valley
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
  • La Mesa
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
  • Dulzura
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...
    • San Diego
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Dehesa
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Dehesa have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dehesa
      • Dehesa is located in San Diego County
    • El Cajon
      (13 miles [20.9 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 Otay. See our List of 1890's Communities around Otay.

Newspapers Published in Otay ...

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 345 newspapers that have been published in the area around Otay.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Otay, there are papers which were published within 19 miles [30.6 km]<6>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Otay.

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 Otay:

Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Otay. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.

The official website for San Diego County: www.sdcounty.ca.gov/

The official website for State of California: https://www.ca.gov/

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>An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace.
<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 Otay, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<6>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- Otay) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Otay. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 32.6081, Longitude: -116.9739       In this case, the coordinates for Otay have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 28 Apr 2025