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Our Genealogy Helper

Introduction ...

So far, we found very little information about Petersburg. The little that we've found leads us believe that the community is historic.<1>

We've added Petersburg to our Gazetteer with the hope that we can develop more information. If you can help us with Petersburg, please Contact Us.

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 Petersburg (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 Petersburg. 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 Petersburg ...

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.

Petersburg has also been known as: Greenhorn.

Another variation: Petersburgh.

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 and hospitals 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.

Although our information shows that the community of Petersburg is historic, it would have been located within present day Kern 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 Kern County: Inyo, Kings, Los Angeles, Monterey, San Bernardino, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Tulare & Ventura.

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

  • Kern County     (The home county of Petersburg)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Petersburg, with the one closest to Petersburg listed first.
    • Miracle Hot Springs
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Miracle Hot Springs
      • Miracle Hot Springs is located in Kern County
      • Former name for Miracle Hot Springs:
      • Hobo Hot Springs
      • Miracle Hot Springs has also been known as:
      • Air Compress Springs
      • Clear Creek Hot Springs
      • Compressor Hot Springs
    • Keyesville ‑ Historic
      (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Keyesville
      • Keyesville is located in Kern County
      • Former names for Keyesville:
      • Hogeye
      • Keysville
    • Bodfish
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Silver City ‑ Historic
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Silver City
      • Silver City is located in Kern County
    • Lake Isabella
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Havilah
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Havilah
      • Havilah is located in Kern County
    • Shirley Meadows
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shirley Meadows
      • Shirley Meadows is located in Kern County
    • Isabella ‑ Historic
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Isabella have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Isabella
      • Isabella is located in Kern County
    • Alta Sierra
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alta Sierra
      • Alta Sierra is located in Kern County
    • Glennville
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Mountain Mesa
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
    • Squirrel Mountain Valley
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
    • Wofford Heights
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Tulare County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Petersburg, with the one closest to Petersburg listed first.
    • South Lake
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for South Lake have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Lake
      • South Lake is located in Tulare County
    • Panorama Heights
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Panorama Heights
      • Panorama Heights is located in Tulare County
    • Posey
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
    • Poso Park
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Poso Park
      • Poso Park is located in Tulare County
    • Sugarloaf Village
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sugarloaf Village have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sugarloaf Village
      • Sugarloaf Village is located in Tulare County
    • California Hot Springs
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
    • Pine Flat
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine Flat
      • Pine Flat is located in Tulare County
    • White River ‑ Historic
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for White River
      • White River is located in Tulare County
    • Roads End ‑ Historic
      (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roads End
      • Roads End is located in Tulare County
      • Former name for Roads End:
      • Pascoe's Pack Station
      • Roads End has also been known as:
      • Roads End Resort

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

Newspapers Published in Petersburg ...

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 78 newspapers that have been published in the area around Petersburg.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Petersburg, there are papers which were published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Petersburg.

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 websites either 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 Petersburg:

Cemeteries Near Petersburg ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Petersburg.

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

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

  • Keyesville Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
  • Palmer Family Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
  • Old Havilah Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Old Havilah Cemetery is located in the vicinity of Havilah
    • The Old Havilah Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Havilah Cemetery
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Old Havilah Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #1982323 <5>
  • Oak Grove Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Kern River Valley Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Kern River Valley Cemetery is located between<6> the communities of Wofford Heights and Kernville.  The cemetery lies less than 2 miles<4> to the northeast of Wofford Heights.
    • The Kern River Valley Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Old Kernville Cemetery
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Kern River Valley Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #8092 <5>
  • Williams Gravesite
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
  • Blue Mtn. Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Weringer Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Rankin Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
  • Pauls Place Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
  • Engle Family Cemetery
    (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
  • White River Cemetery
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
  • Continue List   (12 more) ...
    • Tailholt Boot Hill Cemetery
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for the Tailholt Boot Hill Cemetery. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<7>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Tailholt Boot Hill Cemetery
      • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2312993 <5>
    • Onyx Indian Cemetery
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
      • To give a relative sense of its location, the Onyx Indian Cemetery is located outside and to the southwest of Onyx.
      • The Onyx Indian Cemetery has also been known as:
      • Indian Cemetery
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Onyx Indian Cemetery
      • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #8065 <5>
    • Hillcrest Memorial Park
      (22 miles [35.4 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.

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

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

  • Havilah
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Havilah
    • Havilah is located in Kern County
  • Kernville
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
  • Woody
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Weldon
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
  • White River ‑ Historic
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for White River
    • White River is located in Tulare County
  • Caliente
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
  • Bealville
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bealville have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bealville
    • Bealville is located in Kern County
  • Onyx
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
  • Rowen
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rowen have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rowen
    • Rowen is located in Kern County
  • Keene
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
  • Girard ‑ Historic
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Girard. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<7>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Girard
    • Girard is located in Kern County
  • Bakersfield
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)

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

The official website for Kern County: www.co.kern.ca.us/

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

Footnotes ...

<1>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 Petersburg, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<3>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.
<4>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 from Point A (ie- Petersburg) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Petersburg. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 35.6028, Longitude: -118.6040       In this case, the coordinates for Petersburg have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>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.
<6>To help visualize the location of the cemetery, we've drawn a straight line between the communities of Wofford Heights and Kernville. The cemetery can be found near that line and roughly halfway between the two communities. Remember that this is just an approximate location.
<7>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.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024