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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 Ralph (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 Ralph. 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 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 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.

Ralph is located in Tuolumne 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 Tuolumne County: Alpine, Calaveras, Madera, Mariposa, Merced, Mono & Stanislaus.

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

  • Tuolumne County     (The home county of Ralph)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Ralph, with the one closest to Ralph listed first.
    • Tuolumne City
      (Less than 2 miles to the east)
      • Tuolumne City is located in Tuolumne County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tuolumne City
    • Tuolumne
      (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Soulsbyville
      (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Tuolumne Rancheria
      (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
      • Tuolumne Rancheria is located in Tuolumne County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tuolumne Rancheria
    • Mono Vista
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
      • Mono Vista is located in Tuolumne County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mono Vista
    • Peaceful Valley
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Peaceful Valley is located in Tuolumne County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Peaceful Valley
    • Mono Village
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
      • Mono Village is located in Tuolumne County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mono Village
    • Standard
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Cedar Rock Lodge
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
      • Cedar Rock Lodge is located in Tuolumne County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Rock Lodge
    • East Sonora
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
      • East Sonora is located in Tuolumne County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Sonora
    • Phoenix Lake - Cedar Ridge
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Greenley Oaks
      (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
      • Greenley Oaks is located in Tuolumne County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenley Oaks
  • Calaveras County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Ralph, with the one closest to Ralph listed first.
    • Melones ‑ Historic
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
      • Melones is located in Calaveras County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Melones
    • Vallecito
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Douglas Flat
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Forest Meadows
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Forest Meadows is located in Calaveras County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Forest Meadows
    • Murphys
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Hathaway Pines
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
    • Angels Camp
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Angels City
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Angels City is located in Calaveras County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Angels City
    • Angels
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Angels is located in Calaveras County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Angels
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,963 people
    • Cedar Vista
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Cedar Vista is located in Calaveras County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Vista
    • Avery
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
    • Altaville
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
  • Mariposa County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Ralph, with the one closest to Ralph listed first.
    • Coulterville
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
    • Dogtown
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
      • Dogtown is located in Mariposa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dogtown
    • Bagby ‑ Historic
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
      • Bagby is located in Mariposa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bagby
    • Bear Valley
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
      • Bear Valley is located in Mariposa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bear Valley
  • Merced County
    • Merced Falls
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
      • Merced Falls is located in Merced County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Merced Falls
  • Stanislaus County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Ralph, with the one closest to Ralph listed first.
    • La Grange
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
    • Knights Ferry
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)

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

Cemeteries Near Ralph ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Ralph.

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

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

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

  • Carter's Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carter's Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Carter's Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located outside and to the north of Tuolumne.
    • The Carter's Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Tuolumne City Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #1103592 <2>
  • Tuolumne Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
  • Cherokee Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cherokee Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Cherokee Cemetery is located less than 2 miles<3> to the northwest of Tuolumne.
    • The Cherokee Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Arastraville Cemetery
    • Cherokee Memorial Park
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2216200 <2>
  • Catholic Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
  • Mountain Shadow Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
  • Masonic Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
  • Jewish Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
  • Sonora Hebrew Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sonora Hebrew Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Sonora Hebrew Cemetery is located in Sonora.
    • The Sonora Hebrew Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Pioneer Jewish Cemetery
  • Sonora City Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
  • IOOF Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
  • Shaws Flat Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
  • Stent Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stent Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Stent Cemetery is located in the vicinity of Stent
    • The Stent Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Poverty Hill Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2229117 <2>
  • Continue List   (24 more) ...
    • Public Cemetery
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Catholic Cemetery
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Jamestown Cemetery
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)

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

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

  • Tuolumne
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
  • Soulsbyville
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
  • Sonora
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
  • Columbia
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
  • Jamestown
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
  • Big Oak Flat
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
  • Groveland
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
  • Chinese Camp
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
  • Tuttletown
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Tuttletown is located in Tuolumne County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tuttletown
  • Douglas Flat
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Murphys
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
  • Angels Camp
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Continue List   (13 more) ...
    • Avery
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
    • Coulterville
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
    • Sheep Ranch
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)

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

Newspapers Published in Ralph ...

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 46 newspapers that have been published in the area around Ralph.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Ralph, there are papers which were published within 17 miles [27.4 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Ralph.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we first turn to 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 Ralph:

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 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.
<3>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Ralph) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Ralph, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.