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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 Rancho San Diego (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 Rancho San Diego. 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 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.

Rancho San Diego 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 Rancho San Diego. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Rancho San Diego:

  • San Diego County     (The home county of Rancho San Diego)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Rancho San Diego, with the one closest to Rancho San Diego listed first.
    • Grossmont
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grossmont
      • Grossmont is located in San Diego County
    • Spring Valley
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • North Jamul
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Jamul
      • North Jamul is located in San Diego County
    • Bostonia
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bostonia have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bostonia
      • Bostonia is located in San Diego County
    • Granite Hills
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Granite Hills have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Granite Hills
      • Granite Hills is located in San Diego County
    • El Cajon
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Jamul Indian Village
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
      • 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
    • Jamul
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • La Presa
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for La Presa
      • La Presa is located in San Diego County
    • Winter Gardens
      (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Winter Gardens have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Winter Gardens
      • Winter Gardens is located in San Diego County
    • Crest
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Crest have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crest
      • Crest is located in San Diego County
    • La Mesa
      (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Lemon Grove
      (5 miles [8 km] to the west)

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

Cemeteries Near Rancho San Diego ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Rancho San Diego.

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 Rancho San Diego covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.

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

  • El Cajon Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
  • St. Francis Xavier Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • 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
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
  • La Vista Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • 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.
  • Glen Abbey Memorial Park
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
  • Mt. Hope Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
  • Greenwood Memorial Park
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
  • Home of Peace Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
  • Greenwood Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • 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.
  • Mt. Olivet Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 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.
  • Dearborn Memorial Park
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
  • El Camino Memorial Park
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
  • Continue List   (8 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 Rancho San Diego in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Rancho San Diego.

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

  • Spring Valley
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
  • La Presa
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for La Presa
    • La Presa is located in San Diego County
  • El Cajon
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
  • Jamul
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
  • Dehesa
    (5 miles [8 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
  • La Mesa
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
  • Sunnyside
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunnyside
    • Sunnyside is located in San Diego County
  • Santee
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Santee
    • Santee is located in San Diego County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 57,770 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Santee <1>
  • Lakeside
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
  • Riverview
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Riverview have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Riverview
    • Riverview is located in San Diego County
  • Bonita
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
  • Otay
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Otay have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Otay
    • Otay is located in San Diego County
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...
    • National City
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Chula Vista
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Dulzura
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)

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

Newspapers Published in Rancho San Diego ...

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 319 newspapers that have been published in the area around Rancho San Diego.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Rancho San Diego, there are papers which were published within 16 miles [25.7 km]<5>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Rancho San Diego.

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 Rancho San Diego:

Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Rancho San Diego. 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>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 Rancho San Diego, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<5>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or 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- Rancho San Diego) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Rancho San Diego. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 32.7473, Longitude: -116.9353       In this case, the coordinates for Rancho San Diego have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 28 Apr 2025