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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 Rancho Vista (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 Vista. 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 northwest corner of their home county. During their lives, most hospitals and doctors were in the next county to the west. 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 west 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.

Rancho Vista is located in Los Angeles 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 Los Angeles County: Kern, Orange, San Bernardino & Ventura.

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

  • Los Angeles County     (The home county of Rancho Vista)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Rancho Vista, with the one closest to Rancho Vista listed first.
    • Quartz Hill
      (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Leona Valley
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Desert View Highlands
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Desert View Highlands
      • Desert View Highlands is located in Los Angeles County
    • Lancaster
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Del Sur
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Del Sur
      • Del Sur is located in Los Angeles County
    • Palmdale
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Palmdale
      • Palmdale is located in Los Angeles County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 150,498 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Palmdale <1>
    • Harold
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Harold have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harold
      • Harold is located in Los Angeles County
    • Antelope Acres
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Antelope Acres
      • Antelope Acres is located in Los Angeles County
    • Acton
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
    • Paris
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Paris
      • Paris is located in Los Angeles County
    • Vincent
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vincent
      • Vincent is located in Los Angeles County
    • Agua Dulce
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Green Valley
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Valley
      • Green Valley is located in Los Angeles County
  • Kern County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Rancho Vista, with the one closest to Rancho Vista listed first.
    • Rosamond
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
    • Actis Gardens ‑ Historic
      (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Actis Gardens
      • Actis Gardens is located in Kern County
    • Actis
      (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Actis
      • Actis is located in Kern County
      • Former names for Actis:
      • Gloster
      • Highberg
      • Rummington
    • Gold Town ‑ Historic
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Gold Town have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gold Town
      • Gold Town is located in Kern County
    • Reefer City ‑ Historic
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Reefer City have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Reefer City
      • Reefer City is located in Kern County
    • Edwards
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Mojave
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)

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

Newspapers Published in Rancho Vista ...

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 74 newspapers that have been published in the area around Rancho Vista.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Rancho Vista, there are papers which were published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Rancho Vista.

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 Rancho Vista:

Cemeteries Near Rancho Vista ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Rancho Vista.

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

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

  • Good Shepherd Catholic Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
  • Joshua Memorial Park
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Lancaster Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Desert Lawn Memorial Park
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
  • Palmdale Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Palmdale Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Palmdale Cemetery
  • Acton Community Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Acton Community Cemetery is located outside and to the north of Acton.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Acton Community Cemetery
  • Islamic Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Glen Haven Memorial Park
    (23 miles [37 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Glen Haven Memorial Park have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Glen Haven Memorial Park
  • Sholom Memorial Park
    (23 miles [37 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Sholom Memorial Park have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Sholom Memorial Park
  • Eternal Valley Memorial Park
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
  • Pioneer Memorial Cemetery
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Pioneer Memorial Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Pioneer Memorial Cemetery
  • Verdugo Hills Cemetery
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Verdugo Hills Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Verdugo Hills Cemetery
  • Continue List   (7 more) ...
    • Eden Memorial Park
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
    • San Fernando Mission Cemetery
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
      • To give a relative sense of its location, the San Fernando Mission Cemetery is a very large cemetery that is located in Mission Hills.
      • The San Fernando Mission Cemetery has also been known as:
      • San Fernando Mission Catholic Cemetery
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the San Fernando Mission Cemetery
      • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #109027 <4>

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>

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

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

  • Palmdale
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Palmdale
    • Palmdale is located in Los Angeles County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 150,498 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Palmdale <1>
  • Lancaster
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Del Sur
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Del Sur
    • Del Sur is located in Los Angeles County
  • Alpine ‑ Historic
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Alpine have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alpine
    • Alpine is located in Los Angeles County
  • Harold
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Harold have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harold
    • Harold is located in Los Angeles County
  • Acton
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
  • Vincent
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vincent
    • Vincent is located in Los Angeles County
  • Ravenna
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ravenna have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ravenna
    • Ravenna is located in Los Angeles County
  • Russ
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Russ have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Russ
    • Russ is located in Los Angeles County
  • Fairmont
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Fairmont have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fairmont
    • Fairmont is located in Los Angeles County
  • Lang
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lang have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lang
    • Lang is located in Los Angeles County
  • Rosamond
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
  • Continue List   (13 more) ...
    • Honby
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Honby
      • Honby is located in Los Angeles County
    • Saugus
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
    • Neenach
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Neenach
      • Neenach is located in Los Angeles County

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

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

The official website for Los Angeles County: www.lacounty.info/

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>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a '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- Rancho Vista) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Rancho Vista. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 34.6211, Longitude: -118.2190       In this case, the coordinates for Rancho Vista have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<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 Rancho Vista, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024