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 River Road Estates (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 River Road Estates. 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 River Road Estates ...
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 occur.
For example, a typical abbreviation for River Road Estates: River Rd. Ests.
You might be interested in other communities that are also named River Road Estates. More information can be found on our Tidbits & Trivia Page for River Road Estates.
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 southwest corner of their home county. During their lives, most hospitals were in the next county to the west. 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 west 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.
River Road Estates is located in Madera 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 Madera County: Fresno, Mariposa, Merced & Mono.
Below are the counties that are near River Road Estates. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to River Road Estates:
- Madera County (The home county of River Road Estates)
- The following are listed by their distance from River Road Estates, with the one closest to River Road Estates listed first.
- Madera
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
- Parksdale
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
- Parksdale is located in Madera County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Parksdale
- Madera Acres
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
- Madera Acres is located in Madera County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Madera Acres
- Bonadelle Ranchos - Madera Ranchos
(5 miles [8 km] to the east)
- Parkwood
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
- Parkwood is located in Madera County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Parkwood
- Berenda
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
- Berenda is located in Madera County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Berenda
- La Vina
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
- La Vina is located in Madera County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for La Vina
- Knowles Junction
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
- Knowles Junction is located in Madera County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Knowles Junction
- Raymond
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
- Raymond is located in Madera County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Raymond
- Knowles ‑ Historic
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
- Knowles is located in Madera County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Knowles
- Millerton ‑ Historic
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
- Millerton is located in Madera County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Millerton
- Chowchilla
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
- Fresno County
- The following are listed by their distance from River Road Estates, with the one closest to River Road Estates listed first.
- Herndon
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
- Herndon is located in Fresno County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Herndon
- Barstow
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
- Barstow is located in Fresno County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Barstow
- Biola
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
- Raco
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
- Raco is located in Fresno County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Raco
- Highway City
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
- Highway City is located in Fresno County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Highway City
- Friant
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
- Gordon
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
- Gordon is located in Fresno County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gordon
- Muscatel
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
- Muscatel is located in Fresno County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Muscatel
- Pinedale
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
- Pratton
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
- Pratton is located in Fresno County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pratton
- Floyd
(18 miles [29 km] to the south)
- Floyd is located in Fresno County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Floyd
- Rolinda
(18 miles [29 km] to the south)
- Rolinda is located in Fresno County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rolinda
- Mariposa County
- Catheys Valley
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
- Merced County
- The following are listed by their distance from River Road Estates, with the one closest to River Road Estates listed first.
- Le Grand
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
- Plainsburg
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
- Plainsburg is located in Merced County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plainsburg
- Athlone
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
- Athlone is located in Merced County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Athlone
- Planada
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
- Tuttle
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
- Tuttle is located in Merced County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tuttle
- El Nido
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to River Road Estates, see our County-by-County Page for River Road Estates.
Cemeteries Near River Road Estates ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of River Road Estates.
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 River Road Estates - one of the links might be able to help.
If not found below, our Cemetery List for River Road Estates covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from River Road Estates, with the one closest to River Road Estates listed first.
- Arbor Vitae Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
- Borden's Chinese Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
- New Hope Cemetery
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
- Bethany Cemetery
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
- Raymond Cemetery
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
- Chowchilla Cemetery
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chowchilla Cemetery
- To give a relative sense of its location, the Chowchilla Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located 2 miles [3.2 km]<3> to the southwest of Chowchilla.
- The Chowchilla Cemetery has also been known as:
- Chowchilla District Cemetery
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #7906 <2>
- St. Peters Cemetery
(18 miles [29 km] to the south)
- Clovis Cemetery
(18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
- Winchell Cove Cemetery
(18 miles [29 km] to the east)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Winchell Cove Cemetery
- To give a relative sense of its location, the Winchell Cove Cemetery is located outside and to the east of Friant.
- Winchell Cove Cemetery
(18 miles [29 km] to the east)
- Fresno Memorial Gardens
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
- Ararat Cemetery
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ararat Cemetery
- The Ararat Cemetery has also been known as:
- Ararat Armenian Cemetery
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #640425 <2>
- Continue List (24 more) ...
- Fresno County Cemetery
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
- Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
- Holy Cross Cemetery
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
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 River Road Estates in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of River Road Estates.
These communities are listed based on their distance from River Road Estates, with the one closest to River Road Estates listed first.
- La Vina
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
- La Vina is located in Madera County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for La Vina
- Herndon
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
- Herndon is located in Fresno County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Herndon
- Muscatel
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
- Muscatel is located in Fresno County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Muscatel
- Raymond
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
- Raymond is located in Madera County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Raymond
- Knowles ‑ Historic
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
- Knowles is located in Madera County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Knowles
- Fresno
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
- Ben Hur
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
- Ben Hur is located in Mariposa County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ben Hur
- Plainsburg
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
- Plainsburg is located in Merced County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plainsburg
- Malaga
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
- Malaga is located in Fresno County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Malaga
- Grub Gulch ‑ Historic
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
- Grub Gulch is located in Madera County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grub Gulch
- Athlone
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
- Athlone is located in Merced County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Athlone
- Easton
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
- Continue List (6 more) ...
- Lone Star
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
- Lone Star is located in Fresno County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lone Star
- Letcher ‑ Historic
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
- Letcher is located in Fresno County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Letcher
- Firebaugh
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around River Road Estates. See our List of 1890's Communities around River Road Estates.
Newspapers Published in River Road Estates ...
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 72 newspapers that have been published in the area around River Road Estates.
Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of River Road Estates, there are papers which were published within 27 miles [43.5 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for River Road Estates.
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 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 River Road Estates:
- Websites specific to California
- Pages specific to Madera County
- Genealogy information for nearby counties
- Fresno County
- Mariposa County
- Merced County
- Cemetery Information and Directories for California
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 '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- River Road Estates) 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 River Road Estates, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |