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A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
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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 Riverkern (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 Riverkern. 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 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.

Riverkern is located in Kern 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 Kern County: Inyo, Kings, Los Angeles, Monterey, San Bernardino, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Tulare & Ventura.

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

  • Kern County     (The home county of Riverkern)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Riverkern, with the one closest to Riverkern listed first.
    • Rogersville ‑ Historic
      (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
      • Rogersville is located in Kern County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rogersville
    • Kernville
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Wofford Heights
      (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Alta Sierra
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Alta Sierra is located in Kern County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alta Sierra
    • Shirley Meadows
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
      • Shirley Meadows is located in Kern County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shirley Meadows
    • Isabella ‑ Historic
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
      • Isabella is located in Kern County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Isabella
    • Mountain Mesa
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
    • Keyesville ‑ Historic
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
      • Keyesville is located in Kern County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Keyesville
      • Former names for Keyesville:
      • Hogeye
      • Keysville
    • Squirrel Mountain Valley
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
    • Bella Vista
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Bella Vista is located in Kern County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bella Vista
    • South Lake
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
      • South Lake is located in Kern County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Lake
    • Lake Isabella
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
    • Weldon
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Tulare County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Riverkern, with the one closest to Riverkern listed first.
    • Roads End ‑ Historic
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
      • Roads End is located in Tulare County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roads End
      • Former name for Roads End:
      • Pascoe's Pack Station
      • Roads End has also been known as:
      • Roads End Resort
    • Panorama Heights
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
      • Panorama Heights is located in Tulare County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Panorama Heights
    • Poso Park
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
      • Poso Park is located in Tulare County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Poso Park
    • Sugarloaf Village
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
      • Sugarloaf Village is located in Tulare County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sugarloaf Village
    • South Lake
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
      • South Lake is located in Tulare County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Lake
    • Pine Flat
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Pine Flat is located in Tulare County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine Flat
    • Posey
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
    • California Hot Springs
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Ponderosa
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
      • Ponderosa is located in Tulare County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ponderosa
    • White River ‑ Historic
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
      • White River is located in Tulare County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for White River
    • Soda Springs
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
      • Soda Springs is located in Tulare County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Soda Springs
    • Camp Nelson
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
    • Cedar Slope
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
      • Cedar Slope is located in Tulare County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Slope

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

Cemeteries Near Riverkern ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Riverkern.

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

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

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

  • Kern River Valley Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kern River Valley Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Kern River Valley Cemetery is located between<2> the communities of Wofford Heights and Kernville.  The cemetery lies less than 2 miles<3> to the northeast of Wofford Heights.
    • The Kern River Valley Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Old Kernville Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #8092 <4>
  • Keyesville Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
  • Pauls Place Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Palmer Family Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
  • Onyx Indian Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Onyx Indian Cemetery
    • 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 Find-A-Grave: FG ID #8065 <4>
  • Cottage Grove Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
  • Oak Grove Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
  • Old Havilah Cemetery
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Old Havilah Cemetery
    • 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 Find-A-Grave: FG ID #1982323 <4>
  • Galley Mtn. Cemetery
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
  • Blue Mtn. Cemetery
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blue Mtn. Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Blue Mtn. Cemetery is located outside and to the northeast of Woody.
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #7859 <4>
  • Weringer Cemetery
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
  • Tailholt Boot Hill Cemetery
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
  • 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.<5>

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

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

  • Kernville
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
  • Weldon
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Onyx
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
  • Havilah
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
    • Havilah is located in Kern County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Havilah
  • Woody
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
  • White River ‑ Historic
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
    • White River is located in Tulare County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for White River

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

Newspapers Published in Riverkern ...

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 10 newspapers that have been published in the area around Riverkern.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Riverkern, there are papers which were published within 19 miles [30.6 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Riverkern.

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 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 Riverkern:

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