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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 Russ (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 Russ. 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 southwest 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 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.

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

  • Los Angeles County     (The home county of Russ)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Russ, with the one closest to Russ listed first.
    • Agua Dulce
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Acton
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Paris
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Paris
      • Paris is located in Los Angeles County
    • Mint Canyon
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Canyon Country
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Honby
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Honby
      • Honby is located in Los Angeles County
    • Vincent
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vincent
      • Vincent is located in Los Angeles County
    • Lake View Terrace
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
    • Sunland
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sunland have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunland
      • Sunland is located in Los Angeles County
    • Sylmar
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sylmar have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sylmar
      • Sylmar is located in Los Angeles County
    • Leona Valley
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
    • Pacoima
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pacoima
      • Pacoima is located in Los Angeles County
    • Newhall
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
  • Kern County
  • Ventura County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Russ, with the one closest to Russ listed first.
    • Simi Valley
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Piru
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
    • Buckhorn
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Buckhorn
      • Buckhorn is located in Ventura County

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

Cemeteries Near Russ ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Russ.

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

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

  • Acton Community Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Acton Community Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Acton Community Cemetery is located outside and to the north of Acton.
  • Glen Haven Memorial Park
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Glen Haven Memorial Park
    • 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.
  • Sholom Memorial Park
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Sholom Memorial Park
    • 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.
  • Pioneer Memorial Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Pioneer Memorial Cemetery
    • 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.
  • Eternal Valley Memorial Park
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Verdugo Hills Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Verdugo Hills Cemetery
    • 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.
  • Eden Memorial Park
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
  • San Fernando Mission Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the San Fernando Mission Cemetery
    • 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 Find-A-Grave: FG ID #109027 <3>
  • Desert Lawn Memorial Park
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
  • Palmdale Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Palmdale Cemetery
    • 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.
  • Good Shepherd Catholic Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
  • Valhalla Memorial Park
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Valhalla Memorial Park
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Valhalla Memorial Park have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (32 more) ...
    • Grand View Memorial Park
      (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Grand View Memorial Park
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Grand View Memorial Park have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Mt. Sinai Memorial Park, Hollywood Hills
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
    • Mountain View 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>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that in 1895, Russ had railroad service and no post office.

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

  • Lang
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • 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
  • Ravenna
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • 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
  • Acton
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
  • Honby
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Honby
    • Honby is located in Los Angeles County
  • Sunland
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sunland have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunland
    • Sunland is located in Los Angeles County
  • Vincent
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vincent
    • Vincent is located in Los Angeles County
  • Newhall
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
  • Pacoima
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pacoima
    • Pacoima is located in Los Angeles County
  • San Fernando
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
  • Alpine ‑ Historic
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
    • 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
  • Saugus
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
  • Harold
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Harold. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<5>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harold
    • Harold is located in Los Angeles County
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...
    • Palmdale
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
      • 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>
    • La Crescenta
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
    • Verdugo City
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)

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

Newspapers Published in Russ ...

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 61 newspapers that have been published in the area around Russ.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Russ, there are papers which were published within 22 miles [35.4 km]<6>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Russ.

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 Russ:

Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Russ. 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>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 Russ, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<5>An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace.
<6>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- Russ) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Russ. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 34.4397, Longitude: -118.3148       In this case, the coordinates for Russ have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 28 Apr 2025