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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 San Benito (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 San Benito. 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 doctors and 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.

San Benito is located in San Benito 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 Benito County: Fresno, Merced, Monterey, Santa Clara & Santa Cruz.

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

  • San Benito County     (The home county of San Benito)
    • The following are listed by their distance from San Benito, with the one closest to San Benito listed first.
    • Pinnacles
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Pinnacles have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pinnacles
      • Pinnacles is located in San Benito County
    • Bitterwater
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bitterwater
      • Bitterwater is located in San Benito County
    • Panoche
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Panoche
      • Panoche is located in San Benito County
    • Paicines
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
    • New Idria ‑ Historic
      (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Idria
      • New Idria is located in San Benito County
      • New Idria has also been known as:
      • Idria
    • Tres Pinos
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
    • Ridgemark
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ridgemark
      • Ridgemark is located in San Benito County
    • Hollister
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Fresno County
    • Mercey Hot Springs
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mercey Hot Springs
      • Mercey Hot Springs is located in Fresno County
      • Former name for Mercey Hot Springs:
      • Mercy Hot Springs
  • Monterey County
    • The following are listed by their distance from San Benito, with the one closest to San Benito listed first.
    • Soledad
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Greenfield
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Gonzales
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
    • King City
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
    • Chualar
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
    • San Lucas
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)

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

Newspapers Published in San Benito ...

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 26 newspapers that have been published in the area around San Benito.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of San Benito, there are papers which were published within 29 miles [46.7 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for San Benito.

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 professional and volunteer 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 San Benito:

Cemeteries Near San Benito ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of San Benito.

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

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

  • Willow Creek Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
  • Bitterwater Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Bitterwater Cemetery is located outside and to the north of Bitterwater.
    • The Bitterwater Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Pine Hill Cemetery
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Bitterwater Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #7858 <4>
  • Cherry Hill Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for the Cherry Hill Cemetery. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<5>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Cherry Hill Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #7899 <4>
  • Soledad Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Soledad Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Soledad Cemetery
  • Greenfield Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Greenfield Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Greenfield Cemetery
  • Paicines Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Gonzales Cemetery
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
  • King City Cemetery
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the King City Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the King City Cemetery
  • Clayton Cemetery
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
  • Williams - Duckworth Cemetery
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
  • Calvary Cemetery
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Calvary Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Calvary Cemetery
  • Calvary Sacred Heart Cemetery
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)

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.<6>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that San Benito had a population of 58 people in 1895 with a post office and no railroad service.

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

  • Bitterwater
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bitterwater
    • Bitterwater is located in San Benito County
  • Llanada
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Llanada have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Llanada
    • Llanada is located in San Benito County
  • Metz
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Metz have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Metz
    • Metz is located in Monterey County
  • Soledad
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
  • Lonoak
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lonoak have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lonoak
    • Lonoak is located in Monterey County
  • Paicines
    (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
  • Gonzales
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
  • King City
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
  • New Idria ‑ Historic
    (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Idria
    • New Idria is located in San Benito County
    • New Idria has also been known as:
    • Idria
  • Continue List   (6 more) ...
    • Tres Pinos
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
    • Chualar
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
    • San Lucas
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
    • Spence
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Spence have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spence
      • Spence is located in Monterey County
    • Hollister
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)

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

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

The official website for San Benito County: www.san-benito.ca.us/

The official website for State of California: https://www.ca.gov/

Footnotes ...

<1>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.
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 drawn from Point A (ie- San Benito) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in San Benito. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 36.5097, Longitude: -121.0819    
<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>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>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 San Benito, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024