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 Serena (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 Serena. 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 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.
Serena is located in Santa Barbara 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 Santa Barbara County: Kern, San Luis Obispo & Ventura.
Below are the counties that are near Serena. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Serena:
- Santa Barbara County (The home county of Serena)
- The following are listed by their distance from Serena, with the one closest to Serena listed first.
- Toro Canyon
(Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
- Toro Canyon is located in Santa Barbara County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Toro Canyon
- Franciscan Village
(Less than 2 miles to the east)
- Franciscan Village is located in Santa Barbara County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Franciscan Village
- Old Town
(Less than 2 miles to the east)
- Old Town is located in Santa Barbara County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Old Town
- Ortega ‑ Historic
(Less than 2 miles to the west)
- Ortega is located in Santa Barbara County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ortega
- Carpinteria
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
- Summerland
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
- Montecito
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
- Santa Barbara
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
- Mission Canyon
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
- Mission Canyon is located in Santa Barbara County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mission Canyon
- Hope Ranch
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
- Hope Ranch is located in Santa Barbara County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hope Ranch
- Goleta
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
- La Patera
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
- La Patera is located in Santa Barbara County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for La Patera
- Isla Vista
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
- Ventura County
- The following are listed by their distance from Serena, with the one closest to Serena listed first.
- Sea Cliff
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
- Sea Cliff is located in Ventura County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sea Cliff
- Oak View
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
- Meiners Oaks
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
- Meiners Oaks is located in Ventura County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meiners Oaks
- Mira Monte
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
- Ojai
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
- Pierpont Bay
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
- Pierpont Bay is located in Ventura County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pierpont Bay
- Ventura
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
- Ventura is located in Ventura County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ventura
- Population from the 2020 Census: 107,110 people
- Ventura has also been known as:
- San Buenaventura
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Ventura <1>
- Montalvo
(23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
- Montalvo is located in Ventura County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Montalvo
- Cabrillo Village
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
- Cabrillo Village is located in Ventura County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cabrillo Village
- Saticoy
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
- Saticoy is located in Ventura County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saticoy
- Channel Islands Beach
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
- El Rio
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
- El Rio is located in Ventura County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for El Rio
- Oxnard
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Serena, see our County-by-County Page for Serena.
Cemeteries Near Serena ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Serena.
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 Serena - one of the links might be able to help.
If not found below, our Cemetery List for Serena covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Serena, with the one closest to Serena listed first.
- Carpinteria Cemetery
(Less than 2 miles to the east)
- Santa Barbara Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the west)
- Calvary Cemetery
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
- Goleta Cemetery
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
- La Patera Catholic Cemetery
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
- Ojai Cemetery
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
- Nordhoff Cemetery
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
- Memorial Cemetery
(18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
- Ivy Lawn Memorial Park
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
- Santa Clara Cemetery
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
- Santa Paula Cemetery
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
- Hueneme Masonic Cemetery
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hueneme Masonic Cemetery
- To give a relative sense of its location, the Hueneme Masonic Cemetery is located outside and to the east of Port Hueneme.
- The Hueneme Masonic Cemetery has also been known as:
- Masonic Cemetery
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #8145 <2>
- Japanese Cemetery
(28 miles [45.1 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.<3>
The Rand McNally Atlas shows that in 1895, Serena had a post office and no railroad service.
These communities are listed based on their distance from Serena, with the one closest to Serena listed first.
- Ortega ‑ Historic
(Less than 2 miles to the west)
- Ortega is located in Santa Barbara County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ortega
- Carpinteria
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
- Summerland
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
- Santa Barbara
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
- Sea Cliff
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
- Sea Cliff is located in Ventura County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sea Cliff
- Goleta
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
- Matilija
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
- Matilija is located in Ventura County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Matilija
- La Patera
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
- La Patera is located in Santa Barbara County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for La Patera
- Ellwood
(18 miles [29 km] to the west)
- Ellwood is located in Santa Barbara County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ellwood
- Ventura
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
- Ventura is located in Ventura County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ventura
- Population from the 2020 Census: 107,110 people
- Ventura has also been known as:
- San Buenaventura
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Ventura <1>
- Montalvo
(23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
- Montalvo is located in Ventura County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Montalvo
- Naples ‑ Historic
(23 miles [37 km] to the west)
- Naples is located in Santa Barbara County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Naples
- Continue List (4 more) ...
- Saticoy
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
- Saticoy is located in Ventura County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saticoy
- Santa Paula
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
- Springville
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
- Springville is located in Ventura County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Springville
We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Serena. See our List of 1890's Communities around Serena.
Newspapers Published in Serena ...
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 81 newspapers that have been published in the area around Serena.
Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Serena, there are papers which were published within 28 miles [45.1 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Serena.
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 Serena:
- Websites specific to California
- Pages specific to Santa Barbara County
- Genealogy information for nearby counties
- 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> | 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 Serena, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <4> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Serena) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |