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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 Shuman (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 Shuman. 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 northeast corner of their home county. During their lives, most hospitals were in the next county to the east. 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 east 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.

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

  • Santa Barbara County     (The home county of Shuman)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Shuman, with the one closest to Shuman listed first.
    • Casmalia
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Betteravia
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
      • Betteravia is located in Santa Barbara County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Betteravia
    • Orcutt
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Santa Maria
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Guadalupe
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Lompoc Landing ‑ Historic
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Lompoc Landing is located in Santa Barbara County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lompoc Landing
    • Garey
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
      • Garey is located in Santa Barbara County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Garey
    • Vandenberg Village
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
      • Vandenberg Village is located in Santa Barbara County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vandenberg Village
    • Mission Hills
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
      • Mission Hills is located in Santa Barbara County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mission Hills
    • Lompoc Village
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
      • Lompoc Village is located in Santa Barbara County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lompoc Village
    • Lompoc
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
      • Lompoc is located in Santa Barbara County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lompoc
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 42,253 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Lompoc <1>
    • Los Alamos
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Sisquoc
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
      • Sisquoc is located in Santa Barbara County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sisquoc
  • San Luis Obispo County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Shuman, with the one closest to Shuman listed first.
    • Nipomo
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
    • Callender
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
    • Oceano
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
    • Arroyo Grande
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
    • Fairoaks
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
      • Fairoaks is located in San Luis Obispo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fairoaks
    • Grover Beach
      (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
    • Pismo Beach
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
    • Reeds ‑ Historic
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
      • Reeds is located in San Luis Obispo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Reeds
    • Shell Beach
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Musick ‑ Historic
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
      • Musick is located in San Luis Obispo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Musick
    • Avila Beach
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
    • San Miguelito
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
      • San Miguelito is located in San Luis Obispo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for San Miguelito
    • Port San Luis
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Port San Luis is located in San Luis Obispo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Port San Luis

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

Cemeteries Near Shuman ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Shuman.

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

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

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

  • Guadalupe Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Santa Maria Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Mission La Purisima Concepcion Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
  • Ryon Memorial Park
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ryon Memorial Park
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Ryon Memorial Park is located in Lompoc.
  • Lompoc Evergreen Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
  • Los Alamos Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Foxen Canyon Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
  • Ontiveros Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
  • Halcyon Cemetery
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
  • Continue List   (6 more) ...
    • St. Marks in the Valley Episcopal Church Memorial Garden
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Old Mission Cemetery
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
    • San Luis Cemetery
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for San Luis Cemetery
      • To give a relative sense of its location, the San Luis Cemetery is located outside and to the southwest of San Luis Obispo.
    • Sutcliffe Cemetery
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sutcliffe Cemetery
      • To give a relative sense of its location, the Sutcliffe Cemetery is located outside and to the southwest of San Luis Obispo.
    • Solvang Cemetery
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Oak Hill Cemetery
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oak Hill Cemetery
      • To give a relative sense of its location, the Oak Hill Cemetery is located in Ballard.
      • The Oak Hill Cemetery has also been known as:
      • Oak Hill Memorial Cemetery
      • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #8210 <3>

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 Shuman in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Shuman.

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

  • Guadalupe
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Santa Maria
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Garey
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
    • Garey is located in Santa Barbara County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Garey
  • Nipomo
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
  • Summit ‑ Historic
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
    • Summit is located in San Luis Obispo County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Summit
  • Los Berros
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
    • Los Berros is located in San Luis Obispo County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Los Berros
  • Lompoc
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
    • Lompoc is located in Santa Barbara County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lompoc
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 42,253 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Lompoc <1>
  • Los Alamos
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Arroyo Grande
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
  • Huasna
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
    • Huasna is located in San Luis Obispo County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Huasna
  • Sisquoc
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
    • Sisquoc is located in Santa Barbara County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sisquoc
  • Reeds ‑ Historic
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
    • Reeds is located in San Luis Obispo County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Reeds
  • Continue List   (8 more) ...
    • Verde
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
      • Verde is located in San Luis Obispo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Verde
    • Edna
      (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
      • Edna is located in San Luis Obispo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Edna
    • Miles
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
      • Miles is located in San Luis Obispo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Miles

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

Newspapers Published in Shuman ...

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 42 newspapers that have been published in the area around Shuman.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Shuman, there are papers which were published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<2>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Shuman.

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 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 Shuman:

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>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 from Point A (ie- Shuman) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Shuman, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.