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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 Signal Port (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 Signal Port. 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.

Name Variations for Signal Port ...

When searching records, keep in mind that names and their spelling can change over time. Our sources include documents like maps, railroad schedules, Travel, Express and Shipping Guides. Many of these documents date from the 1800's and it's common to find spelling differences.

Although we can't give a definitive list, hopefully the following will give you a feel for the variations that might have occurred.

Signal Port has also been known as: Hardscratch.

Another variation: Signal.

  • A typical abbreviation for Signal Port: Signal Prt.

If you have information about these names (such as the reason for the change, date of change, the origin of the name), please Contact Us.

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 and 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.

Signal Port is located in Mendocino 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 Mendocino County: Glenn, Humboldt, Lake, Sonoma, Tehama & Trinity.

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

  • Mendocino County     (The home county of Signal Port)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Signal Port, with the one closest to Signal Port listed first.
    • Anchor Bay
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Fish Rock
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fish Rock
      • Fish Rock is located in Mendocino County
    • Point Arena
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Gualala
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Stronetta
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stronetta
      • Stronetta is located in Mendocino County
    • Manchester
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Boonville
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
    • Philo
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
    • Elk
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
    • Hermitage ‑ Historic
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Hermitage. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hermitage
      • Hermitage is located in Mendocino County
    • Yorkville
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
    • Navarro
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
  • Sonoma County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Signal Port, with the one closest to Signal Port listed first.
    • Sea Ranch
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Annapolis
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Stewarts Point
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Fort Ross
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Fort Ross have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fort Ross
      • Fort Ross is located in Sonoma County

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

Newspapers Published in Signal Port ...

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 12 newspapers that have been published in the area around Signal Port.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Signal Port, 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 Signal Port.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we begin with 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 Signal Port:

Cemeteries Near Signal Port ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Signal Port.

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

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

  • Fish Rock Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
  • Bourn Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for the Bourn Cemetery. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Bourn Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #7860 <5>
  • Manchester / Point Area Pomo Indian Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
  • Annapolis Church Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
  • Stewarts Point Cemetery
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
  • Ornbaun Springs Cemetery
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Ornbaun Springs Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Ornbaun Springs Cemetery
  • Evergreen Cemetery
    (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Evergreen Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Evergreen Cemetery
  • Shields Cemetery
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Shields Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Shields Cemetery
  • Sugarloaf Cemetery
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Sugarloaf Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Sugarloaf Cemetery
  • Continue List   (6 more) ...
    • Cooper Cemetery
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Cooper Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Cooper Cemetery
    • Ruoff - Thomas Cemetery
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Ruoff - Thomas Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Ruoff - Thomas Cemetery
    • Benitz Cemetery
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Benitz Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Benitz Cemetery
    • Seaview Cemetery
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Seaview Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Seaview Cemetery
    • Hopland Cemetery
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Hopland Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Hopland Cemetery

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>

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

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

  • Fish Rock
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fish Rock
    • Fish Rock is located in Mendocino County
  • Gualala
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Point Arena
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Manchester
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
  • Boonville
    (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
  • Philo
    (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
  • Elk
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
  • Hermitage ‑ Historic
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Hermitage. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hermitage
    • Hermitage is located in Mendocino County
  • Yorkville
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
  • Navarro
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
  • Whitesboro
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Whitesboro have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Whitesboro
    • Whitesboro is located in Mendocino County
  • Albion
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
  • Continue List   (5 more) ...
    • Seaview
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Seaview have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Seaview
      • Seaview is located in Sonoma County
    • Hopland
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
    • Fort Ross
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Fort Ross have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fort Ross
      • Fort Ross is located in Sonoma County

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

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

The official website for Mendocino County: www.co.mendocino.ca.us/

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>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.
<3>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.
<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- Signal Port) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Signal Port. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.8308, Longitude: -123.6181    
<5>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.
<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 Signal Port, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024