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Our Genealogy Helper

Introduction ...

Although we found mention of Soda Springs during our research, we have little information about it.<1> Given the context of how Soda Springs was mentioned, we believe that it was a community rather than a locale or some type of landmark. We have done a cursory search and if it was a community, we haven't been able to find any evidence that it still exists..

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 Soda Springs (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 Soda Springs. 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 Soda Springs ...

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.

For example, a typical abbreviation for Soda Springs: Soda Spgs. (or less commonly used: Soda Spngs. or Soda Sprngs.)

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.

Soda Springs is located in Tulare 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 Tulare County: Fresno, Inyo, Kern & Kings.

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

  • Tulare County     (The home county of Soda Springs)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Soda Springs, with the one closest to Soda Springs listed first.
    • Springville
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Camp Nelson
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
    • California Hot Springs
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Milo
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Milo
      • Milo is located in Tulare County
    • Cedar Slope
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Slope
      • Cedar Slope is located in Tulare County
    • Pine Flat
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine Flat
      • Pine Flat is located in Tulare County
    • East Porterville
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Porterville
      • East Porterville is located in Tulare County
    • Ponderosa
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ponderosa
      • Ponderosa is located in Tulare County
    • Porterville
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
    • Posey
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
    • Roads End ‑ Historic
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roads End
      • Roads End is located in Tulare County
      • Former name for Roads End:
      • Pascoe's Pack Station
      • Roads End has also been known as:
      • Roads End Resort
    • Sugarloaf Village
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sugarloaf Village have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sugarloaf Village
      • Sugarloaf Village is located in Tulare County
  • Kern County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Soda Springs, with the one closest to Soda Springs listed first.
    • Glennville
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
    • Woody
      (23 miles [37 km] to the south)
    • Alta Sierra
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alta Sierra
      • Alta Sierra is located in Kern County
    • Rogersville ‑ Historic
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rogersville
      • Rogersville is located in Kern County
    • Shirley Meadows
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shirley Meadows
      • Shirley Meadows is located in Kern County
    • Kernville
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Wofford Heights
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)

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

Newspapers Published in Soda Springs ...

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 40 newspapers that have been published in the area around Soda Springs.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Soda Springs, there are papers which were published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Soda Springs.

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 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 Soda Springs:

Cemeteries Near Soda Springs ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Soda Springs.

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

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

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.<7>

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

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

  • Globe
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Globe have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Globe
    • Globe is located in Tulare County
  • Milo
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Milo
    • Milo is located in Tulare County
  • Plano
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Plano have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plano
    • Plano is located in Tulare County
  • Porterville
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
  • Terra Bella
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
  • White River ‑ Historic
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for White River
    • White River is located in Tulare County
  • Lindsay
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
  • Poplar
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Poplar
    • Poplar is located in Tulare County
    • Poplar has also been known as:
    • Poplar - Cotton Center
  • Woody
    (23 miles [37 km] to the south)
  • Woodville
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodville
    • Woodville is located in Tulare County
  • Yokohl
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Yokohl have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Yokohl
    • Yokohl is located in Tulare County
  • Kernville
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
  • Exeter
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Three Rivers
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)

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

The official website for Tulare County: www.co.tulare.ca.us/

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

Footnotes ...

<1>If we encounter the name of what might be a community, our methodology is to add that name to our Gazetteer. For example, we might find a sentence like "He went north past Soda Springs and then turned west". While Soda Springs could be some kind of landmark, we think that it's more likely to be a community. We've added Soda Springs as a placeholder with the hope that we'll be able to add more information in the future.

Just as a reminder: Our definition of a community is rather broad and includes those places (or areas) where several families lived and had a name which identified that place. For example, you might hear somebody say that they are going over to Bird Creek to see Pete ... Bird Creek is just a gas station and a couple of homes at the crossroads. While it might not be on the map, everybody in the area knows it by that name.

Places of interest include buildings at a crossroad, several families clustered in a hollow or maybe the location of a way station. It also includes places like mines, lumber camps, ferry crossings, etc. The community might still exist, is now gone or only existed for just a short period of time.

Also keep in mind that Soda Springs could have been on the original document by mistake, misspelled, the original/alternate name of a community that we've listed elsewhere or was placed in the wrong county. Sometimes a post office or train station would have a different name than the community where it's located, so two names might be referring to the same community - we're working to straighten it all out.

Just in case there has been confusion between counties, we found that there are 4 California communities also named Soda Springs. While this community is located in Tulare County, the others are located in the following counties: Mendocino, Nevada, Placer and San Diego. For more information, see our Tidbits & Trivia Page for Soda Springs.
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Soda Springs) to Point B.
<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>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.
<7>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 Soda Springs, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024