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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 Sonora (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 Sonora. 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 southwest 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 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 west 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.

Sonora is located in Tuolumne County and is the County Seat.

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 Tuolumne County: Alpine, Calaveras, Madera, Mariposa, Merced, Mono & Stanislaus.

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

  • Tuolumne County     (The home county of Sonora)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Sonora, with the one closest to Sonora listed first.
    • East Sonora
      (Less than 2 miles to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for East Sonora have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Sonora
      • East Sonora is located in Tuolumne County
    • Greenley Oaks
      (Less than 2 miles to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenley Oaks
      • Greenley Oaks is located in Tuolumne County
    • Martinez
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Martinez have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Martinez
      • Martinez is located in Tuolumne County
    • Squabbletown
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Squabbletown have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Squabbletown
      • Squabbletown is located in Tuolumne County
    • Jamestown
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Mono Village
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mono Village have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mono Village
      • Mono Village is located in Tuolumne County
    • Peaceful Valley
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Peaceful Valley
      • Peaceful Valley is located in Tuolumne County
    • Standard
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Columbia Village
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Columbia Village have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Columbia Village
      • Columbia Village is located in Tuolumne County
    • Columbia
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Rawhide
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rawhide
      • Rawhide is located in Tuolumne County
    • Stent
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stent
      • Stent is located in Tuolumne County
  • Amador County
    • Electra ‑ Historic
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Electra have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Electra
      • Electra is located in Amador County
  • Calaveras County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Sonora, with the one closest to Sonora listed first.
    • Melones ‑ Historic
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Melones have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Melones
      • Melones is located in Calaveras County
    • Vallecito
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Douglas Flat
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Angels Camp
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Murphys
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
    • Altaville
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Angels City
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Angels City came from an uncertain source and they still need to be verified:<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Angels City
      • Angels City is located in Calaveras County
    • Angels
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Angels have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Angels
      • Angels is located in Calaveras County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,963 people
    • Forest Meadows
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Forest Meadows have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Forest Meadows
      • Forest Meadows is located in Calaveras County
    • The Shores of Poker Flat
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Cedar Vista
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Vista
      • Cedar Vista is located in Calaveras County
    • Copper Cove Village
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Copper Cove Village have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Copper Cove Village
      • Copper Cove Village is located in Calaveras County
  • Mariposa County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Sonora, with the one closest to Sonora listed first.
    • Coulterville
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Dogtown
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Dogtown have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dogtown
      • Dogtown is located in Mariposa County
    • Bagby ‑ Historic
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Bagby. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<4>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bagby
      • Bagby is located in Mariposa County
  • Stanislaus County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Sonora, with the one closest to Sonora listed first.
    • Knights Ferry
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
    • La Grange
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
    • East Oakdale
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Oakdale
      • East Oakdale is located in Stanislaus County
    • Adela
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Adela
      • Adela is located in Stanislaus County
    • Oakdale
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oakdale
      • Oakdale is located in Stanislaus County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 23,228 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Oakdale <2>

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Sonora ...

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 48 newspapers that have been published in the area around Sonora.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Sonora. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Sonora and those printed in the larger area surrounding Sonora.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 14 miles [22.5 km]<5> of Sonora.

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 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 Sonora:

Cemeteries Near Sonora ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Sonora.

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

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

  • IOOF Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the IOOF Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the IOOF Cemetery
  • Masonic Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Masonic Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Masonic Cemetery
  • Mountain Shadow Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
  • Catholic Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Catholic Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Catholic Cemetery
  • Jewish Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Jewish Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Jewish Cemetery
  • Sonora Hebrew Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Sonora Hebrew Cemetery is located in Sonora.
    • The Sonora Hebrew Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Pioneer Jewish Cemetery
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Sonora Hebrew Cemetery
  • Sonora City Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Sonora City Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Sonora City Cemetery
  • Shaws Flat Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Shaws Flat Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Shaws Flat Cemetery
  • Jamestown Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Jamestown Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Jamestown Cemetery
  • Catholic Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Catholic Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Catholic Cemetery
  • Public Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Public Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Public Cemetery
  • Stent Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Stent Cemetery is located in the vicinity of Stent
    • The Stent Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Poverty Hill Cemetery
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Stent Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2229117 <6>
  • Continue List   (26 more) ...
    • Cherokee Memorial Park
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Carter's Cemetery
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
      • To give a relative sense of its location, the Carter's Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located outside and to the north of Tuolumne.
      • The Carter's Cemetery has also been known as:
      • Tuolumne City Cemetery
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Carter's Cemetery
      • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #1103592 <6>
    • Tuolumne Cemetery
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Tuolumne Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Tuolumne 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.<7>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Sonora had a population of 1,441 people in 1895 with a post office and no railroad service. In 2020, Sonora had a population of 4,833 people.

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

  • Jamestown
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
  • Columbia
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
  • Tuttletown
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tuttletown
    • Tuttletown is located in Tuolumne County
  • Soulsbyville
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
  • Chinese Camp
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
  • Tuolumne
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
  • Douglas Flat
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Angels Camp
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
  • Murphys
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
  • Big Oak Flat
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Groveland
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Copperopolis
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
  • Continue List   (15 more) ...
    • Avery
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
    • Sheep Ranch
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
    • Knights Ferry
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)

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

The official website for Sonora: www.sonoraca.com/

The official website for Tuolumne County: www.tuolumnecounty.ca.gov

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>If we found a location and have questions about the accuracy of our information, we will simply say that the marker is 'in the vicinity'. We are not confident about the location and the position of our marker is only a rough guide. If we have too many doubts about the location, we will not include it in our database.
<4>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.
<5>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Sonora) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Sonora. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.9830, Longitude: -120.3822    
<6>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.
<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 Sonora, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024