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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 Watson (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 Watson. 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 doctors and 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.

Watson is located in Tehama 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 Tehama County: Butte, Glenn, Mendocino, Plumas, Shasta & Trinity.

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

  • Tehama County     (The home county of Watson)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Watson, with the one closest to Watson listed first.
    • Paskenta
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Rancho Tehama Reserve
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
    • Flournoy
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Red Bluff
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
    • Hooker
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Hooker is located in Tehama County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hooker
    • Rawson
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
      • Rawson is located in Tehama County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rawson
    • Proberta
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
    • Corning
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
    • Gerber
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
    • Bend
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Bend is located in Tehama County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bend
    • Tehama
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
  • Glenn County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Watson, with the one closest to Watson listed first.
    • Newville
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
      • Newville is located in Glenn County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Newville
    • Copper City
      (23 miles [37 km] to the south)
      • Copper City is located in Glenn County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Copper City
    • Lone Star ‑ Historic
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
      • Lone Star is located in Glenn County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lone Star
  • Shasta County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Watson, with the one closest to Watson listed first.
    • Aiken Gulch ‑ Historic
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
      • Aiken Gulch is located in Shasta County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Aiken Gulch
      • Former names for Aiken Gulch:
      • Camp Creek
      • Camp Gulch
    • Beegum
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Beegum is located in Shasta County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beegum
    • Platina
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
    • Gas Point ‑ Historic
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
      • Gas Point is located in Shasta County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gas Point
    • Smithville ‑ Historic
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
      • Smithville is located in Shasta County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Smithville
    • Knob
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Knob is located in Shasta County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Knob
      • Knob has also been known as:
      • Knob Gulch
    • Agland ‑ Historic
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
      • Agland is located in Shasta County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Agland
    • Ono
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
      • Ono is located in Shasta County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ono
    • Olinda
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Olinda is located in Shasta County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Olinda
  • Trinity County

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

Cemeteries Near Watson ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Watson.

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

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

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

  • Lowrey Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Red Bank Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
  • Paskenta Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Paskenta Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Paskenta Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located 2 miles [3.2 km]<2> to the northeast of Paskenta.
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #8258 <3>
  • Elmore Cemetery
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
  • Newville Cemetery
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
  • Chrome Cemetery
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chrome Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Chrome Cemetery is located 9 miles [14.5 km]<2> to the north of Elk Creek.
    • The Chrome Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Milsap Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #8162 <3>
  • Millsap Cemetery
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
  • St. Herman of Alaska Monastery Cemetery
    (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
  • Oak Hill Cemetery
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
  • St. Marys Cemetery
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
  • Watson Grave
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
  • Pinckney Cemetery
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
  • Continue List   (11 more) ...

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

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

  • Paskenta
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
  • Newville
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Newville is located in Glenn County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Newville
  • Henleyville
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
    • Henleyville is located in Tehama County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Henleyville
  • Red Bluff
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
  • Hooker
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Hooker is located in Tehama County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hooker
  • Rawson
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
    • Rawson is located in Tehama County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rawson
  • Gas Point ‑ Historic
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
    • Gas Point is located in Shasta County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gas Point
  • Richfield
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
    • Richfield is located in Tehama County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Richfield
  • Proberta
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
  • Corning
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
  • Tehama
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
  • Ono
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
    • Ono is located in Shasta County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ono

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

Newspapers Published in Watson ...

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 65 newspapers that have been published in the area around Watson.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Watson, there are papers which were published within 29 miles [46.7 km]<2>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Watson.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we start 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 Watson:

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 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Watson) 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 Watson, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.