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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 Wild Bill Place (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 Wild Bill Place. 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 Wild Bill Place ...

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 occur.

For example, a typical abbreviation for Wild Bill Place: Wild Bill Pl. (or less commonly used: Wild Bill Plc.)

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 southeast corner of their home county. During their lives, most hospitals and doctors were in the next county to the east. 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 east 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.

Wild Bill Place is located in Lake 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 Lake County: Colusa, Glenn, Mendocino, Napa, Sonoma & Yolo.

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

  • Lake County     (The home county of Wild Bill Place)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Wild Bill Place, with the one closest to Wild Bill Place listed first.
    • Bartlett Springs
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
      • Bartlett Springs is located in Lake County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bartlett Springs
    • Pole Garden ‑ Historic
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
      • Pole Garden is located in Lake County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pole Garden
    • Nice
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Robinson Rancheria
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
      • Robinson Rancheria is located in Lake County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Robinson Rancheria
    • Upper Lake
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Lucerne
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Hough Springs
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Hough Springs is located in Lake County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hough Springs
    • Saratoga Springs
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
      • Saratoga Springs is located in Lake County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saratoga Springs
    • Witter Springs
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
      • Witter Springs is located in Lake County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Witter Springs
    • North Lakeport
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
      • North Lakeport is located in Lake County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Lakeport
    • Glenhaven
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
    • Lakeport
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
  • Colusa County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Wild Bill Place, with the one closest to Wild Bill Place listed first.
    • Lodoga
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
      • Lodoga is located in Colusa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lodoga
    • Stonyford
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Leesville
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
      • Leesville is located in Colusa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leesville
    • Devils Elbow
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Devils Elbow is located in Colusa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Devils Elbow
    • Wilbur Springs
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
    • Sites
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
      • Sites is located in Colusa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sites
  • Glenn County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Wild Bill Place, with the one closest to Wild Bill Place listed first.
    • Dogtown
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
      • Dogtown is located in Glenn County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dogtown
    • Elk Creek
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
  • Mendocino County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Wild Bill Place, with the one closest to Wild Bill Place listed first.
    • Hemlock Ranch
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
      • Hemlock Ranch is located in Mendocino County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hemlock Ranch
      • Hemlock Ranch has also been known as:
      • Hemlock
    • Potter Valley
      (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
    • Talmage
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
    • Calpella
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
    • The Forks
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
      • The Forks is located in Mendocino County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for The Forks
    • Redwood Valley
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
    • Largo ‑ Historic
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
      • Largo is located in Mendocino County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Largo
    • Ukiah
      (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
      • Ukiah is located in Mendocino County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ukiah
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 15,883 people
      • Ukiah has also been known as:
      • Ukiah City
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Ukiah <1>
    • Hopland
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
  • Sonoma County
    • Preston
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Preston is located in Sonoma County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Preston

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

Cemeteries Near Wild Bill Place ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Wild Bill Place.

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 Wild Bill Place - one of the links might be able to help.

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Wild Bill Place, with the one closest to Wild Bill Place 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.<4>

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

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

  • Bartlett Springs
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Bartlett Springs is located in Lake County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bartlett Springs
  • Upper Lake
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
  • Hough Springs
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Hough Springs is located in Lake County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hough Springs
  • Lakeport
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
  • Hemlock Ranch
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
    • Hemlock Ranch is located in Mendocino County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hemlock Ranch
    • Hemlock Ranch has also been known as:
    • Hemlock
  • Stonyford
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Kelseyville
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
  • Pomo
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
    • Pomo is located in Mendocino County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pomo
  • Potter Valley
    (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
  • Leesville
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
    • Leesville is located in Colusa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leesville
  • Talmage
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
  • Highland Springs
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
    • Highland Springs is located in Lake County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Highland Springs
  • Continue List   (11 more) ...
    • Calpella
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
    • Ukiah
      (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
      • Ukiah is located in Mendocino County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ukiah
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 15,883 people
      • Ukiah has also been known as:
      • Ukiah City
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Ukiah <1>
    • Largo ‑ Historic
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
      • Largo is located in Mendocino County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Largo

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

Newspapers Published in Wild Bill Place ...

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 Wild Bill Place.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Wild Bill Place, there are papers which were published within 25 miles [40.2 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Wild Bill Place.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we like to 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 Wild Bill Place:

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>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.
<3>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- Wild Bill Place) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Wild Bill Place, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.