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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 Wilfred (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 Wilfred. 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 southeast corner of their home county. During their lives, most hospitals 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.

Wilfred is located in Sonoma 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 Sonoma County: Contra Costa, Lake, Marin, Mendocino, Napa & Solano.

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

  • Sonoma County     (The home county of Wilfred)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Wilfred, with the one closest to Wilfred listed first.
    • Bellevue
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
      • Bellevue is located in Sonoma County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bellevue
    • South Santa Rosa
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
      • South Santa Rosa is located in Sonoma County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Santa Rosa
    • Cotati
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Rohnert Park
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Roseland
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
      • Roseland is located in Sonoma County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roseland
    • Santa Rosa
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Stony Point
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
      • Stony Point is located in Sonoma County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stony Point
    • Montgomery Village
      (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
      • Montgomery Village is located in Sonoma County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Montgomery Village
    • Penngrove
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Ely ‑ Historic
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Ely is located in Sonoma County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ely
    • Sebastopol
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Melita
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Melita is located in Sonoma County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Melita
    • Bloomfield
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
      • Bloomfield is located in Sonoma County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bloomfield
  • Lake County
  • Marin County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Wilfred, with the one closest to Wilfred listed first.
    • Tomales
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Dillon Beach
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Hamlet
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Hamlet is located in Marin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hamlet
    • Nicks Cove
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Nicks Cove is located in Marin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nicks Cove
    • Marshall
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Inverness
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
    • Millerton
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
      • Millerton is located in Marin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Millerton
    • Novato
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Old Town
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Old Town is located in Marin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Old Town
    • Nicasio
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
    • Point Reyes Station
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
    • Black Point - Green Point
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Ignacio
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Ignacio is located in Marin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ignacio
  • Napa County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Wilfred, with the one closest to Wilfred listed first.
    • Rutherford
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
    • Woodleaf
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
      • Woodleaf is located in Napa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodleaf
    • Calistoga
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Saint Helena
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Oakville
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
    • Deer Park
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Yountville
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
    • Angwin
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Merazo
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Merazo is located in Napa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Merazo
    • Union
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
      • Union is located in Napa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Union
    • Napa
      (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
      • Napa is located in Napa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Napa
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 77,032 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Napa <1>
    • Pope Valley
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
    • Suscol ‑ Historic
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
      • Suscol is located in Napa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Suscol
      • Suscol has also been known as:
      • Soscol
      • Susqual
  • Solano County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Wilfred, with the one closest to Wilfred listed first.
    • Guadalcanal Village
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Guadalcanal Village is located in Solano County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Guadalcanal Village
    • Green Valley
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
    • Mare Island ‑ Historic
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Mare Island is located in Solano County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mare Island
    • Vallejo
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)

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

Cemeteries Near Wilfred ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Wilfred.

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

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

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

  • Chapel of the Chimes Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
  • Macedonia Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
  • Bennett Valley Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
  • Calvary Catholic Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
  • Santa Rosa Calvary Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
  • Canfield Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
  • Liberty Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
  • Santa Rosa Rural Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
  • Moke Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
  • Stanley Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
  • Santa Rosa Odd Fellows Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
  • Santa Rosa Memorial Park
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
  • Continue List   (71 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.<3>

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

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

  • Cotati
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
  • Stony Point
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Stony Point is located in Sonoma County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stony Point
  • Santa Rosa
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
  • Penngrove
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
  • Ely ‑ Historic
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Ely is located in Sonoma County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ely
  • Melita
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Melita is located in Sonoma County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Melita
  • Bloomfield
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Bloomfield is located in Sonoma County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bloomfield
  • Fulton
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
  • Petaluma
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
  • Wildwood ‑ Historic
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Wildwood is located in Sonoma County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wildwood
  • Glen Ellen
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
  • Freestone
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
  • Continue List   (18 more) ...
    • Valley Ford
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Madrone ‑ Historic
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
      • Madrone is located in Sonoma County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Madrone
    • Yulupa ‑ Historic
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
      • Yulupa is located in Sonoma County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Yulupa

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

Newspapers Published in Wilfred ...

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 62 newspapers that have been published in the area around Wilfred.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Wilfred, there are papers which were published within 16 miles [25.7 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Wilfred.

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 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 Wilfred:

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>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 Wilfred, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or 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- Wilfred) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.