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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 Willow Creek Crossing (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 Willow Creek Crossing. 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 Willow Creek Crossing ...

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 Willow Creek Crossing: Willow Crk. Xing. (or less commonly used: Willow Ck. Xing. or Willow Cr. Xing.)

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 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.

Willow Creek Crossing is located in Riverside 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 Riverside County: La Paz (AZ), Imperial, Orange, San Bernardino & San Diego.

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

  • Riverside County     (The home county of Willow Creek Crossing)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Willow Creek Crossing, with the one closest to Willow Creek Crossing listed first.
    • Idyllwild
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Pine Cove
      (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Mountain Center
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Palm Springs
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • White Water
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for White Water have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for White Water
      • White Water is located in Riverside County
    • Cathedral City
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
    • Garnet
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Garnet
      • Garnet is located in Riverside County
    • Bonnie Bell
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bonnie Bell
      • Bonnie Bell is located in Riverside County
    • North Palm Springs
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Cabazon
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Ramona Village
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ramona Village have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ramona Village
      • Ramona Village is located in Riverside County
    • Valle Vista
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Valle Vista have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Valle Vista
      • Valle Vista is located in Riverside County
  • San Bernardino County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Willow Creek Crossing, with the one closest to Willow Creek Crossing listed first.
    • Morongo Valley
      (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
    • Oak Glen
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Forest Falls
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Yucca Valley
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Pioneertown
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
    • Yucaipa
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Yucaipa
      • Yucaipa is located in San Bernardino County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 54,833 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Yucaipa <1>
    • Mountain Home Village
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mountain Home Village have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mountain Home Village
      • Mountain Home Village is located in San Bernardino County
  • San Diego County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Willow Creek Crossing, with the one closest to Willow Creek Crossing listed first.
    • Oak Grove
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Oak Grove have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oak Grove
      • Oak Grove is located in San Diego County
    • Holcomb Village
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Holcomb Village have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holcomb Village
      • Holcomb Village is located in San Diego County

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

Newspapers Published in Willow Creek Crossing ...

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 116 newspapers that have been published in the area around Willow Creek Crossing.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Willow Creek Crossing, there are papers which were published within 28 miles [45.1 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Willow Creek Crossing.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we first turn to the websites from Cyndi's List, FamilySearch and Genealogy Trails. These websites either 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 Willow Creek Crossing:

Cemeteries Near Willow Creek Crossing ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Willow Creek Crossing.

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 Willow Creek Crossing covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.

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

  • Desert Memorial Park
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
  • Palm Springs District Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Palm Springs District Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Palm Springs District Cemetery
  • Sunnyslope Cemetery
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Sunnyslope Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Sunnyslope Cemetery
  • San Jacinto Valley Cemetery
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
  • Sunnyslope Cemetery
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Sunnyslope Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Sunnyslope Cemetery
  • Mt. View Cemetery
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Mt. View Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Mt. View Cemetery
  • Forest Lawn Memorial Gardens
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Forest Lawn Memorial Gardens have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Forest Lawn Memorial Gardens
  • Radec Cemetery
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
  • Coachella Valley Cemetery
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Coachella Valley Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Coachella Valley Cemetery
  • Toro Cemetery
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Toro Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Toro Cemetery
  • Mountain Valley Memorial Park
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Mountain Valley Memorial Park have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Mountain Valley Memorial Park

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.<5>

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

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

  • Idyllwild
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
  • Banning
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Oak Grove
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Oak Grove have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oak Grove
    • Oak Grove is located in San Diego County

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

Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Willow Creek Crossing. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.

The official website for Riverside County: www.co.riverside.ca.us/

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

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 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.
<3>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Willow Creek Crossing) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Willow Creek Crossing. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 33.7834, Longitude: -116.6550       In this case, the coordinates for Willow Creek Crossing have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<4>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.
<5>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 Willow Creek Crossing, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Jan 2025