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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 Alta Vista (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 Alta Vista. 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.

Alta Vista is located in El Paso County.

To see how the shape of Colorado's counties have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of El Paso County: Crowley, Douglas, Elbert, Fremont, Lincoln, Pueblo & Teller.

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

  • El Paso County     (The home county of Alta Vista)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Alta Vista, with the one closest to Alta Vista listed first.
    • Ramah
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Calhan
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Rush
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
    • Yoder
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Yoder have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Yoder
      • Yoder is located in El Paso County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Yoder <1>
    • Ellicott
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ellicott
      • Ellicott is located in El Paso County
    • Peyton
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Peyton have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Peyton
      • Peyton is located in El Paso County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Peyton <1>
    • Truckton ‑ Historic
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Truckton
      • Truckton is located in El Paso County
      • Former names for Truckton:
      • Dunkin City
      • Truck Town
    • Eastonville ‑ Historic
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eastonville
      • Eastonville is located in El Paso County
    • Falcon
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
  • Elbert County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Alta Vista, with the one closest to Alta Vista listed first.
    • Simla
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Matheson
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Matheson have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Matheson
      • Matheson is located in Elbert County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Matheson <1>
    • Fondis
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fondis
      • Fondis is located in Elbert County
    • Elbert
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Kiowa
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Kiowa have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kiowa
      • Kiowa is located in Elbert County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 826 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Kiowa <1>
  • Lincoln County
    • Limon
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Limon
      • Limon is located in Lincoln County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,945 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Limon <1>

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

Newspapers Published in Alta Vista ...

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 20 newspapers that have been published in the area around Alta Vista.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Alta Vista, 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 Alta Vista.

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 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 Alta Vista:

Cemeteries Near Alta Vista ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Alta Vista.

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

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

  • Ramah Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Ellen S. Liptrap Gravesite
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
  • Liptrap Grave
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Liptrap Grave have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Liptrap Grave
  • Myers Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
  • Catholic Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Catholic Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Catholic Cemetery
  • Simla Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Simla Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Simla Cemetery
  • Kanza Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Kanza Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Kanza Cemetery
  • Lenard Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
  • Calhan Memorial Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
  • Sproch Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Sproch Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Sproch Cemetery
  • Mountain View Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Mountain View Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Mountain View Cemetery
  • St. Michaels Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Continue List   (28 more) ...
    • St. Mary's Cemetery
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • National Slovak Society Cemetery
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Sakala Cemetery
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Sakala Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Sakala 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.<5>

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

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

  • Ramah
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Calhan
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
  • Peyton
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Peyton have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Peyton
    • Peyton is located in El Paso County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Peyton <1>
  • Eastonville ‑ Historic
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eastonville
    • Eastonville is located in El Paso County
  • Cedar Point
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cedar Point have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Point
    • Cedar Point is located in Elbert County
  • Elbert
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
  • Falcon
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
  • Kiowa
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Kiowa have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kiowa
    • Kiowa is located in Elbert County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 826 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Kiowa <1>

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

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

The official website for El Paso County: www.elpasoco.com/

The official website for State of Colorado: https://www.colorado.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 'straight-line' (or 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- Alta Vista) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Alta Vista. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.0278, Longitude: -104.1122    
<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 Alta Vista, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024