RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Colorado >> Chaffee County >> Americus >> Genealogy HelperIndex...










Learn About
The Commemorative
Quarter for
Colorado

The Commemorative Quarter for Colorado





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 Americus (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 Americus. 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 northwest corner of their home county. During their lives, most doctors and 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.

Americus is located in Chaffee 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 Chaffee County: Fremont, Gunnison, Lake, Park, Pitkin & Saguache.

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

  • Chaffee County     (The home county of Americus)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Americus, with the one closest to Americus listed first.
    • Pine Creek
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Pine Creek. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine Creek
      • Pine Creek is located in Chaffee County
    • Buena Vista
      (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Buena Vista have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Buena Vista
      • Buena Vista is located in Chaffee County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,116 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Buena Vista <3>
    • Johnson Village
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Johnson Village have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Johnson Village
      • Johnson Village is located in Chaffee County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Johnson Village <3>
    • Granite
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Hawkinsville ‑ Historic
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Hawkinsville. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hawkinsville
      • Hawkinsville is located in Chaffee County
    • Nathrop
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Nathrop have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nathrop
      • Nathrop is located in Chaffee County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Nathrop <3>
    • Vicksburg ‑ Historic
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vicksburg
      • Vicksburg is located in Chaffee County
      • Vicksburg has also been known as:
      • Vicksburg Mining Camp
    • Banker Mine ‑ Historic
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Banker Mine. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Banker Mine
      • Banker Mine is located in Chaffee County
    • Winfield ‑ Historic
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Winfield
      • Winfield is located in Chaffee County
    • Iron City ‑ Historic
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Iron City have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Iron City
      • Iron City is located in Chaffee County
    • Saint Elmo ‑ Historic
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saint Elmo
      • Saint Elmo is located in Chaffee County
    • Hancock ‑ Historic
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hancock
      • Hancock is located in Chaffee County
  • Gunnison County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Americus, with the one closest to Americus listed first.
    • Abbeyville
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Abbeyville
      • Abbeyville is located in Gunnison County
      • Former name for Abbeyville:
      • Hillerton
    • Tincup
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tincup
      • Tincup is located in Gunnison County
    • Pieplant ‑ Historic
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Pieplant have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pieplant
      • Pieplant is located in Gunnison County
      • Pieplant has also been known as:
      • Pie Plant
      • Pieplant Mill
    • Pitkin
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Whitepine
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Whitepine
      • Whitepine is located in Gunnison County
      • Whitepine has also been known as:
      • White Pine
  • Lake County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Americus, with the one closest to Americus listed first.
    • Low Pass ‑ Historic
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Low Pass. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Low Pass
      • Low Pass is located in Lake County
    • Twin Lakes
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Oro City ‑ Historic
      (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oro City
      • Oro City is located in Lake County
    • Leadville
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
  • Park County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Americus, with the one closest to Americus listed first.
    • Horseshoe ‑ Historic
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Horseshoe have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Horseshoe
      • Horseshoe is located in Park County
    • Hartsel
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Fairplay
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
    • Alma Junction
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alma Junction
      • Alma Junction is located in Park County
    • Alma
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
    • Park City ‑ Historic
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Park City have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Park City
      • Park City is located in Park County
    • Pike - San Isabel Village
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Pike - San Isabel Village have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pike - San Isabel Village
      • Pike - San Isabel Village is located in Park County
    • Buckskin Joe ‑ Historic
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Buckskin Joe
      • Buckskin Joe is located in Park County
  • Pitkin County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Americus, with the one closest to Americus listed first.
    • Ruby ‑ Historic
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ruby
      • Ruby is located in Pitkin County
    • Independence ‑ Historic
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Independence
      • Independence is located in Pitkin County
      • Independence has also been known as:
      • Chipeta
      • Farwell
      • Hunter's Pass
      • Mammoth City
      • Mount Hope
      • Sparkill

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

Newspapers Published in Americus ...

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 Americus.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Americus, there are papers which were published within 27 miles [43.5 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Americus.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we begin with the websites from Cyndi's List, FamilySearch and Genealogy Trails. These helpful 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 Americus:

Cemeteries Near Americus ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Americus.

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

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

  • Mt. Olivet Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
  • Granite Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Granite Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Granite Cemetery
  • Buffalo Springs Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Buffalo Springs Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Buffalo Springs Cemetery
  • Windfield Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Windfield Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Windfield Cemetery
  • Centerville Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Centerville Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Centerville Cemetery
  • Boothill Cemetery
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
  • Tincup Cemetery
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Tincup Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Tincup Cemetery
  • Hartsel Cemetery
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Hartsel Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Hartsel Cemetery
  • Leadville City Cemetery
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for the Leadville City Cemetery. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Leadville City Cemetery is located in Leadville.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Leadville City Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2360743 <5>
  • Fairplay Cemetery
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Fairplay Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Fairplay Cemetery
  • Old Fairplay Cemetery
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Old Fairplay Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Old Fairplay Cemetery
  • Tomichi Cemetery
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Tomichi Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Tomichi Cemetery
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...
    • Evergreen Cemetery
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
    • Leadville Hebrew Cemetery
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for the Leadville Hebrew Cemetery. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
      • To give a relative sense of its location, the Leadville Hebrew Cemetery is located outside and to the west of Leadville.
      • The Leadville Hebrew Cemetery has also been known as:
      • Hebrew Cemetery of Leadville
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Leadville Hebrew Cemetery
      • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2209837 <5>
    • Odd Fellows Cemetery
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)

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.<6>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that in 1895, Americus had railroad service and no post office.

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

  • Riverside
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Riverside have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Riverside
    • Riverside is located in Chaffee County
  • Buena Vista
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Buena Vista have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Buena Vista
    • Buena Vista is located in Chaffee County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,116 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Buena Vista <3>
  • Pine Creek
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Pine Creek. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine Creek
    • Pine Creek is located in Chaffee County
  • Nathrop
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Nathrop have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nathrop
    • Nathrop is located in Chaffee County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Nathrop <3>
  • Granite
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Haver ‑ Historic
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Haver have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Haver
    • Haver is located in Park County
  • Alpine ‑ Historic
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Alpine have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alpine
    • Alpine is located in Chaffee County
  • Winfield ‑ Historic
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Winfield
    • Winfield is located in Chaffee County
  • Saint Elmo ‑ Historic
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saint Elmo
    • Saint Elmo is located in Chaffee County
  • Twin Lakes
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
  • Tincup
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tincup
    • Tincup is located in Gunnison County
  • Romley ‑ Historic
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Romley have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Romley
    • Romley is located in Chaffee County
  • Continue List   (16 more) ...
    • Garo ‑ Historic
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Garo have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Garo
      • Garo is located in Park County
    • Browns Canon
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Browns Canon have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Browns Canon
      • Browns Canon is located in Chaffee County
    • Hartsel
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)

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

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

The official website for Chaffee County: www.chaffeecounty.org/

The official website for State of Colorado: https://www.colorado.gov/

Footnotes ...

<1>An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace.
<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>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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- Americus) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Americus. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.9025, Longitude: -106.1656       In this case, the coordinates for Americus have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>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.
<6>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 Americus, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

Copyright 2024
All Rights Reserved

Thank you for visiting our website.

In closing, please keep in mind that we can not guarantee the accuracy or timeliness of the information on this website, so use with care. We encourage you to double-check the information that is critical to you.

If you've found an error or have additional information that you would like to share, please don't hesitate to write: Click here to contact us.

This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024