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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 Buena 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 Buena 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 northeast 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 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 east 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.

Buena Vista is located in Chaffee County and is the County Seat.

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 Buena Vista. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Buena Vista:

  • Chaffee County     (The home county of Buena Vista)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Buena Vista, with the one closest to Buena Vista listed first.
    • Johnson Village
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Johnson Village have been provided by the GNIS.<1> 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 <2>
    • Nathrop
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Nathrop have been provided by the GNIS.<1> 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 <2>
    • Pine Creek
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
      • 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.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine Creek
      • Pine Creek is located in Chaffee County
    • Iron City ‑ Historic
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Iron City have been provided by the GNIS.<1> 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
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saint Elmo
      • Saint Elmo is located in Chaffee County
    • Browns Canon
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Browns Canon have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Browns Canon
      • Browns Canon is located in Chaffee County
    • Turret ‑ Historic
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Turret
      • Turret is located in Chaffee County
    • Granite
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Hawkinsville ‑ Historic
      (16 miles [25.7 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.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hawkinsville
      • Hawkinsville is located in Chaffee County
    • Vicksburg ‑ Historic
      (17 miles [27.4 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
    • Hancock ‑ Historic
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hancock
      • Hancock is located in Chaffee County
    • Banker Mine ‑ Historic
      (18 miles [29 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.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Banker Mine
      • Banker Mine is located in Chaffee County
  • Fremont County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Buena Vista, with the one closest to Buena Vista listed first.
    • Wellsville
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wellsville
      • Wellsville is located in Fremont County
    • Calcite ‑ Historic
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Calcite have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Calcite
      • Calcite is located in Fremont County
  • Gunnison County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Buena Vista, with the one closest to Buena Vista listed first.
    • Abbeyville
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
      • 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 west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tincup
      • Tincup is located in Gunnison County
    • Pieplant ‑ Historic
      (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Pieplant have been provided by the GNIS.<1> 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
    • Whitepine
      (24 miles [38.6 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
    • Pitkin
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Bowerman ‑ Historic
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Bowerman. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bowerman
      • Bowerman is located in Gunnison County
      • Bowerman has also been known as:
      • Camp Bowerman
      • Nugget City
  • Lake County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Buena Vista, with the one closest to Buena Vista listed first.
    • Low Pass ‑ Historic
      (16 miles [25.7 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.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Low Pass
      • Low Pass is located in Lake County
    • Twin Lakes
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Oro City ‑ Historic
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oro City
      • Oro City is located in Lake County
    • Leadville
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
  • Park County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Buena Vista, with the one closest to Buena Vista listed first.
    • Hartsel
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Horseshoe ‑ Historic
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Horseshoe have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Horseshoe
      • Horseshoe is located in Park County
    • Pike - San Isabel Village
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Pike - San Isabel Village have been provided by the GNIS.<1> 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
    • Fairplay
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
    • Alma Junction
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alma Junction
      • Alma Junction is located in Park County
    • Park City ‑ Historic
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Park City have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Park City
      • Park City is located in Park County
  • Pitkin County
    • Ruby ‑ Historic
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ruby
      • Ruby is located in Pitkin County

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Buena 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 46 newspapers that have been published in the area around Buena Vista.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Buena Vista. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Buena Vista and those printed in the larger area surrounding Buena Vista.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<4> of Buena Vista.

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 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 Buena Vista:

Cemeteries Near Buena Vista ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Buena 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 Buena Vista covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.

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

  • Mt. Olivet Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
  • Centerville Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Centerville Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Centerville Cemetery
  • Buffalo Springs Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Buffalo Springs Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Buffalo Springs Cemetery
  • Granite Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Granite Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Granite Cemetery
  • Windfield Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Windfield Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Windfield Cemetery
  • Boothill Cemetery
    (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
  • Tincup Cemetery
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Tincup Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Tincup Cemetery
  • Fairview Cemetery
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
  • Tomichi Cemetery
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Tomichi Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Tomichi Cemetery
  • Poncha Springs Cemetery
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
  • Hartsel Cemetery
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Hartsel Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Hartsel Cemetery
  • Woodlawn Cemetery
    (23 miles [37 km] to the south)
  • Continue List   (11 more) ...
    • Cleora Cemetery
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
    • White Pine Cemetery
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the White Pine Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the White Pine Cemetery
    • Pitkin Cemetery
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Pitkin Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Pitkin 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.<6>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Buena Vista had a population of 1,277 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Buena Vista had a population of 3,116 people.

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

  • Americus
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Americus have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Americus
    • Americus is located in Chaffee County
  • Nathrop
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Nathrop have been provided by the GNIS.<1> 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 <2>
  • Riverside
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Riverside have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Riverside
    • Riverside is located in Chaffee County
  • Pine Creek
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • 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.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine Creek
    • Pine Creek is located in Chaffee County
  • Alpine ‑ Historic
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Alpine have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alpine
    • Alpine is located in Chaffee County
  • Saint Elmo ‑ Historic
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saint Elmo
    • Saint Elmo is located in Chaffee County
  • Haver ‑ Historic
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Haver have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Haver
    • Haver is located in Park County
  • Browns Canon
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Browns Canon have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Browns Canon
    • Browns Canon is located in Chaffee County
  • Romley ‑ Historic
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Romley have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Romley
    • Romley is located in Chaffee County
  • Granite
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Belleview
    (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Belleview have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Belleview
    • Belleview is located in Chaffee County
  • Tincup
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tincup
    • Tincup is located in Gunnison County
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...
    • Winfield ‑ Historic
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Winfield
      • Winfield is located in Chaffee County
    • Maysville ‑ Historic
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maysville
      • Maysville is located in Chaffee County
    • Garfield ‑ Historic
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Garfield have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Garfield
      • Garfield is located in Chaffee County

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

The official website for Buena Vista: www.buenavistaco.gov/

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

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

Footnotes ...

<1>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.
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<3>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.
<4>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or 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- Buena Vista) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Buena Vista. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.8317, Longitude: -106.1389       In this case, the coordinates for Buena Vista 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 Buena 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