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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 Chama (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 Chama. 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 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.

Chama is located in Costilla 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 Costilla County: Alamosa, Conejos, Huerfano, Las Animas, Colfax (NM) & Taos (NM).

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

  • Costilla County     (The home county of Chama)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Chama, with the one closest to Chama listed first.
    • San Pablo
      (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for San Pablo have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for San Pablo
      • San Pablo is located in Costilla County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for San Pablo <2>
    • San Luis
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for San Luis have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for San Luis
      • San Luis is located in Costilla County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 692 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for San Luis <2>
    • San Acacio
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Garcia
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Garcia have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Garcia
      • Garcia is located in Costilla County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Garcia <2>
    • Jaroso
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Jaroso have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jaroso
      • Jaroso is located in Costilla County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Jaroso <2>
    • Fort Garland
      (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
    • Blanca
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
    • Garland City ‑ Historic
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Garland City have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Garland City
      • Garland City is located in Costilla County
    • Russell ‑ Historic
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Russell
      • Russell is located in Costilla County
  • Conejos County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Chama, with the one closest to Chama listed first.
    • Sanford
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sanford have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sanford
      • Sanford is located in Conejos County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 900 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Sanford <2>
    • Manassa
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
  • Huerfano County
  • Las Animas County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Chama, with the one closest to Chama listed first.
    • Monument Park
      (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Monument Park
      • Monument Park is located in Las Animas County
    • Weston
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
  • Taos County (NM)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Chama, with the one closest to Chama listed first.
    • Ventero
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ventero
      • Ventero is located in Taos County (NM)
    • Amalia
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Amalia
      • Amalia is located in Taos County (NM)
    • Costilla
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Buena Vista
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Cerro
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)

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

Newspapers Published in Chama ...

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 7 newspapers that have been published in the area around Chama.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Chama, there are papers which were published within 27 miles [43.5 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Chama.

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 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 Chama:

Cemeteries Near Chama ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Chama.

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

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

  • Chama Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Chama Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Chama Cemetery
  • San Pedro Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the San Pedro Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the San Pedro Cemetery
  • Old Town Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
  • Garcia Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
  • Sacred Heart Catholic Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
  • Jaroso Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
    • The Jaroso Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Mountain View Cemetery
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Jaroso Cemetery
  • Brennaman Cemetery
    (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Brennaman Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Brennaman Cemetery
  • Ft. Garland Cemetery
    (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Ft. Garland Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Ft. Garland Cemetery
  • Myer Cemetery
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Myer Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Myer Cemetery
  • Blanca Trinchera Cemetery
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
  • Mac Mullan Cemetery
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Mac Mullan Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Mac Mullan Cemetery
  • Stonewall Cemetery
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
  • Continue List   (17 more) ...
    • Tercio Cemetery
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
    • Lasauses Cemetery
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Lasauses Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Lasauses Cemetery
    • Hicks Cemetery
      (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Hicks Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Hicks 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 Chama in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Chama.

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

  • San Luis
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for San Luis have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for San Luis
    • San Luis is located in Costilla County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 692 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for San Luis <2>
  • Costilla
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
  • Fort Garland
    (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
  • Stonewall
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Stonewall have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stonewall
    • Stonewall is located in Las Animas County
  • Blanca
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
  • Garland City ‑ Historic
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Garland City have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Garland City
    • Garland City is located in Costilla County
  • Lasauses
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lasauses have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lasauses
    • Lasauses is located in Conejos County
  • Russell ‑ Historic
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Russell
    • Russell is located in Costilla County
  • Weston
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
  • Sanford
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sanford have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sanford
    • Sanford is located in Conejos County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 900 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Sanford <2>
  • Los Cerritos
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Los Cerritos have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Los Cerritos
    • Los Cerritos is located in Conejos County

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

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

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>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- Chama) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Chama. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.1620, Longitude: -105.3783       In this case, the coordinates for Chama 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 Chama, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024