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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 Cheyenne Wells (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 Cheyenne Wells. 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 Cheyenne Wells ...

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 Cheyenne Wells: Cheyenne Wls.

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 northeast corner of their home county. During their lives, most doctors and 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.

Cheyenne Wells is located in Cheyenne 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 Cheyenne County: Kiowa, Kit Carson, Lincoln, Greeley (KS) & Wallace (KS).

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

  • Cheyenne County     (The home county of Cheyenne Wells)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Cheyenne Wells, with the one closest to Cheyenne Wells listed first.
    • Arapahoe
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Firstview
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Firstview have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Firstview
      • Firstview is located in Cheyenne County
    • Kit Carson
      (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
  • Kiowa County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Cheyenne Wells, with the one closest to Cheyenne Wells listed first.
    • Sheridan Lake
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sheridan Lake have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sheridan Lake
      • Sheridan Lake is located in Kiowa County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 88 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Sheridan Lake <1>
    • Water Valley
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Water Valley came from an uncertain source and they still need to be verified:<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Water Valley
      • Water Valley is located in Kiowa County
    • Chivington
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chivington
      • Chivington is located in Kiowa County
  • Greeley County (KS)
    • Kanco ‑ Historic
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Kanco have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kanco
      • Kanco is located in Greeley County (KS)
  • Wallace County (KS)

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Cheyenne Wells ...

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 18 newspapers that have been published in the area around Cheyenne Wells.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Cheyenne Wells. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Cheyenne Wells and those printed in the larger area surrounding Cheyenne Wells.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 28 miles [45.1 km]<4> of Cheyenne Wells.

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 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 Cheyenne Wells:

Cemeteries Near Cheyenne Wells ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Cheyenne Wells.

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

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

  • Fairview Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Fairview Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Fairview Cemetery
  • Arapahoe Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Arapahoe Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Arapahoe Cemetery
  • Weskan Cemetery
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
  • Sheridan Lake Cemetery
    (23 miles [37 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Sheridan Lake Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Sheridan Lake Cemetery
  • Stockholm Cemetery
    (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
  • Kit Carson Cemetery
    (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Kit Carson Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Kit Carson Cemetery
  • Water Valley Cemetery
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for the Water Valley Cemetery. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<6>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Water Valley Cemetery
  • France Cemetery
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the France Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the France Cemetery
  • Plainview Cemetery
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Plainview Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Plainview Cemetery
  • Chivington Cemetery
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Chivington Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Chivington Cemetery
  • Towner Cemetery
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Towner Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Towner 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.<7>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Cheyenne Wells had a population of 179 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Cheyenne Wells had a population of 815 people.

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

  • Firstview
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Firstview have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Firstview
    • Firstview is located in Cheyenne County
  • Weskan
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
  • Kit Carson
    (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
  • Water Valley
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Water Valley came from an uncertain source and they still need to be verified:<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Water Valley
    • Water Valley is located in Kiowa County
  • Sheridan Lake
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sheridan Lake have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sheridan Lake
    • Sheridan Lake is located in Kiowa County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 88 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Sheridan Lake <1>
  • Stuart
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Stuart have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stuart
    • Stuart is located in Kiowa County
  • Brandon
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Brandon have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brandon
    • Brandon is located in Kiowa County
  • Chivington
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chivington
    • Chivington is located in Kiowa County
  • Towner
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Towner have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Towner
    • Towner is located in Kiowa County
  • Sorrento
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sorrento have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sorrento
    • Sorrento is located in Cheyenne County

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

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

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>If we found a location and have questions about the accuracy of our information, we will simply say that the marker is 'in the vicinity'. We are not confident about the location and the position of our marker is only a rough guide. If we have too many doubts about the location, we will not include it in our database.
<4>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Cheyenne Wells) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Cheyenne Wells. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.8192, Longitude: -102.3520       In this case, the coordinates for Cheyenne Wells 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>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.
<7>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 Cheyenne Wells, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024