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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 Conejos (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 Conejos. 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 southwest corner of their home county. During their lives, most hospitals and doctors were in the next county to the west. 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 west 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.

Conejos is located in Conejos 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 Conejos County: Alamosa, Archuleta, Costilla, Rio Grande, Rio Arriba (NM) & Taos (NM).

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

  • Conejos County     (The home county of Conejos)
  • Alamosa County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Conejos, with the one closest to Conejos listed first.
    • Henry
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
    • Waverly
      (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
    • Alamosa
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
    • Alamosa East
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
    • Parma
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Parma. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Parma
      • Parma is located in Alamosa County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Parma
      • From Conejos to Parma
  • Costilla County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Conejos, with the one closest to Conejos listed first.
    • Jaroso
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Jaroso have been provided by the GNIS.<3> 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 <1>
    • San Acacio
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
    • Garcia
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Garcia have been provided by the GNIS.<3> 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 <1>
  • Rio Arriba County (NM)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Conejos, with the one closest to Conejos listed first.
    • Lava ‑ Historic
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Lava. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lava
      • Lava is located in Rio Arriba County (NM)
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Lava
      • From Conejos to Lava
    • Sublette
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Lobato ‑ Historic
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
  • Taos County (NM)

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

Cemeteries Near Conejos ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Conejos.

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

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

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 Conejos had a population of 3,421 people in 1895 with a post office and no railroad service.

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

  • Antonito
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
  • Ortiz
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
  • Los Cerritos
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Los Cerritos have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Los Cerritos
    • Los Cerritos is located in Conejos County
  • Manassa
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Lava ‑ Historic
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Lava. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lava
    • Lava is located in Rio Arriba County (NM)
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Lava
    • From Conejos to Lava
  • Big Horn
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Big Horn have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Big Horn
    • Big Horn is located in Rio Arriba County (NM)
  • Sublette
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
  • Sanford
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sanford have been provided by the GNIS.<3> 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 <1>
  • La Jara
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
  • Capulin
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
  • Toltec
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Toltec have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Toltec
    • Toltec is located in Rio Arriba County (NM)
  • Lasauses
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lasauses have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lasauses
    • Lasauses is located in Conejos County
  • Continue List   (4 more) ...
    • Cumbres
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
    • No Agua
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for No Agua have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for No Agua
      • No Agua is located in Taos County (NM)
    • Costilla
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)

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

Newspapers Published in Conejos ...

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 38 newspapers that have been published in the area around Conejos.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Conejos, there are papers which were published within 27 miles [43.5 km]<5>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Conejos.

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 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 Conejos:

Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Conejos. 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>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.
<3>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.
<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>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 drawn from Point A (ie- Conejos) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Conejos. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.0886, Longitude: -106.0196    
<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 Conejos, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 12 Jul 2025