RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Colorado >> Larimer County >> Estes Park >> Genealogy HelperIndex...

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 Estes Park (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 Estes Park. 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 Estes Park ...

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 occur.

While the name of this town is Estes Park, be aware that it's the common practice of mapmakers to remove the apostrophe from possessive names<1>. So Estes Park may originally have been Este's Park.

Sometimes the trailing 's' might be dropped altogether, in which case Estes Park might be written as Este Park.

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

Estes Park is located in Larimer County.

To see how the shape of Colorado's counties may have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Larimer County: Boulder, Grand, Jackson, Weld, Albany (WY) & Laramie (WY).

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

  • Larimer County     (The home county of Estes Park)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Estes Park, with the one closest to Estes Park listed first.
    • Glen Haven
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Drake
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Big Elk Meadows
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Big Elk Meadows is located in Larimer County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Big Elk Meadows
    • Masonville
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Horsetooth Heights
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Horsetooth Heights is located in Larimer County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Horsetooth Heights
    • Stove Prairie Landing
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
    • Campion
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
      • Campion is located in Larimer County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Campion
    • Rustic
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
      • Rustic is located in Larimer County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rustic
    • Stout ‑ Historic
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Stout is located in Larimer County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stout
    • Berthoud
      (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
    • Loveland
      (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
    • Manhattan ‑ Historic
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
      • Manhattan is located in Larimer County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Manhattan
    • Bellvue
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
  • Boulder County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Estes Park, with the one closest to Estes Park listed first.
    • Allenspark
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
    • Noland
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Noland is located in Boulder County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Noland
    • Lyons
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Lyons is located in Boulder County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lyons
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,058 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Lyons <2>
    • Jamestown
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
    • Ward
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
      • Ward is located in Boulder County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ward
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 168 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Ward <2>
    • Hygiene
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Gold Hill
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
      • Gold Hill is located in Boulder County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gold Hill
    • Rowena
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
      • Rowena is located in Boulder County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rowena
    • Lazy Acres
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Lazy Acres is located in Boulder County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lazy Acres
    • Sunshine
      (23 miles [37 km] to the south)
      • Sunshine is located in Boulder County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunshine
    • Salina
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
      • Salina is located in Boulder County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Salina
    • Wallstreet
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
      • Wallstreet is located in Boulder County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wallstreet
    • Longmont
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
  • Grand County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Estes Park, with the one closest to Estes Park listed first.
    • Lulu City ‑ Historic
      (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
      • Lulu City is located in Grand County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lulu City
    • Grand Lake
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Dutchtown ‑ Historic
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
      • Dutchtown is located in Grand County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dutchtown
    • Granby
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Jackson County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Estes Park, with the one closest to Estes Park listed first.
    • Teller City ‑ Historic
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
      • Teller City is located in Jackson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Teller City
    • Gould ‑ Historic
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
      • Gould is located in Jackson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gould
  • Weld County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Estes Park, with the one closest to Estes Park listed first.
    • Highland Lake
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
      • Highland Lake is located in Weld County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Highland Lake
    • Mead
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)

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

Cemeteries Near Estes Park ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Estes Park.

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.

Although we don't have the information ourselves, if you need information about a burial or interment, photos, transcripts, how to contact the cemetery or local authorities, please visit our list of websites on our Genealogy Helper Page for Estes Park - one of the links might be able to help.

If not found below, our Cemetery List for Estes Park covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Estes Park, with the one closest to Estes Park 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.<3>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that in 1895, Estes Park had a post office and no railroad service. In 2020, Estes Park had a population of 6,553 people.

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

  • Noland
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Noland is located in Boulder County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Noland
  • Lyons
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Lyons is located in Boulder County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lyons
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,058 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Lyons <2>
  • Grand Lake
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
  • Jamestown
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
  • Springdale
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Springdale is located in Boulder County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Springdale
  • Altona ‑ Historic
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Altona is located in Boulder County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Altona
  • Hygiene
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
  • Gold Hill
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
    • Gold Hill is located in Boulder County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gold Hill
  • Stout ‑ Historic
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Stout is located in Larimer County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stout
  • Sunshine
    (23 miles [37 km] to the south)
    • Sunshine is located in Boulder County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunshine
  • Berthoud
    (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
  • Loveland
    (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...
    • Manhattan ‑ Historic
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
      • Manhattan is located in Larimer County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Manhattan
    • Sunset ‑ Historic
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
      • Sunset is located in Boulder County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunset
    • Salina
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
      • Salina is located in Boulder County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Salina

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Estes Park ...

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 74 newspapers that have been published in the area around Estes Park.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

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

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 Estes Park:

Footnotes ...

<1>It's generally believed that possessive apostrophes are removed to prevent confusion on maps where the apostrophe may be confused with a cartographic symbol. While this is generally true, it's not uncommon to find possessive apostrophes in administrative names (such as towns or counties).
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<3>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 Estes Park, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Estes Park) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.