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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 Kirkwell (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 Kirkwell. 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 northwest 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 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.

Kirkwell is located in Baca 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 Baca County: Bent, Las Animas, Prowers, Morton (KS), Stanton (KS), Union (NM) & Cimarron (OK).

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

  • Baca County     (The home county of Kirkwell)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Kirkwell, with the one closest to Kirkwell listed first.
    • Pritchett
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Pritchett have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pritchett
      • Pritchett is located in Baca County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 130 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Pritchett <2>
    • Campo
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
    • Springfield
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Springfield have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Springfield
      • Springfield is located in Baca County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,364 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Springfield <2>
  • Las Animas County
    • Kim
      (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Kim have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kim
      • Kim is located in Las Animas County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 70 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Kim <2>
  • Union County (NM)
    • Moses
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Moses
      • Moses is located in Union County (NM)
  • Cimarron County (OK)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Kirkwell, with the one closest to Kirkwell listed first.
    • Kenton
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
    • Mexhoma ‑ Historic
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mexhoma
      • Mexhoma is located in Cimarron County (OK)
    • Wheeless
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wheeless
      • Wheeless is located in Cimarron County (OK)

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

Newspapers Published in Kirkwell ...

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 13 newspapers that have been published in the area around Kirkwell.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Kirkwell, there are papers which were published within 25 miles [40.2 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Kirkwell.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we 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 Kirkwell:

Cemeteries Near Kirkwell ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Kirkwell.

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

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

  • Carrizo Springs Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Carrizo Springs Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Carrizo Springs Cemetery
  • Boggus Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
  • Chapel Hill Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Chapel Hill Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Chapel Hill Cemetery
  • Prairie Queen Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Prairie Queen Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Prairie Queen Cemetery
  • Andrix Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Andrix Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Andrix Cemetery
  • Kenton Cemetery
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Kenton Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Kenton Cemetery
  • Pritchett Cemetery
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Pritchett Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Pritchett Cemetery
  • Robb Cemetery
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Robb Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Robb Cemetery
  • Campo Cemetery
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Campo Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Campo Cemetery
  • Springfield Cemetery
    (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
  • Kim Cemetery
    (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Kim Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Kim Cemetery
  • Rodley Cemetery
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Rodley Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Rodley Cemetery
  • Continue List   (5 more) ...
    • Cedar Hill Cemetery
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Cedar Hill Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Cedar Hill Cemetery
    • Edenview Cemetery
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Edenview Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Edenview Cemetery
    • Atencio Cemetery
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
      • To give a relative sense of its location, the Atencio Cemetery is located 21 miles [33.8 km]<3> to the south of Clayton (NM).
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Atencio 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 Kirkwell in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Kirkwell.

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

  • Kenton
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
  • Atlanta
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Atlanta have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Atlanta
    • Atlanta is located in Baca County
  • Springfield
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Springfield have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Springfield
    • Springfield is located in Baca County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,364 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Springfield <2>

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

Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Kirkwell. 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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Kirkwell) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Kirkwell. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.1486, Longitude: -102.9410       In this case, the coordinates for Kirkwell 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 Kirkwell, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024