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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 Monson (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 Monson. 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 southeast corner of their home county. During their lives, most hospitals and doctors were in the next county to the east. 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 east 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.

Monson is located in Huerfano 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 Huerfano County: Alamosa, Costilla, Custer, Las Animas & Pueblo.

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

  • Huerfano County     (The home county of Monson)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Monson, with the one closest to Monson listed first.
    • Walsenburg
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Cuchara Junction
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
      • Cuchara Junction is located in Huerfano County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cuchara Junction
    • Calumet
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Calumet is located in Huerfano County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Calumet
    • Alamo
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Alamo is located in Huerfano County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alamo
    • La Veta
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
    • Tioga
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Tioga is located in Huerfano County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tioga
    • Lascar
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
      • Lascar is located in Huerfano County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lascar
    • Cuchara
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
    • Apache City
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
      • Apache City is located in Huerfano County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Apache City
    • Muleshoe
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
      • Muleshoe is located in Huerfano County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Muleshoe
    • La Veta Pass
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
      • La Veta Pass is located in Huerfano County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for La Veta Pass
    • Uptop ‑ Historic
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
      • Uptop is located in Huerfano County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Uptop
  • Las Animas County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Monson, with the one closest to Monson listed first.
    • Aguilar
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Gulnare
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
    • Ludlow ‑ Historic
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Ludlow is located in Las Animas County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ludlow
    • Boncarbo
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
    • El Moro
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
      • El Moro is located in Las Animas County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for El Moro
    • Hoehne
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Cokedale
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
      • Cokedale is located in Las Animas County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cokedale
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 121 people
    • Beshoar
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Beshoar is located in Las Animas County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beshoar
    • Trinidad
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Model
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
    • Madrid ‑ Historic
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
      • Madrid is located in Las Animas County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Madrid
    • Segundo
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
  • Pueblo County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Monson, with the one closest to Monson listed first.
    • Greenhorn
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
      • Greenhorn is located in Pueblo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenhorn
    • Colorado City
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
      • Colorado City is located in Pueblo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Colorado City
    • Rye
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Rye is located in Pueblo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rye
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 253 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Rye <1>

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

Cemeteries Near Monson ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Monson.

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 Monson - one of the links might be able to help.

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

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

  • Laguna Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
  • St. Anthony Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
  • Thomas Rodger Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
  • Bustos Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
  • Valdez Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
  • Trujillo Creek Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
  • St. Marys Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Old La Veta Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
  • Jarosa Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
  • Valdez Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
  • La Veta Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for La Veta Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the La Veta Cemetery is located less than 2 miles<2> to the east of La Veta.
    • The La Veta Cemetery has also been known as:
    • La Veta Spanish Cemetery
    • La Wahatoya Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2256280 <3>
  • Albertson Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
  • Continue List   (37 more) ...
    • Chavez Cemetery
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
    • Prince Cemetery
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
    • Speed Cemetery
      (18 miles [29 km] to the north)

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.<4>

While we didn't find Monson in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Monson.

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

  • Rouse
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Rouse is located in Huerfano County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rouse
  • Aguilar
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
  • Walsenburg
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
  • Cuchara Junction
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Cuchara Junction is located in Huerfano County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cuchara Junction
  • Pictou
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Pictou is located in Huerfano County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pictou
  • Gulnare
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
  • La Veta
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
  • Tioga
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Tioga is located in Huerfano County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tioga
  • Forbes ‑ Historic
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Forbes is located in Las Animas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Forbes
  • Badito
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Badito is located in Huerfano County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Badito
  • El Moro
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
    • El Moro is located in Las Animas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for El Moro
  • Trinidad
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
  • Continue List   (9 more) ...
    • Earl
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Earl is located in Las Animas County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Earl
    • Muleshoe
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
      • Muleshoe is located in Huerfano County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Muleshoe
    • Weston
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)

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

Newspapers Published in Monson ...

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 66 newspapers that have been published in the area around Monson.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Monson, there are papers which were published within 26 miles [41.8 km]<2>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Monson.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we first turn to 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 Monson:

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>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- Monson) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>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.
<4>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 Monson, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.