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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 Occidental (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 Occidental. 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 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.

Occidental 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 Occidental. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Occidental:

  • Huerfano County     (The home county of Occidental)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Occidental, with the one closest to Occidental listed first.
    • La Veta
      (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Muleshoe
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Muleshoe is located in Huerfano County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Muleshoe
    • Uptop ‑ Historic
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Uptop is located in Huerfano County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Uptop
    • La Veta Pass
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
      • La Veta Pass is located in Huerfano County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for La Veta Pass
    • Cuchara
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Alamo
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Alamo is located in Huerfano County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alamo
    • Tioga
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Tioga is located in Huerfano County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tioga
    • Gardner
      (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
    • Calumet
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
      • Calumet is located in Huerfano County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Calumet
    • Red Wing
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
    • Walsenburg
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Cuchara Junction
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Cuchara Junction is located in Huerfano County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cuchara Junction
  • Costilla County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Occidental, with the one closest to Occidental listed first.
    • Russell ‑ Historic
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
      • Russell is located in Costilla County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Russell
    • Garland City ‑ Historic
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
      • Garland City is located in Costilla County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Garland City
    • Fort Garland
      (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
    • Blanca
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
    • San Luis
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Chama
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
    • San Pablo
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Las Animas County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Occidental, with the one closest to Occidental listed first.
    • Monument Park
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
      • Monument Park is located in Las Animas County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Monument Park
    • Gulnare
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
    • Aguilar
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
    • Weston
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Boncarbo
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Pueblo County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Occidental, with the one closest to Occidental listed first.
    • Rye
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
      • 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>
    • Greenhorn
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Greenhorn is located in Pueblo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenhorn

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

Cemeteries Near Occidental ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Occidental.

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

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

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

  • Oak View Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
  • La Veta Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • 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>
  • Old La Veta Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
  • Chavez Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
  • Yellowstone Creek Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
  • Sanches Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
  • Laguna Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
  • Farisita Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
  • Thomas Rodger Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
  • Gonzales Cemetery
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
  • Chama Cemetery
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
  • Brennaman Cemetery
    (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
  • Continue List   (28 more) ...
    • Ft. Garland Cemetery
      (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
    • Hicks Cemetery
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
    • Scott Cemetery
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)

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 Occidental in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Occidental.

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

  • La Veta
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
  • Muleshoe
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Muleshoe is located in Huerfano County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Muleshoe
  • Russell ‑ Historic
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Russell is located in Costilla County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Russell
  • Garland City ‑ Historic
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
    • Garland City is located in Costilla County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Garland City
  • Badito
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
    • Badito is located in Huerfano County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Badito
  • Tioga
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Tioga is located in Huerfano County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tioga
  • Fort Garland
    (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
  • Malachite
    (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
    • Malachite is located in Huerfano County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Malachite
  • Pictou
    (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
    • Pictou is located in Huerfano County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pictou
  • Gardner
    (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
  • Walsenburg
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
  • Sharpsdale
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Sharpsdale is located in Huerfano County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sharpsdale
  • Continue List   (10 more) ...
    • Rouse
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
      • Rouse is located in Huerfano County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rouse
    • Blanca
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
    • Gulnare
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)

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

Newspapers Published in Occidental ...

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 23 newspapers that have been published in the area around Occidental.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Occidental, there are papers which were published within 27 miles [43.5 km]<2>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Occidental.

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 websites either 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 Occidental:

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 '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- Occidental) 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 Occidental, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.