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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 Paradox (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 Paradox. 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 northeast 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 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 east 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.

Paradox is located in Montrose 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 Montrose County: Delta, Gunnison, Mesa, Ouray, San Miguel & San Juan (UT).

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

  • Montrose County     (The home county of Paradox)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Paradox, with the one closest to Paradox listed first.
    • Bedrock
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bedrock have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bedrock
      • Bedrock is located in Montrose County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Bedrock <2>
    • Uravan ‑ Historic
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Uravan
      • Uravan is located in Montrose County
    • Vancorum
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vancorum
      • Vancorum is located in Montrose County
    • Nucla
      (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Nucla have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nucla
      • Nucla is located in Montrose County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 688 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Nucla <2>
    • Naturita
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
    • Mountain View
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mountain View have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mountain View
      • Mountain View is located in Montrose County
  • Mesa County
  • San Miguel County
  • Grand County (UT)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Paradox, with the one closest to Paradox listed first.
    • Basin ‑ Historic
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Basin
      • Basin is located in Grand County (UT)
    • Castleton ‑ Historic
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Castleton
      • Castleton is located in Grand County (UT)
    • Wilson's Mesa ‑ Historic
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Wilson's Mesa. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wilson's Mesa
      • Wilson's Mesa is located in Grand County (UT)
      • Wilson's Mesa has also been known as:
      • Mesa
    • Plainfield ‑ Historic
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Plainfield. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plainfield
      • Plainfield is located in Grand County (UT)
      • Plainfield has also been known as:
      • Bueno
      • Poverty Flat
      • Poverty Flats
      • Spanish Valley
    • Castle Valley
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Castle Valley have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Castle Valley
      • Castle Valley is located in Grand County (UT)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 351 people
  • San Juan County (UT)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Paradox, with the one closest to Paradox listed first.
    • La Sal ‑ Historic
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for La Sal. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for La Sal
      • La Sal is located in San Juan County (UT)
      • Former name for La Sal:
      • Coyote
      • La Sal has also been known as:
      • Old La Sal
    • La Sal
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
    • Spanish Valley
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spanish Valley
      • Spanish Valley is located in San Juan County (UT)

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

Cemeteries Near Paradox ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Paradox.

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

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

  • Paradox Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Paradox Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Paradox Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • La Sal Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
  • Andy Swenson Gravesite
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
  • Nucla Cemetery
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Nucla Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Nucla Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Pinhook Battle Site Cemetery
    (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
  • Castleton Cemetery
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
  • Hole 'n the Rock Cemetery
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Hole 'n the Rock Cemetery
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for the Hole 'n the Rock Cemetery. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>

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>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that in 1895, Paradox had a post office and no railroad service.

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

  • Bedrock
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bedrock have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bedrock
    • Bedrock is located in Montrose County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Bedrock <2>
  • La Sal ‑ Historic
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for La Sal. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for La Sal
    • La Sal is located in San Juan County (UT)
    • Former name for La Sal:
    • Coyote
    • La Sal has also been known as:
    • Old La Sal
  • La Sal
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
  • Naturita
    (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 Paradox. See our List of 1890's Communities around Paradox.

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 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 Paradox:

Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Paradox. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.

The official website for Montrose County: www.co.montrose.co.us/

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>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.
<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 Paradox, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 28 Apr 2025