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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 Poncha Springs (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 Poncha Springs. 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 Poncha Springs ...

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 have occurred.

For example, a typical abbreviation for Poncha Springs: Poncha Spgs. (or less commonly used: Poncha Spngs. or Poncha Sprngs.)

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 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.

Poncha Springs is located in Chaffee 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 Chaffee County: Fremont, Gunnison, Lake, Park, Pitkin & Saguache.

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

  • Chaffee County     (The home county of Poncha Springs)
  • Fremont County
  • Gunnison County
  • Saguache County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Poncha Springs, with the one closest to Poncha Springs listed first.
    • Bonanza
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
    • Kerper City
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Kerper City have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kerper City
      • Kerper City is located in Saguache County
    • Villa Grove
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Villa Grove have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Villa Grove
      • Villa Grove is located in Saguache County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Villa Grove <1>
    • Sargents
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sargents have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sargents
      • Sargents is located in Saguache County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Sargents <1>
    • Spook City
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Spook City have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spook City
      • Spook City is located in Saguache County
    • Saguache
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Saguache have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saguache
      • Saguache is located in Saguache County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 531 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Saguache <1>

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

Cemeteries Near Poncha Springs ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Poncha Springs.

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Poncha Springs, with the one closest to Poncha Springs 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.<5>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Poncha Springs had a population of 101 people in 1895 with a post office and no railroad service. In 2020, Poncha Springs had a population of 1,134 people.

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

  • Mears Junction
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
  • Salida
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
  • Belleview
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
  • Cleora
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Cleora. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cleora
    • Cleora is located in Chaffee County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Cleora
    • From Poncha Springs to Cleora
  • Browns Canon
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
  • Maysville ‑ Historic
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
  • Wellsville
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
  • Alder ‑ Historic
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Alder have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alder
    • Alder is located in Saguache County
  • Garfield ‑ Historic
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Garfield have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Garfield
    • Garfield is located in Chaffee County
  • Monarch
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
  • Howard
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
  • Chester
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Chester have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chester
    • Chester is located in Saguache County
  • Continue List   (16 more) ...
    • Bonanza
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
    • Nathrop
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Nathrop have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nathrop
      • Nathrop is located in Chaffee County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Nathrop <1>
    • Alpine ‑ Historic
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Alpine have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alpine
      • Alpine is located in Chaffee County

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

Newspapers Published in Poncha Springs ...

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 58 newspapers that have been published in the area around Poncha Springs.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Poncha Springs, there are papers which were published within 29 miles [46.7 km]<6>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Poncha Springs.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we first visit 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 Poncha Springs:

The official website for Poncha Springs: www.ponchaspringscolorado.us/

The official website for Chaffee County: www.chaffeecounty.org/

The official website for State of Colorado: https://www.colorado.gov/

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>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.
<3>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.
<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 Poncha Springs, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<6>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 from Point A (ie- Poncha Springs) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Poncha Springs. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.5146, Longitude: -106.0766    









 

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This page was last modified/updated: 28 Apr 2025