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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 Reilly Canyon (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 Reilly Canyon. 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 Reilly Canyon ...

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 Reilly Canyon: Reilly Cyn. (or less commonly used: Reilly Canyn. or Reilly Cnyn.)

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 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.

Reilly Canyon is located in Las Animas 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 Las Animas County: Baca, Bent, Costilla, Huerfano, Otero, Pueblo, Colfax (NM) & Union (NM).

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

  • Las Animas County     (The home county of Reilly Canyon)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Reilly Canyon, with the one closest to Reilly Canyon listed first.
    • Boncarbo
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Boncarbo have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Boncarbo
      • Boncarbo is located in Las Animas County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Boncarbo <2>
    • Gulnare
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Ludlow ‑ Historic
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ludlow
      • Ludlow is located in Las Animas County
    • Segundo
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Valdez
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Valdez
      • Valdez is located in Las Animas County
    • Cokedale
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cokedale
      • Cokedale is located in Las Animas County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 121 people
    • Madrid ‑ Historic
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Madrid
      • Madrid is located in Las Animas County
    • Aguilar
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Sopris ‑ Historic
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Sopris. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sopris
      • Sopris is located in Las Animas County
    • Weston
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Trinidad
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
    • El Moro
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for El Moro
      • El Moro is located in Las Animas County
    • Engleville
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Engleville. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Engleville
      • Engleville is located in Las Animas County
  • Huerfano County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Reilly Canyon, with the one closest to Reilly Canyon listed first.
    • La Veta
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
    • Cuchara
      (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
    • Walsenburg
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Walsenburg have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Walsenburg
      • Walsenburg is located in Huerfano County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,003 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Walsenburg <2>
    • Cuchara Junction
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cuchara Junction have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cuchara Junction
      • Cuchara Junction is located in Huerfano County
    • Alamo
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alamo
      • Alamo is located in Huerfano County
  • Colfax County (NM)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Reilly Canyon, with the one closest to Reilly Canyon listed first.
    • Brilliant ‑ Historic
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brilliant
      • Brilliant is located in Colfax County (NM)
    • Raton
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Raton
      • Raton is located in Colfax County (NM)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 5,923 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Raton <2>

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

Cemeteries Near Reilly Canyon ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Reilly Canyon.

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

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

  • Albertson Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Albertson Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Albertson Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Burro Canyon Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Burro Canyon Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Burro Canyon Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jarosa Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Jarosa Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Jarosa Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Trujillo Creek Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Trujillo Creek Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Trujillo Creek Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • San Juan Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the San Juan Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the San Juan Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • San Juan Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the San Juan Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the San Juan Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Tijeras Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Tijeras Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Tijeras Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Carpios Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Carpios Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Carpios Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • St. Anthony Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Anthony Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Anthony Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Prince Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Prince Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Prince Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Weston Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Weston Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Weston Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Vigil Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Vigil Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Vigil Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (34 more) ...
    • Jansen Cemetery
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Jansen Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Jansen Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Masonic Cemetery
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
    • Scott Cemetery
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Scott Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Scott Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.

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

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

  • Gulnare
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
  • Forbes ‑ Historic
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Forbes have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Forbes
    • Forbes is located in Las Animas County
  • Madrid ‑ Historic
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Madrid
    • Madrid is located in Las Animas County
  • Aguilar
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
  • Weston
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Sopris ‑ Historic
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Sopris. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sopris
    • Sopris is located in Las Animas County
  • Trinidad
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
  • El Moro
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for El Moro
    • El Moro is located in Las Animas County
  • Starkville
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
  • Engleville
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Engleville. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Engleville
    • Engleville is located in Las Animas County
  • Rouse
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rouse have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rouse
    • Rouse is located in Huerfano County
  • Stonewall
    (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Stonewall have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stonewall
    • Stonewall is located in Las Animas County
  • Continue List   (9 more) ...
    • Morley
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Morley have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Morley
      • Morley is located in Las Animas County
    • Wootton
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Wootton have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wootton
      • Wootton is located in Las Animas County
    • La Veta
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)

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

Newspapers Published in Reilly Canyon ...

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 31 newspapers that have been published in the area around Reilly Canyon.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Reilly Canyon, there are papers which were published within 28 miles [45.1 km]<5>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Reilly Canyon.

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 Reilly Canyon:

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

The official website for Las Animas County: www.tlac.net/county/

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>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 Reilly Canyon, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<5>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- Reilly Canyon) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Reilly Canyon. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.2545, Longitude: -104.7100       In this case, the coordinates for Reilly Canyon have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).




 

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In closing, please keep in mind that we can not guarantee the accuracy or timeliness of the information on this website, so use with care. We encourage you to double-check the information that is critical to you.

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This page was last modified/updated: 28 Apr 2025