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 Rio Blanco (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 Rio Blanco. 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 northwest 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 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 west 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.

Rio Blanco is located in Rio Blanco 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 Rio Blanco County: Garfield, Moffat, Routt & Uintah (UT).

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

• Rio Blanco County     (The home county of Rio Blanco)
  • The following are listed by their distance from Rio Blanco, with the one closest to Rio Blanco listed first.
  • Meeker
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meeker
    • Meeker is located in Rio Blanco County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,318 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Meeker <1>
  • White River City
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for White River City have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for White River City
    • White River City is located in Rio Blanco County
• Garfield County
  • The following are listed by their distance from Rio Blanco, with the one closest to Rio Blanco listed first.
  • Rifle
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rifle have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rifle
    • Rifle is located in Garfield County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 9,775 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Rifle <1>
  • Battlement Mesa
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Battlement Mesa have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Battlement Mesa
    • Battlement Mesa is located in Garfield County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Battlement Mesa <1>
  • Parachute
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Parachute
    • Parachute is located in Garfield County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,114 people
    • Former name for Parachute:
    • Grand Valley
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Parachute <1>
  • Silt
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Silt have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Silt
    • Silt is located in Garfield County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,109 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Silt <1>
  • Una
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Una have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Una
    • Una is located in Garfield County
  • New Castle
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Castle
    • New Castle is located in Garfield County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 4,962 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for New Castle <1>
  • Chacra
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chacra
    • Chacra is located in Garfield County

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

Newspapers Published in Rio Blanco ...

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 17 newspapers that have been published in the area around Rio Blanco.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Rio Blanco, there are papers which were published within 24 miles [38.6 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Rio Blanco.

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 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 Rio Blanco:

• Websites specific to Colorado
  • Jump to Cyndi's List
  • Jump to Family Search
  • Jump to Genealogy Trails
  • Website for the //www.colorado.gov/archives/

• Pages specific to Rio Blanco County
  • Jump to Cyndi's List
  • Jump to Family Search
  • Jump to Genealogy Trails

• Genealogy information for nearby counties
  • Garfield County
    • Jump to Cyndi's List
    • Jump to Family Search
    • Jump to Genealogy Trails

• Cemetery Information and Directories for Colorado
  • Cemetery Junction: Cemeteries of Colorado
  • Cyndi's List
  • Cemeteries of Colorado
  • Cemeteries of Rio Blanco County
  • FamilySearch.org: Cemeteries of Colorado
  • Find-A-Grave: Home Page
  • Interment.net
  • Cemeteries of Colorado
  • Cemeteries of Rio Blanco County

Cemeteries Near Rio Blanco ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Rio Blanco.

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

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

• Rose Hill Cemetery
  (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Rose Hill Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Rose Hill Cemetery
• Russey - Hurlburt Cemetery
  (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Russey - Hurlburt Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Russey - Hurlburt Cemetery
• Highland Cemetery
  (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
  • The Highland Cemetery has also been known as:
  • Meeker Cemetery
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Highland Cemetery
  • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #57331 <4>
• Miller Hill / Piceance Creek Cemetery
  (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
  • The Miller Hill / Piceance Creek Cemetery has also been known as:
  • Miller Hill Cemetery
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Miller Hill / Piceance Creek Cemetery
  • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #57431 <4>
• Battlement Cemetery
  (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Battlement Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Battlement Cemetery
• Black Sulphur Cemetery
  (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Black Sulphur Cemetery
  • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2578800 <4>
• High Land Cemetery
  (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the High Land Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the High Land Cemetery
• Strawberry Cemetery
  (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Strawberry Cemetery
  • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #57565 <4>
• Fairview Cemetery
  (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Fairview Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Fairview Cemetery

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>

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

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

• Rifle
  (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rifle have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rifle
  • Rifle is located in Garfield County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 9,775 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Rifle <1>
• Antlers
  (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Antlers have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Antlers
  • Antlers is located in Garfield County
• Parachute
  (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Parachute
  • Parachute is located in Garfield County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,114 people
  • Former name for Parachute:
  • Grand Valley
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Parachute <1>
• Una
  (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Una have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Una
  • Una is located in Garfield County
• New Castle
  (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Castle
  • New Castle is located in Garfield County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 4,962 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for New Castle <1>
• Buford
  (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Buford have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Buford
  • Buford is located in Rio Blanco County
• Chacra
  (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chacra
  • Chacra is located in Garfield County
• White River City
  (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for White River City have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for White River City
  • White River City is located in Rio Blanco County

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

Off-the-Road Links ...

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

The official website for Rio Blanco County: www.co.rio-blanco.co.us/

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