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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 Rockwood (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 Rockwood. 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.

Rockwood is located in La Plata 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 La Plata County: Archuleta, Dolores, Hinsdale, Montezuma, San Juan & San Juan (NM).

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

  • La Plata County     (The home county of Rockwood)
  • Dolores County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Rockwood, with the one closest to Rockwood listed first.
    • Rico
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rico have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rico
      • Rico is located in Dolores County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 262 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Rico <1>
    • Dunton ‑ Historic
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
  • Montezuma County
    • Mancos
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mancos have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mancos
      • Mancos is located in Montezuma County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,398 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Mancos <1>
  • Ouray County
  • San Juan County
  • San Miguel County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Rockwood, with the one closest to Rockwood listed first.
    • Ophir
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
    • Ames ‑ Historic
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Ames. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ames
      • Ames is located in San Miguel County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Ames
      • From Rockwood to Ames
    • Alta ‑ Historic
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
    • Ilium
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Ilium. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ilium
      • Ilium is located in San Miguel County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Ilium
      • From Rockwood to Ilium
    • Liberty Bell ‑ Historic
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
    • Mountain Village
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mountain Village have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mountain Village
      • Mountain Village is located in San Miguel County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,470 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Mountain Village <1>
    • Pandora
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
    • Telluride
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
    • Tomboy ‑ Historic
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Tomboy. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tomboy
      • Tomboy is located in San Miguel County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Tomboy
      • From Rockwood to Tomboy
    • Vance Junction
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)

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

Cemeteries Near Rockwood ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Rockwood.

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

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

  • Hermosa Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Hermosa Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Hermosa Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Shreck Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Shreck Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Shreck Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Animas Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Animas Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Animas Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Green Mtn. Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Green Mtn. Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Green Mtn. Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Greenmount Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
  • Crestview Memorial Garden
    (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Crestview Memorial Garden
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Crestview Memorial Garden have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Rico Cemetery
    (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Rico Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Rico Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Hesperus Cemetery
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Hesperus Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Hesperus Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Bayfield Cemetery
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Bayfield Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Bayfield Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Thompson Park Cemetery
    (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Thompson Park Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Thompson Park Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Hay Gulch Cemetery
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Hay Gulch Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Hay Gulch Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Hillside Cemetery
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
  • Continue List   (10 more) ...

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, Rockwood had a post office and railroad service.

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

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

Newspapers Published in Rockwood ...

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 102 newspapers that have been published in the area around Rockwood.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Rockwood, there are papers which were published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<6>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Rockwood.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we first turn to 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 Rockwood:

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

The official website for La Plata County: www.co.laplata.co.us/

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>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.
<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 Rockwood, 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 drawn from Point A (ie- Rockwood) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Rockwood. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.4910, Longitude: -107.8025    









 

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This page was last modified/updated: 28 Apr 2025