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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 Sterling (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 Sterling. 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 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.

Sterling is located in Logan County and is the County Seat.

To see how the shape of Colorado's counties may have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Logan County: Morgan, Phillips, Sedgwick, Washington, Weld, Yuma, Cheyenne (NE) & Kimball (NE).

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

  • Logan County     (The home county of Sterling)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Sterling, with the one closest to Sterling listed first.
    • Atwood
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Padroni
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Iliff
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Merino
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Buchanan ‑ Historic
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
      • Buchanan is located in Logan County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Buchanan
    • Leroy
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Leroy is located in Logan County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leroy
    • Willard ‑ Historic
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
      • Willard is located in Logan County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Willard
    • Fleming
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
    • Saint Petersburg
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
      • Saint Petersburg is located in Logan County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saint Petersburg
    • Peetz
      (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
    • Dailey
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
      • Dailey is located in Logan County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dailey
    • Crook
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
  • Morgan County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Sterling, with the one closest to Sterling listed first.
    • Hillrose
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Snyder
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Phillips County
    • Haxtun
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
  • Washington County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Sterling, with the one closest to Sterling listed first.
    • Messex
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
      • Messex is located in Washington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Messex
    • Burdett ‑ Historic
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Burdett is located in Washington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Burdett
    • Lone Star ‑ Historic
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Lone Star is located in Washington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lone Star
    • Leslie ‑ Historic
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Leslie is located in Washington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leslie
    • Curtis ‑ Historic
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
      • Curtis is located in Washington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Curtis
    • Midway ‑ Historic
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
      • Midway is located in Washington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Midway
  • Weld County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Sterling, with the one closest to Sterling listed first.
    • Stoneham
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
    • Avalo
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Avalo is located in Weld County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Avalo
      • Former name for Avalo:
      • Greasewood Flats
  • Cheyenne County (NE)
    • Lorenzo
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
      • Lorenzo is located in Cheyenne County (NE)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lorenzo

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

Cemeteries Near Sterling ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Sterling.

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.

Although we don't have the information ourselves, if you need information about a burial or interment, photos, transcripts, how to contact the cemetery or local authorities, please visit our list of websites on our Genealogy Helper Page for Sterling - one of the links might be able to help.

If not found below, our Cemetery List for Sterling covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.

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

  • Riverside Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
  • Sunset Memorial Gardens Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
  • Summit Springs Battlefield Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
  • Grave of Susanna Alderdice
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
  • Kelly Community Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
  • Merino Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
  • Leroy Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
  • Prairie Lawn Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
  • Fleming Cemetery
    (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
  • New Haven Cemetery
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
  • St. Peters Cemetery
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
  • Burdett Cemetery
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
  • Continue List   (10 more) ...
    • Peetz Cemetery
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
    • Curtis Cemetery
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
    • Prairie View Cemetery
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)

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.<2>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Sterling had a population of 540 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Sterling had a population of 14,078 people.

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

  • Atwood
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Galien
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Galien is located in Logan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Galien
  • Iliff
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Merino
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Willard ‑ Historic
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
    • Willard is located in Logan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Willard
  • Leroy
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Leroy is located in Logan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leroy
  • Proctor ‑ Historic
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Proctor is located in Logan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Proctor
  • Fleming
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
  • Balzac
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Balzac is located in Morgan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Balzac
  • Burdett ‑ Historic
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Burdett is located in Washington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Burdett
  • Stoneham
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
  • Leslie ‑ Historic
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Leslie is located in Washington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leslie
  • Continue List   (4 more) ...
    • Crook
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Curtis ‑ Historic
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
      • Curtis is located in Washington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Curtis
    • Haxtun
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Sterling ...

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 32 newspapers that have been published in the area around Sterling.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Sterling. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Sterling and those printed in the larger area surrounding Sterling.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 29 miles [46.7 km]<3> of Sterling.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we begin 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 Sterling:

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>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 Sterling, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<3>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Sterling) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.