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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 Water Valley (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 Water Valley. 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 Water Valley ...

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 occur.

Another variation: Watervalley.

  • A typical abbreviation for Water Valley: Water Vly. (or less commonly used: Water Vally. or Water Vlly.)

You might be interested in other communities that are also named Water Valley. More information can be found on our Tidbits & Trivia Page for Water Valley.

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.

Water Valley is located in Kiowa County.

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 Kiowa County: Bent, Cheyenne, Crowley, Lincoln, Otero, Prowers & Greeley (KS).

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

  • Kiowa County     (The home county of Water Valley)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Water Valley, with the one closest to Water Valley listed first.
    • Chivington
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Chivington is located in Kiowa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chivington
    • Sheridan Lake
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Eads
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
    • Galatea
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
      • Galatea is located in Kiowa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Galatea
  • Bent County
    • Big Bend
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
      • Big Bend is located in Bent County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Big Bend
  • Cheyenne County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Water Valley, with the one closest to Water Valley listed first.
    • Cheyenne Wells
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
    • Firstview
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
      • Firstview is located in Cheyenne County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Firstview
    • Kit Carson
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Arapahoe
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Prowers County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Water Valley, with the one closest to Water Valley listed first.
    • Kornman
      (23 miles [37 km] to the south)
      • Kornman is located in Prowers County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kornman
    • Wiley
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Grote
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
      • Grote is located in Prowers County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grote
    • Lamar
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
      • Lamar is located in Prowers County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lamar
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 7,641 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Lamar <1>
    • Hartman
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Granada
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
  • Greeley County (KS)
    • Kanco ‑ Historic
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
      • Kanco is located in Greeley County (KS)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kanco

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

Cemeteries Near Water Valley ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Water Valley.

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 Water Valley - one of the links might be able to help.

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

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

  • Water Valley Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
  • Plainview Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
  • Chivington Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
  • France Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
  • Sheridan Lake Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
  • Eads Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
  • Eads Pioneer Cemetery
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eads Pioneer Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Eads Pioneer Cemetery is located outside and to the south of Eads.
    • The Eads Pioneer Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Eads Old Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2307806 <2>
  • Towner Cemetery
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
  • Fairview Cemetery
    (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fairview Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Fairview Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located outside and to the southeast of Cheyenne Wells.
    • The Fairview Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Cheyenne Wells Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #57276 <2>
  • Sunnyslope Cemetery
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
  • Wiley Cemetery
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
  • Mathews Cemetery
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
  • Continue List   (12 more) ...
    • Crawford Cemetery
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
    • G.A.R. Cemetery
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for G.A.R. Cemetery
      • To give a relative sense of its location, the G.A.R. Cemetery is located 11 miles [17.7 km]<3> to the west of Tribune (KS).
      • The G.A.R. Cemetery has also been known as:
      • Rodgers Cemetery
      • Rogers Cemetery
      • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #93519 <2>
    • Riverside Cemetery
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)

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>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that in 1895, Water Valley had a post office and no railroad service.

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

  • Brandon
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Brandon is located in Kiowa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brandon
  • Chivington
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Chivington is located in Kiowa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chivington
  • Sheridan Lake
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
  • Stuart
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
    • Stuart is located in Kiowa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stuart
  • Eads
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
  • Towner
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
    • Towner is located in Kiowa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Towner
  • Cheyenne Wells
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
  • Firstview
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
    • Firstview is located in Cheyenne County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Firstview
  • Carlton
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
    • Carlton is located in Prowers County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carlton
  • Kit Carson
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
  • Lamar
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
    • Lamar is located in Prowers County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lamar
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 7,641 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Lamar <1>
  • Granada
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)

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

Newspapers Published in Water Valley ...

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 26 newspapers that have been published in the area around Water Valley.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Water Valley, there are papers which were published within 29 miles [46.7 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Water Valley.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we like to start with the websites from Cyndi's List, FamilySearch and Genealogy Trails. These helpful 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 Water Valley:

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 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.
<3>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- Water Valley) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Water Valley, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.