RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of New Mexico >> Bernalillo County >> Arenal >> Genealogy HelperIndex...

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 Arenal (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 Arenal. 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.

Arenal is located in Bernalillo County.

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

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Bernalillo County: Cibola, Sandoval, Santa Fe, Torrance & Valencia.

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

  • Bernalillo County     (The home county of Arenal)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Arenal, with the one closest to Arenal listed first.
    • Old Town
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Old Town is located in Bernalillo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Old Town
    • South Valley
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
      • South Valley is located in Bernalillo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Valley
    • Martinez Town
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Martinez Town is located in Bernalillo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Martinez Town
    • Albuquerque
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Barr
      (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
      • Barr is located in Bernalillo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Barr
    • Los Ranchos de Albuquerque
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
      • Los Ranchos de Albuquerque is located in Bernalillo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Los Ranchos de Albuquerque
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 6,129 people
    • Mesa Village
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
      • Mesa Village is located in Bernalillo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mesa Village
    • Paradise Hills
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
      • Paradise Hills is located in Bernalillo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Paradise Hills
    • Hoffmantown
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Hoffmantown is located in Bernalillo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hoffmantown
    • North Valley
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
      • North Valley is located in Bernalillo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Valley
    • Alameda
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Isleta Pueblo
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
      • Isleta Pueblo is located in Bernalillo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Isleta Pueblo
    • Isleta
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
  • Sandoval County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Arenal, with the one closest to Arenal listed first.
    • Pueblo of Sandia Village
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Bernalillo
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Placitas
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
    • Algodones
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Diamond Tail Ranch
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Diamond Tail Ranch is located in Sandoval County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Diamond Tail Ranch
    • Santa Ana Pueblo
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
    • San Felipe Pueblo
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
      • San Felipe Pueblo is located in Sandoval County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for San Felipe Pueblo
  • Santa Fe County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Arenal, with the one closest to Arenal listed first.
    • Edgewood
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
    • Cedar Grove
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
      • Cedar Grove is located in Santa Fe County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Grove
  • Valencia County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Arenal, with the one closest to Arenal listed first.
    • Bosque Farms
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
    • Peralta
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
    • Los Lunas
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
    • Valencia
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
      • Valencia is located in Valencia County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Valencia
    • Meadow Lake
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
      • Meadow Lake is located in Valencia County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadow Lake
    • Tome
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
    • Belen
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
      • Belen is located in Valencia County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Belen
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 7,496 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Belen <1>
    • Rio Communities
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
    • Jarales
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)

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

Cemeteries Near Arenal ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Arenal.

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 Arenal - one of the links might be able to help.

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

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

  • San Jose de Armijo Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
  • Santa Clara Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
  • San Jose Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
  • Benino Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
  • Pajarito Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
  • Fairview Memorial Park
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
  • Mt. Calvary Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mt. Calvary Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Mt. Calvary Cemetery is a very large cemetery that is located in Albuquerque.
    • The Mt. Calvary Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Mt. Calvary Catholic Cemetery
    • Santa Barbara Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #38252 <2>
  • Sunset Memorial Park
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
  • Los Padillas Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
  • Mt. Carmel Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
  • Isleta Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
  • San Carlos Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
  • Continue List   (44 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.<3>

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

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

  • Pajarito ‑ Historic
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Pajarito is located in Bernalillo County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pajarito
  • Barr
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Barr is located in Bernalillo County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Barr
  • Albuquerque
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
  • Isleta
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
  • Alameda
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
  • Corrales
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
  • Peralta
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
  • Los Lunas
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
  • Tome
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
  • Rio Puerco
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Rio Puerco is located in Valencia County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rio Puerco
  • Belen
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
    • Belen is located in Valencia County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Belen
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 7,496 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Belen <1>

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

Newspapers Published in Arenal ...

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 188 newspapers that have been published in the area around Arenal.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Arenal, there are papers which were published within 27 miles [43.5 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Arenal.

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 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 Arenal:

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>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 Arenal, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Arenal) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.