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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 Cloudcroft (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 Cloudcroft. 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 and 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.

Cloudcroft is located in Otero County.

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

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Otero County: Chaves, Dona Ana, Eddy, Lincoln, Sierra, Culberson (TX) & Hudspeth (TX).

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

  • Otero County     (The home county of Cloudcroft)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Cloudcroft, with the one closest to Cloudcroft listed first.
    • Mountain Park
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mountain Park
      • Mountain Park is located in Otero County
    • High Rolls
      (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for High Rolls
      • High Rolls is located in Otero County
    • La Luz
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Hortonville
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hortonville
      • Hortonville is located in Otero County
    • Sunspot
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunspot
      • Sunspot is located in Otero County
    • Alamogordo
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Alamogordo have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alamogordo
      • Alamogordo is located in Otero County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 32,126 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Alamogordo <1>
    • Mescalero
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
    • Mayhill
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
    • Bent
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Sacramento
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Weed
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Boles Acres
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Boles Acres
      • Boles Acres is located in Otero County
    • Tularosa
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
  • Lincoln County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Cloudcroft, with the one closest to Cloudcroft listed first.
    • Hollywood
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hollywood
      • Hollywood is located in Lincoln County
    • Ruidoso Downs
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ruidoso Downs have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ruidoso Downs
      • Ruidoso Downs is located in Lincoln County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,631 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Ruidoso Downs <1>
    • Ruidoso
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
    • Alpine Cellars Village
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Alpine Cellars Village have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alpine Cellars Village
      • Alpine Cellars Village is located in Lincoln County

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Cloudcroft ...

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 44 newspapers that have been published in the area around Cloudcroft.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Cloudcroft. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Cloudcroft and those printed in the larger area surrounding Cloudcroft.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 28 miles [45.1 km]<3> of Cloudcroft.

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 Cloudcroft:

Cemeteries Near Cloudcroft ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Cloudcroft.

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

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

  • Bass Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Bass Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Bass Cemetery
  • James Canyon Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
  • Marcia Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Marcia Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Marcia Cemetery
  • Sixteen Springs Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Sixteen Springs Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Sixteen Springs Cemetery
  • Carner Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Parker Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
  • White Dove of the Desert Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
  • Immaculate Conception Catholic Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
  • Monte Vista Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
  • La Luz Community Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
  • Our Lady of the Light Catholic Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
  • Mescalero Indian Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
  • Continue List   (21 more) ...
    • Blazer Cemetery
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
    • Blazers Cemetery
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Blazers Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Blazers Cemetery
    • Mayhill Cemetery
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)

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 Cloudcroft in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Cloudcroft.

  • Ruidoso
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)

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

The official website for Cloudcroft: www.villageofcloudcroft.com/

The official website for Otero County: www.co.otero.nm.us/

The official website for State of New Mexico: www.newmexico.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>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 drawn from Point A (ie- Cloudcroft) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Cloudcroft. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 32.9533, Longitude: -105.7407    
<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 Cloudcroft, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024