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 Escondida Crossing (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 Escondida Crossing. 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 Escondida Crossing ...

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 have occurred.

For example, a typical abbreviation for Escondida Crossing: Escondida Xing.

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 southwest corner of their home county. During their lives, most hospitals and 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.

Escondida Crossing 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 Escondida Crossing. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Escondida Crossing:

• Otero County     (The home county of Escondida Crossing)
  • The following are listed by their distance from Escondida Crossing, with the one closest to Escondida Crossing listed first.
  • Boles Acres
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Boles Acres
    • Boles Acres is located in Otero County
  • Orogrande
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Orogrande
    • Orogrande is located in Otero County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Orogrande <1>
  • Sunspot
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunspot
    • Sunspot is located in Otero County
  • Timberon
    (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Timberon have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Timberon
    • Timberon is located in Otero County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Timberon <1>
  • Alamogordo
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
    • 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>
  • High Rolls
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for High Rolls
    • High Rolls is located in Otero County
  • La Luz
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for La Luz
    • La Luz is located in Otero County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for La Luz <1>
  • Mountain Park
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mountain Park
    • Mountain Park is located in Otero County
  • Cloudcroft
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cloudcroft
    • Cloudcroft is located in Otero County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 704 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Cloudcroft <1>
  • Sacramento
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sacramento
    • Sacramento is located in Otero County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Sacramento <1>

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

Newspapers Published in Escondida Crossing ...

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 30 newspapers that have been published in the area around Escondida Crossing.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Escondida Crossing, 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 Escondida Crossing.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we first visit 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 Escondida Crossing:

• Websites specific to New Mexico
  • Jump to Cyndi's List
  • Jump to Family Search
  • Jump to Genealogy Trails
  • Website for the State Records Center and Archives

• Pages specific to Otero County
  • Jump to Cyndi's List
  • Jump to Family Search
  • Jump to Genealogy Trails

• Cemetery Information and Directories for New Mexico
  • Cemetery Junction: Cemeteries of New Mexico
  • Cyndi's List
  • Cemeteries of New Mexico
  • Cemeteries of Otero County
  • FamilySearch.org: Cemeteries of New Mexico
  • Find-A-Grave: Home Page
  • Interment.net
  • Cemeteries of New Mexico

Cemeteries Near Escondida Crossing ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Escondida Crossing.

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

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

• Monte Vista Cemetery
  (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Monte Vista Cemetery
• Immaculate Conception Catholic Cemetery
  (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Immaculate Conception Catholic Cemetery
• Marcia Cemetery
  (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
  • 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
• White Dove of the Desert Cemetery
  (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the White Dove of the Desert Cemetery
• Jeffers Cemetery
  (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Jeffers Cemetery
• La Luz Community Cemetery
  (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the La Luz Community Cemetery
• Our Lady of the Light Catholic Cemetery
  (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Our Lady of the Light Catholic Cemetery
• Bass Cemetery
  (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
  • 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

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

Off-the-Road Links ...

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

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

The official website for State of New Mexico: www.newmexico.gov/