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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 La Luz (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 La Luz. 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 doctors and 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.

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

  • Otero County     (The home county of La Luz)
    • The following are listed by their distance from La Luz, with the one closest to La Luz listed first.
    • High Rolls
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for High Rolls
      • High Rolls is located in Otero County
    • Alamogordo
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Alamogordo have been provided by the GNIS.<1> 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 <2>
    • Mountain Park
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mountain Park
      • Mountain Park is located in Otero County
    • Tularosa
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Cloudcroft
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
    • Boles Acres
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Boles Acres
      • Boles Acres is located in Otero County
    • Bent
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
    • Sunspot
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunspot
      • Sunspot is located in Otero County
    • Mescalero
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Hortonville
      (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hortonville
      • Hortonville is located in Otero County
    • Carrizo
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carrizo
      • Carrizo is located in Otero County
    • Sacramento
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Mayhill
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
  • Lincoln County
    • The following are listed by their distance from La Luz, with the one closest to La Luz listed first.
    • Hollywood
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hollywood
      • Hollywood is located in Lincoln County
    • Alpine Cellars Village
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Alpine Cellars Village have been provided by the GNIS.<1> 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 La Luz, see our County-by-County Page for La Luz.

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of La Luz ...

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 41 newspapers that have been published in the area around La Luz.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of La Luz. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of La Luz and those printed in the larger area surrounding La Luz.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 11 miles [17.7 km]<3> of La Luz.

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 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 La Luz:

Cemeteries Near La Luz ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of La Luz.

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

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

  • Our Lady of the Light Catholic Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
  • La Luz Community Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
  • White Dove of the Desert Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
  • Immaculate Conception Catholic Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
  • Monte Vista Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
  • Fairview Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
  • Sacred Heart Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • The Sacred Heart Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Tularosa Catholic Cemetery
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Sacred Heart Cemetery
  • Walters Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Walters Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Walters Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #38504 <4>
  • Marcia Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Marcia Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Marcia Cemetery
  • Bass Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Bass Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Bass Cemetery
  • Mescalero Indian Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
  • Blazer Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
  • Continue List   (15 more) ...
    • Blazers Cemetery
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Blazers Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Blazers Cemetery
    • James Canyon Cemetery
      (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
    • Sixteen Springs Cemetery
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Sixteen Springs Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Sixteen Springs Cemetery

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

Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for La Luz. 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/

Footnotes ...

<1>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.
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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- La Luz) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in La Luz. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 32.9793, Longitude: -105.9432    
<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.




 

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In closing, please keep in mind that we can not guarantee the accuracy or timeliness of the information on this website, so use with care. We encourage you to double-check the information that is critical to you.

If you've found an error or have additional information that you would like to share, please don't hesitate to write: Click here to contact us.

This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024