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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 Madera (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 Madera. 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.

La Madera is located in Sandoval 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 Sandoval County: Bernalillo, Cibola, Los Alamos, McKinley, Rio Arriba & Santa Fe.

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

  • Sandoval County     (The home county of La Madera)
    • The following are listed by their distance from La Madera, with the one closest to La Madera listed first.
    • Diamond Tail Ranch
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
      • Diamond Tail Ranch is located in Sandoval County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Diamond Tail Ranch
    • Placitas
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Pueblo of Sandia Village
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Algodones
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Bernalillo
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
    • San Felipe Pueblo
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
      • San Felipe Pueblo is located in Sandoval County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for San Felipe Pueblo
    • Santa Ana Pueblo
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Domingo
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
      • Domingo is located in Sandoval County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Domingo
    • Kewa Pueblo
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
    • Sile
      (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
      • Sile is located in Sandoval County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sile
    • Pena Blanca
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
    • Cochiti Pueblo
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
  • Bernalillo County
    • The following are listed by their distance from La Madera, with the one closest to La Madera listed first.
    • Sandia Park
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Sandia Knolls
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
      • Sandia Knolls is located in Bernalillo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sandia Knolls
    • Canoncito
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
      • Canoncito is located in Bernalillo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Canoncito
    • Cedar Crest
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Sandia Heights
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Sandia Heights is located in Bernalillo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sandia Heights
    • Tijeras
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Monticello
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
    • Carnuel
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Carnuel is located in Bernalillo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carnuel
    • Hoffmantown
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Hoffmantown is located in Bernalillo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hoffmantown
    • Canada Village
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
      • Canada Village is located in Bernalillo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Canada Village
    • Mesa Village
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
      • Mesa Village is located in Bernalillo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mesa Village
    • Corrales
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
  • Santa Fe County
    • The following are listed by their distance from La Madera, with the one closest to La Madera listed first.
    • Golden ‑ Historic
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
      • Golden is located in Santa Fe County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Golden
    • San Pedro
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
      • San Pedro is located in Santa Fe County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for San Pedro
    • Cedar Grove
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
      • Cedar Grove is located in Santa Fe County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Grove
    • Edgewood
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Madrid
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Los Cerrillos
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Los Cerrillos is located in Santa Fe County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Los Cerrillos
      • Los Cerrillos has also been known as:
      • Cerrillos
    • Stanley
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
    • Bonanza City ‑ Historic
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Bonanza City is located in Santa Fe County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bonanza City
    • Galisteo
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
    • La Cienega
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
      • La Cienega is located in Santa Fe County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for La Cienega
  • Torrance County
    • The following are listed by their distance from La Madera, with the one closest to La Madera listed first.
    • Moriarty
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
    • McIntosh
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Valencia County
    • Meadow Lake
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
      • Meadow Lake is located in Valencia County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadow Lake

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

Cemeteries Near La Madera ...

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

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 La Madera - one of the links might be able to help.

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

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

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

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

  • San Pedro
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • San Pedro is located in Santa Fe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for San Pedro
  • Golden ‑ Historic
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Golden is located in Santa Fe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Golden
  • Corrales
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
  • Ortiz ‑ Historic
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Ortiz is located in Santa Fe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ortiz
  • Alameda
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
  • Albuquerque
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Los Cerrillos
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Los Cerrillos is located in Santa Fe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Los Cerrillos
    • Los Cerrillos has also been known as:
    • Cerrillos
  • Waldo ‑ Historic
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Waldo is located in Santa Fe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Waldo
  • Barr
    (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
    • Barr is located in Bernalillo County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Barr
  • Pajarito ‑ Historic
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Pajarito is located in Bernalillo County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pajarito
  • Isleta
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)

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

Newspapers Published in La Madera ...

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 162 newspapers that have been published in the area around La Madera.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of La Madera, there are papers which were published within 23 miles [37 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for La Madera.

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 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 La Madera:

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 La Madera, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or 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 Madera) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.