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Home >> State of New Mexico >> Dona Ana County >> La Union Vieja >> 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 La Union Vieja (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 Union Vieja. 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 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.

La Union Vieja is located in Dona Ana 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 Dona Ana County: Luna, Otero, Sierra & El Paso (TX).

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

  • Dona Ana County     (The home county of La Union Vieja)
    • The following are listed by their distance from La Union Vieja, with the one closest to La Union Vieja listed first.
    • La Union
      (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
      • La Union is located in Dona Ana County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for La Union
    • Chamberino
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
      • Chamberino is located in Dona Ana County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chamberino
    • Anthony
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Santa Teresa
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Berino
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Lanark ‑ Historic
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
      • Lanark is located in Dona Ana County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lanark
    • Sunland Park
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Vado
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
    • La Mesa
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
    • Mesquite
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
    • Chaparral
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Chaparral is located in Dona Ana County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chaparral
    • Afton ‑ Historic
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
      • Afton is located in Dona Ana County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Afton
    • Mesilla Park
      (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
  • El Paso County (TX)
    • The following are listed by their distance from La Union Vieja, with the one closest to La Union Vieja listed first.
    • Vinton
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
      • Vinton is located in El Paso County (TX)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vinton
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,168 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Vinton <1>
    • Canutillo
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Prado Verde
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Prado Verde is located in El Paso County (TX)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prado Verde
    • Westway
      (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
      • Westway is located in El Paso County (TX)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Westway
    • Anthony
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
      • Anthony is located in El Paso County (TX)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Anthony
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 5,257 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Anthony <1>
    • Smelter Town
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
      • Smelter Town is located in El Paso County (TX)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Smelter Town
    • El Paso
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
      • El Paso is located in El Paso County (TX)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for El Paso
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 681,534 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for El Paso <1>
    • Fort Bliss
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Fort Bliss is located in El Paso County (TX)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fort Bliss
    • Belen
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Belen is located in El Paso County (TX)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Belen
    • Homestead Meadows North
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
    • Homestead Meadows
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
      • Homestead Meadows is located in El Paso County (TX)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Homestead Meadows

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

Cemeteries Near La Union Vieja ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of La Union Vieja.

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 Union Vieja - one of the links might be able to help.

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

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

  • Canutillo Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
  • Chamberino Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chamberino Cemetery
    • The Chamberino Cemetery has also been known as:
    • San Luis Cemetery
  • Old Berino Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
  • St. Josephs Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
  • Rest Lawn Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
  • Restlawn Memorial Park
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
  • Ft. Bliss National Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Concordia Cemetery
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
  • Evergreen Cemetery
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
  • Temple Mt. Sinai Cemetery
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
  • Tortugas Cemetery
    (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
  • San Albino Cemetery
    (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for San Albino Cemetery
    • The San Albino Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Mesilla Valley Cemetery
  • Continue List   (7 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 La Union Vieja in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of La Union Vieja.

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

  • Canutillo
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
  • Strauss ‑ Historic
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Strauss is located in Dona Ana County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Strauss
  • Anthony
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Montoya
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Montoya is located in El Paso County (TX)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Montoya
  • Lanark ‑ Historic
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Lanark is located in Dona Ana County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lanark
  • Courchesne
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Courchesne is located in El Paso County (TX)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Courchesne
  • Mesquite
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
  • El Paso
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
    • El Paso is located in El Paso County (TX)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for El Paso
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 681,534 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for El Paso <1>
  • Afton ‑ Historic
    (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
    • Afton is located in Dona Ana County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Afton
  • Continue List   (6 more) ...
    • Alfalfa
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Alfalfa is located in El Paso County (TX)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alfalfa
    • Mesilla Park
      (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
    • Mesilla
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
    • Ysleta
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Ysleta is located in El Paso County (TX)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ysleta
    • Las Cruces
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
    • Belen
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Belen is located in El Paso County (TX)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Belen

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

Newspapers Published in La Union Vieja ...

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 53 newspapers that have been published in the area around La Union Vieja.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of La Union Vieja, 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 La Union Vieja.

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 Union Vieja:

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 Union Vieja, 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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- La Union Vieja) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.