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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 Oil Center (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 Oil Center. 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 Oil Center ...

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 Oil Center: Oil Ctr. (or less commonly used: Oil Cen., Oil Cent. or Oil Cntr.)

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 northwest 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 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 west 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.

Oil Center is located in Lea 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 Lea County: Chaves, Eddy, Roosevelt, Andrews (TX), Cochran (TX), Gaines (TX), Loving (TX), Winkler (TX) & Yoakum (TX).

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

  • Lea County     (The home county of Oil Center)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Oil Center, with the one closest to Oil Center listed first.
    • Eunice
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Jones City
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Jones City have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jones City
      • Jones City is located in Lea County
    • Monument
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Maypens
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maypens
      • Maypens is located in Lea County
    • Arkansas Junction
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Arkansas Junction
      • Arkansas Junction is located in Lea County
    • Hobbs
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Air Base City
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Air Base City have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Air Base City
      • Air Base City is located in Lea County
    • Humble City
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Humble City have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Humble City
      • Humble City is located in Lea County
    • Jal
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Jal have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jal
      • Jal is located in Lea County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,118 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Jal <1>
  • Andrews County (TX)
    • Frankel City ‑ Historic
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Frankel City have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Frankel City
      • Frankel City is located in Andrews County (TX)

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

Cemeteries Near Oil Center ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Oil Center.

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

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

  • Brunson Memorial Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Monument Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Monument Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Monument Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Crockett Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Crockett Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Crockett Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Morgan Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Morgan Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Morgan Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Everglades Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Everglades Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Everglades Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Prairie Haven Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Prairie Haven Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Prairie Haven Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Boone Cemetery
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Boone Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Boone Cemetery is located less than 2 miles<4> to the south of Hobbs.
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2208620 <3>
  • Memorial Park
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Memorial Park
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Memorial Park have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Memdry Gardens
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Memdry Gardens
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Memdry Gardens have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jal Cooper Cemetery
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Jal Cooper Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Jal Cooper Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Knowles Cemetery
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Knowles Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Knowles Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.

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

Newspapers Published in Oil Center ...

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 27 newspapers that have been published in the area around Oil Center.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Oil Center, there are papers which were published within 26 miles [41.8 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Oil Center.

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 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 Oil Center:

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

The official website for Lea County: www.leacounty.net/

The official website for State of New Mexico: https://www.nm.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>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.
<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- Oil Center) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Oil Center. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 32.4993, Longitude: -103.2613       In this case, the coordinates for Oil Center have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).




 

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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: 28 Apr 2025