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 Placitas (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 Placitas. 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.
Placitas is located in Sierra 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 Sierra County: Catron, Dona Ana, Grant, Lincoln, Luna, Otero & Socorro.
Below are the counties that are near Placitas. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Placitas:
- Sierra County (The home county of Placitas)
- The following are listed by their distance from Placitas, with the one closest to Placitas listed first.
- Cuchillo
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cuchillo
- Cuchillo is located in Sierra County
- Chloride ‑ Historic
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the west) - Rock Canyon
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rock Canyon
- Rock Canyon is located in Sierra County
- Elephant Butte
(18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Elephant Butte have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elephant Butte
- Elephant Butte is located in Sierra County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,320 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Elephant Butte <2>
- Truth or Consequences
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Truth or Consequences
- Truth or Consequences is located in Sierra County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 5,769 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Truth or Consequences <2>
- Williamsburg
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Williamsburg have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Williamsburg
- Williamsburg is located in Sierra County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 415 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Williamsburg <2>
- Las Palomas
(23 miles [37 km] to the south)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Las Palomas
- Las Palomas is located in Sierra County
- Caballo
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Caballo
- Caballo is located in Sierra County
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Caballo <2>
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Placitas, see our County-by-County Page for Placitas.
Newspapers Published in Placitas ...
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 4 newspapers that have been published in the area around Placitas.
Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Placitas, there are papers which were published within 19 miles [30.6 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Placitas.
Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...
When we do our genealogical research, we first turn to 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 Placitas:
- 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 Sierra County
- Jump to Cyndi's List
- Jump to Family Search
- Jump to Genealogy Trails
- Genealogy information for nearby counties
- Cemetery Information and Directories for New Mexico
- Cemetery Junction: Cemeteries of New Mexico
- Cyndi's List
- Cemeteries of New Mexico
- Cemeteries of Sierra County
- FamilySearch.org: Cemeteries of New Mexico
- Find-A-Grave: Home Page
- Interment.net
- Cemeteries of New Mexico
- Cemeteries of Sierra County
Cemeteries Near Placitas ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Placitas.
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 Placitas covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Placitas, with the one closest to Placitas listed first.
- Monticello Cemetery
(Less than 2 miles to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Monticello Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Monticello Cemetery
- Santa Nino Cemetery
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Santa Nino Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Santa Nino Cemetery
- Dusty Cemetery
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Dusty Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Dusty Cemetery
- Elephant Butte Cemetery
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Elephant Butte Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Elephant Butte Cemetery
- Hermosa Cemetery
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)- To give a relative sense of its location, the Hermosa Cemetery is located 27 miles [43.5 km]<3> to the east of Truth or Consequences.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Hermosa Cemetery
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #38109 <4>
- Palomas Cemetery
(23 miles [37 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Palomas Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Palomas Cemetery
- Engle Cemetery
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Engle Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Engle Cemetery
- Graham Cemetery
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Graham Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Graham Cemetery
- Ft. Craig Cemetery
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Ft. Craig Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Ft. Craig Cemetery
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.<5>
While we didn't find Placitas in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Placitas.
These communities are listed based on their distance from Placitas, with the one closest to Placitas listed first.
- Monticello ‑ Historic
(Less than 2 miles to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Monticello have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Monticello
- Monticello is located in Sierra County
- Cuchillo
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cuchillo
- Cuchillo is located in Sierra County
- Chloride ‑ Historic
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the west) - Grafton ‑ Historic
(18 miles [29 km] to the west) - Hermosa ‑ Historic
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest) - Las Palomas
(23 miles [37 km] to the south)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Las Palomas
- Las Palomas is located in Sierra County
- Crocker
(23 miles [37 km] to the east) - Paraje ‑ Historic
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast) - Lava
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the east) - Engle ‑ Historic
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Placitas. See our List of 1890's Communities around Placitas.
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Placitas. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
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 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Placitas) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Placitas. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 33.3773, Longitude: -107.4331 In this case, the coordinates for Placitas have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <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. |
| <5> | 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 Placitas, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |