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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 Portales (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 Portales. 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.

Portales is located in Roosevelt County and is the County Seat.

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 Roosevelt County: Chaves, Curry, Lea, Quay, Bailey (TX) & Cochran (TX).

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

  • Roosevelt County     (The home county of Portales)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Portales, with the one closest to Portales listed first.
    • Floyd
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Floyd have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Floyd
      • Floyd is located in Roosevelt County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 103 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Floyd <2>
    • Dora
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dora
      • Dora is located in Roosevelt County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 118 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Dora <2>
    • Elida
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elida
      • Elida is located in Roosevelt County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 175 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Elida <2>
    • Causey
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Causey have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Causey
      • Causey is located in Roosevelt County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 93 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Causey <2>
  • Curry County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Portales, with the one closest to Portales listed first.
    • Saint Vrain
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
    • Clovis
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Texico
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
    • Melrose
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Melrose have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Melrose
      • Melrose is located in Curry County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 622 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Melrose <2>
  • Bailey County (TX)
    • Stegall
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stegall
      • Stegall is located in Bailey County (TX)
  • Parmer County (TX)
    • Farwell
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Farwell have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Farwell
      • Farwell is located in Parmer County (TX)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,275 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Farwell <2>

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

Cemeteries Near Portales ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Portales.

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

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

  • Portales Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
  • Rest Lawn Memorial Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
  • Bethel Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Bethel Cemetery
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for the Bethel Cemetery. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<5>
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #37953 <3>
  • Eiland Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Eiland Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Eiland Cemetery is located 3 miles [4.8 km]<4> to the east of Arch.
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #38037 <3>
  • Mt. Zion Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Mt. Zion Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Mt. Zion Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located 3 miles [4.8 km]<4> to the south of Dora.
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #38257 <3>
  • Arch Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Arch Cemetery
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for the Arch Cemetery. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<5>
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Arch Cemetery is located in Arch.
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #37944 <3>
  • Floyd Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
  • Mission Garden Cemetery
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Mission Garden Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Mission Garden Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Upton Cemetery
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Upton Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Upton Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #38496 <3>
  • Upton Cemetery
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Upton Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Upton Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Inez Cemetery
    (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Inez Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Inez Cemetery is located 5 miles [8 km]<4> to the west of Rogers.
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #38132 <3>
  • Longs Cemetery
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Longs Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Longs Cemetery is located 10 miles [16.1 km]<4> to the southeast of Causey.
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #38189 <3>
  • Continue List   (15 more) ...
    • Texico Cemetery
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Texico Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Texico Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Lawn Haven Cemetery
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Lawn Haven Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Lawn Haven Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Old Farwell Cemetery
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Old Farwell Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Old Farwell Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> 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 Portales. See our List of 1890's Communities around Portales.

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Portales ...

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 51 newspapers that have been published in the area around Portales.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Portales. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Portales and those printed in the larger area surrounding Portales.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 23 miles [37 km]<4> of Portales.

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 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 Portales:

The official website for Portales: www.portalesnm.org/

The official website for Roosevelt County: www.rooseveltcounty.com/

The official website for State of New Mexico: https://www.nm.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>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 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Portales) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Portales. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 34.1763, Longitude: -103.3556       In this case, the coordinates for Portales have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 28 Apr 2025