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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 Potrillo (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 Potrillo. 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 northwest corner of their home county. During their lives, most 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.

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

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

  • Dona Ana County     (The home county of Potrillo)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Potrillo, with the one closest to Potrillo listed first.
    • Lanark ‑ Historic
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lanark have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lanark
      • Lanark is located in Dona Ana County
    • Santa Teresa
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Santa Teresa have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Santa Teresa
      • Santa Teresa is located in Dona Ana County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Santa Teresa <2>
    • La Union
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for La Union
      • La Union is located in Dona Ana County
    • Sunland Park
      (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sunland Park have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunland Park
      • Sunland Park is located in Dona Ana County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 18,449 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Sunland Park <2>
    • Chamberino
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chamberino
      • Chamberino is located in Dona Ana County
    • Anthony
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
    • La Mesa
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Berino
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Vado
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Vado have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vado
      • Vado is located in Dona Ana County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Vado <2>
    • Mesquite
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mesquite have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mesquite
      • Mesquite is located in Dona Ana County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Mesquite <2>
  • El Paso County (TX)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Potrillo, with the one closest to Potrillo listed first.
    • Prado Verde
      (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Prado Verde have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prado Verde
      • Prado Verde is located in El Paso County (TX)
    • Canutillo
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
    • Vinton
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Vinton have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vinton
      • Vinton is located in El Paso County (TX)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,168 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Vinton <2>
    • Anthony
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Anthony have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Anthony
      • Anthony is located in El Paso County (TX)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 5,257 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Anthony <2>
    • Westway
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Westway have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Westway
      • Westway is located in El Paso County (TX)
    • Smelter Town
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Smelter Town have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Smelter Town
      • Smelter Town is located in El Paso County (TX)
    • El Paso
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for El Paso
      • El Paso is located in El Paso County (TX)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 681,534 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for El Paso <2>

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

Newspapers Published in Potrillo ...

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 78 newspapers that have been published in the area around Potrillo.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Potrillo, there are papers which were published within 29 miles [46.7 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Potrillo.

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 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 Potrillo:

Cemeteries Near Potrillo ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Potrillo.

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

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

  • Canutillo Cemetery
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Canutillo Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Canutillo Cemetery
  • Chamberino Cemetery
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
    • The Chamberino Cemetery has also been known as:
    • San Luis Cemetery
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Chamberino Cemetery
  • St. Josephs Cemetery
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Josephs Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Josephs Cemetery
  • Old Berino Cemetery
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Old Berino Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Old Berino 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.<4>

While we didn't find Potrillo in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Potrillo.

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

  • Lanark ‑ Historic
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lanark have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lanark
    • Lanark is located in Dona Ana County
  • Strauss ‑ Historic
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Strauss have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Strauss
    • Strauss is located in Dona Ana County
  • Afton ‑ Historic
    (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Afton have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Afton
    • Afton is located in Dona Ana County
  • Montoya
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Montoya have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Montoya
    • Montoya is located in El Paso County (TX)
  • Canutillo
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
  • Aden ‑ Historic
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Aden have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Aden
    • Aden is located in Dona Ana County
  • Courchesne
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Courchesne have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Courchesne
    • Courchesne is located in El Paso County (TX)
  • Anthony
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
  • El Paso
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for El Paso
    • El Paso is located in El Paso County (TX)
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 681,534 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for El Paso <2>

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

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

The official website for Dona Ana County: www.co.dona-ana.nm.us/

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' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Potrillo) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Potrillo. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 31.8018, Longitude: -106.9928       In this case, the coordinates for Potrillo have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<4>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 Potrillo, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024