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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 Rio Rancho (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 Rio Rancho. 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 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.

Rio Rancho is primarily located in Bernalillo County. A portion of Rio Rancho extends into Sandoval 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 Bernalillo County: Cibola, Sandoval, Santa Fe, Torrance & Valencia.

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

  • Bernalillo County     (The home county of Rio Rancho)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Rio Rancho, with the one closest to Rio Rancho listed first.
    • Paradise Hills
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Corrales
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Alameda
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Los Ranchos de Albuquerque
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • North Valley
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for North Valley have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Valley
      • North Valley is located in Bernalillo County
    • Albuquerque
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
    • Old Town
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Old Town have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Old Town
      • Old Town is located in Bernalillo County
    • Martinez Town
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Martinez Town have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Martinez Town
      • Martinez Town is located in Bernalillo County
    • Sandia Heights
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Hoffmantown
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Mesa Village
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mesa Village have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mesa Village
      • Mesa Village is located in Bernalillo County
    • South Valley
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for South Valley have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Valley
      • South Valley is located in Bernalillo County
    • Canada Village
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Canada Village have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Canada Village
      • Canada Village is located in Bernalillo County
  • Sandoval County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Rio Rancho, with the one closest to Rio Rancho listed first.
    • Bernalillo
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bernalillo have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bernalillo
      • Bernalillo is located in Sandoval County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 10,865 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Bernalillo <1>
    • Pueblo of Sandia Village
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Pueblo of Sandia Village have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pueblo of Sandia Village
      • Pueblo of Sandia Village is located in Sandoval County
    • Santa Ana Pueblo
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Santa Ana Pueblo have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Santa Ana Pueblo
      • Santa Ana Pueblo is located in Sandoval County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Santa Ana Pueblo <1>
    • Algodones
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Placitas
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Placitas have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Placitas
      • Placitas is located in Sandoval County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Placitas <1>
    • San Felipe Pueblo
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for San Felipe Pueblo have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for San Felipe Pueblo
      • San Felipe Pueblo is located in Sandoval County
    • Diamond Tail Ranch
      (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
    • Zia Pueblo
      (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Zia Pueblo have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Zia Pueblo
      • Zia Pueblo is located in Sandoval County
    • San Ysidro
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
    • Jemez Pueblo
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
    • Kewa Pueblo
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Ponderosa
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
    • Domingo
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
  • Santa Fe County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Rio Rancho, with the one closest to Rio Rancho listed first.
    • Golden ‑ Historic
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Golden. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Golden
      • Golden is located in Santa Fe County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Golden
      • From Rio Rancho to Golden
    • San Pedro
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for San Pedro. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for San Pedro
      • San Pedro is located in Santa Fe County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to San Pedro
      • From Rio Rancho to San Pedro
    • Cedar Grove
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cedar Grove have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Grove
      • Cedar Grove is located in Santa Fe County
  • Valencia County
    • Bosque Farms
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bosque Farms have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bosque Farms
      • Bosque Farms is located in Valencia County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,851 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Bosque Farms <1>

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

Cemeteries Near Rio Rancho ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Rio Rancho.

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

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

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 Rio Rancho in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Rio Rancho.

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

  • Corrales
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Alameda
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
  • Albuquerque
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
  • Pajarito ‑ Historic
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Pajarito have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pajarito
    • Pajarito is located in Bernalillo County
  • Barr
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Barr have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Barr
    • Barr is located in Bernalillo County
  • Isleta
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
  • Golden ‑ Historic
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Golden. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Golden
    • Golden is located in Santa Fe County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Golden
    • From Rio Rancho to Golden
  • San Pedro
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for San Pedro. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for San Pedro
    • San Pedro is located in Santa Fe County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to San Pedro
    • From Rio Rancho to San Pedro

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Rio Rancho ...

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 165 newspapers that have been published in the area around Rio Rancho.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Rio Rancho. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Rio Rancho and those printed in the larger area surrounding Rio Rancho.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 28 miles [45.1 km]<6> of Rio Rancho.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we like to 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 Rio Rancho:

The official website for Rio Rancho: www.ci.rio-rancho.nm.us/

The official website for Bernalillo County: www.bernco.gov/

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>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.
<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 Rio Rancho, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<6>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- Rio Rancho) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Rio Rancho. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 35.2888, Longitude: -106.7096    









 

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This page was last modified/updated: 28 Apr 2025