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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 Riverside (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 Riverside. 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 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.

Riverside is located in San Juan County.

To see how the shape of New Mexico's counties may have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of San Juan County: Apache (AZ), Archuleta (CO), La Plata (CO), Montezuma (CO), McKinley, Rio Arriba, Sandoval & San Juan (UT).

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

  • San Juan County     (The home county of Riverside)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Riverside, with the one closest to Riverside listed first.
    • Aztec
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Aztec is located in San Juan County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Aztec
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 6,332 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Aztec <1>
    • Turley
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
      • Turley is located in San Juan County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Turley
    • Flora Vista
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
    • La Plata
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
    • Blanco
      (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
    • Bloomfield
      (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
    • Navajo Dam
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
    • Farmington
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Napi HQ
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Napi HQ is located in San Juan County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Napi HQ
    • Upper Fruitland
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Upper Fruitland is located in San Juan County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Upper Fruitland
  • Rio Arriba County
    • Navajo City
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Navajo City is located in Rio Arriba County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Navajo City
  • Archuleta County (CO)
  • La Plata County (CO)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Riverside, with the one closest to Riverside listed first.
    • Bondad
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
      • Bondad is located in La Plata County (CO)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bondad
    • La Boca
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
      • La Boca is located in La Plata County (CO)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for La Boca
    • Ignacio
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Ignacio is located in La Plata County (CO)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ignacio
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 963 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Ignacio <1>
    • Marvel
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Carbon Junction
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
      • Carbon Junction is located in La Plata County (CO)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carbon Junction
    • Florida
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
      • Florida is located in La Plata County (CO)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Florida
    • Fort Lewis ‑ Historic
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
      • Fort Lewis is located in La Plata County (CO)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fort Lewis
    • Durango
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
      • Durango is located in La Plata County (CO)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Durango
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 19,690 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Durango <1>
    • Gem Village
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Gem Village is located in La Plata County (CO)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gem Village
    • Allison
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
      • Allison is located in La Plata County (CO)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Allison
    • Hesperus
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Bayfield
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
      • Bayfield is located in La Plata County (CO)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bayfield
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,586 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Bayfield <1>

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

Cemeteries Near Riverside ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Riverside.

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.

Although we don't have the information ourselves, if you need information about a burial or interment, photos, transcripts, how to contact the cemetery or local authorities, please visit our list of websites on our Genealogy Helper Page for Riverside - one of the links might be able to help.

If not found below, our Cemetery List for Riverside covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.

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

  • Old Cedar Hill Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
  • Cedar Hill Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
  • Elco Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
  • Aztec Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Flora Vista Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
  • La Boca Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
  • Greenhorn Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
  • Ouray Memorial Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Marvel Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
  • La Plata Cemetery
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
  • Los Martinez Cemetery
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
  • Crestview Memorial Garden
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
  • Continue List   (19 more) ...
    • Blanco - Turley Cemetery
      (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
    • Tiffany Cemetery
      (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
    • Kline Cemetery
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)

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

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

  • Aztec
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Aztec is located in San Juan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Aztec
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 6,332 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Aztec <1>
  • La Boca
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
    • La Boca is located in La Plata County (CO)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for La Boca
  • Ignacio
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Ignacio is located in La Plata County (CO)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ignacio
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 963 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Ignacio <1>
  • La Plata
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
  • Flora Vista
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
  • Bloomfield
    (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
  • Fort Lewis ‑ Historic
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Fort Lewis is located in La Plata County (CO)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fort Lewis
  • Durango
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
    • Durango is located in La Plata County (CO)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Durango
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 19,690 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Durango <1>
  • Farmington
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
  • Rosa ‑ Historic
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
    • Rosa is located in Rio Arriba County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rosa
  • Arboles
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
  • Trimble
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
    • Trimble is located in La Plata County (CO)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Trimble

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

Newspapers Published in Riverside ...

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 56 newspapers that have been published in the area around Riverside.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Riverside, there are papers which were published within 25 miles [40.2 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Riverside.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we begin with the websites from Cyndi's List, FamilySearch and Genealogy Trails. These 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 Riverside:

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 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.
<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- Riverside) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Riverside, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.