RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of New Mexico >> Grant County >> San Juan >> Genealogy HelperIndex...










Learn About
The Commemorative
Quarter for
New Mexico

The Commemorative Quarter for New Mexico





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 San Juan (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 San Juan. 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.

San Juan is located in Grant 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 Grant County: Greenlee (AZ), Catron, Hidalgo, Luna & Sierra.

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

  • Grant County     (The home county of San Juan)
    • The following are listed by their distance from San Juan, with the one closest to San Juan listed first.
    • Mimbres
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Santa Rita ‑ Historic
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Santa Rita have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Santa Rita
      • Santa Rita is located in Grant County
    • Hanover
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hanover
      • Hanover is located in Grant County
    • Cobre
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cobre
      • Cobre is located in Grant County
    • Vanadium
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vanadium
      • Vanadium is located in Grant County
    • Bayard
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bayard have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bayard
      • Bayard is located in Grant County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,117 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Bayard <1>
    • Hurley
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hurley have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hurley
      • Hurley is located in Grant County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,175 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Hurley <1>
    • Central
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Central have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Central
      • Central is located in Grant County
    • Fort Bayard
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
    • Santa Clara
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Santa Clara have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Santa Clara
      • Santa Clara is located in Grant County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,761 people
    • Arenas Valley
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Arenas Valley
      • Arenas Valley is located in Grant County
    • Pinos Altos ‑ Historic
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pinos Altos
      • Pinos Altos is located in Grant County
    • Silver City
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
  • Luna County
    • The following are listed by their distance from San Juan, with the one closest to San Juan listed first.
    • Old Town
      (14 miles [22.5 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 Luna County
    • Nutt ‑ Historic
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nutt
      • Nutt is located in Luna County
  • San Miguel County
  • Sierra County
    • The following are listed by their distance from San Juan, with the one closest to San Juan listed first.
    • Lake Valley ‑ Historic
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Valley
      • Lake Valley is located in Sierra County
    • Hillsboro
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)

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

Newspapers Published in San Juan ...

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 31 newspapers that have been published in the area around San Juan.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of San Juan, there are papers which were published within 22 miles [35.4 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for San Juan.

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 San Juan:

Cemeteries Near San Juan ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of San Juan.

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

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

  • Georgetown Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Georgetown Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Georgetown Cemetery
  • Cemetery #4
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Cemetery #4 have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Cemetery #4
  • Hicks Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Hicks Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Hicks Cemetery
  • Fierro Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Fierro Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Fierro Cemetery
  • Cemetery #5
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Cemetery #5 have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Cemetery #5
  • Hanover Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
  • Vanadium Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
  • Hurley Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Hurley Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Hurley Cemetery
  • Ft. Bayard National Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
  • Ft. Bayard / New Mexico Memorial Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
  • Cooks Peak Cemetery
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for the Cooks Peak Cemetery. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<4>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Cooks Peak Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #38010 <5>
  • Memory Cemetery
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Memory Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Memory Cemetery
  • Ft. Cummings Cemetery
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
  • Hermosa Cemetery
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)

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.<6>

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

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

  • Mimbres
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Santa Rita ‑ Historic
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Santa Rita have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Santa Rita
    • Santa Rita is located in Grant County
  • Hanover
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hanover
    • Hanover is located in Grant County
  • Fort Bayard
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
  • Central
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Central have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Central
    • Central is located in Grant County
  • Kingston ‑ Historic
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Kingston have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kingston
    • Kingston is located in Sierra County
  • Whitewater
    (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Whitewater have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Whitewater
    • Whitewater is located in Grant County
  • Lake Valley ‑ Historic
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Valley
    • Lake Valley is located in Sierra County
  • Pinos Altos ‑ Historic
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pinos Altos
    • Pinos Altos is located in Grant County
  • Silver City
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
  • Hillsboro
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
  • Hermosa ‑ Historic
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hermosa have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hermosa
    • Hermosa is located in Sierra County

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

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

The official website for State of New Mexico: www.newmexico.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>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- San Juan) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in San Juan. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 32.7609, Longitude: -107.9053       In this case, the coordinates for San Juan have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<4>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.
<5>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.
<6>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 San Juan, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

Copyright 2024
All Rights Reserved

Thank you for visiting our website.

In closing, please keep in mind that we can not guarantee the accuracy or timeliness of the information on this website, so use with care. We encourage you to double-check the information that is critical to you.

If you've found an error or have additional information that you would like to share, please don't hesitate to write: Click here to contact us.

This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024