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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 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 northwest corner of their home county. During their lives, most doctors and hospitals 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.

San Juan is located in Rio Arriba 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 Rio Arriba County: Archuleta (CO), Conejos (CO), Los Alamos, Mora, San Juan, Sandoval, Santa Fe & Taos.

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:

  • Rio Arriba 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.
    • Ohkay Owingeh
      (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Alcalde
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Chamita
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Chamita is located in Rio Arriba County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chamita
    • Hernandez
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • La Villita
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
      • La Villita is located in Rio Arriba County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for La Villita
    • El Duende
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
      • El Duende is located in Rio Arriba County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for El Duende
    • Estaca
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
      • Estaca is located in Rio Arriba County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Estaca
    • Los Luceros
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
      • Los Luceros is located in Rio Arriba County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Los Luceros
    • Espanola
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Chimayo
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Velarde
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Santa Clara Pueblo
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Santa Clara Pueblo is located in Rio Arriba County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Santa Clara Pueblo
    • Medanales
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
  • Los Alamos County
    • The following are listed by their distance from San Juan, with the one closest to San Juan listed first.
    • Los Alamos
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
    • White Rock
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
      • White Rock is located in Los Alamos County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for White Rock
  • San Miguel County
    • The following are listed by their distance from San Juan, with the one closest to San Juan listed first.
    • Cowles
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Cowles is located in San Miguel County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cowles
    • Holy Ghost ‑ Historic
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Holy Ghost is located in San Miguel County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holy Ghost
  • Santa Fe County
    • The following are listed by their distance from San Juan, with the one closest to San Juan listed first.
    • Santo Nino
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
      • Santo Nino is located in Santa Fe County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Santo Nino
    • Santa Cruz
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Sombrillo
      (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
      • Sombrillo is located in Santa Fe County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sombrillo
    • Cuartelez
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
      • Cuartelez is located in Santa Fe County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cuartelez
    • La Puebla
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
      • La Puebla is located in Santa Fe County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for La Puebla
    • Arroyo Seco
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
      • Arroyo Seco is located in Santa Fe County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Arroyo Seco
    • El Valle de Arroyo Seco
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Rio Chiquito
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
      • Rio Chiquito is located in Santa Fe County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rio Chiquito
    • Pajarito
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
      • Pajarito is located in Santa Fe County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pajarito
    • El Rancho
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
      • El Rancho is located in Santa Fe County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for El Rancho
    • Jacona
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
      • Jacona is located in Santa Fe County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jacona
    • Jaconita
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
      • Jaconita is located in Santa Fe County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jaconita
    • Cundiyo
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Taos County
    • The following are listed by their distance from San Juan, with the one closest to San Juan listed first.
    • Ojo Caliente
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
    • Vallecito
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Trampas
      (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
    • Chamisal
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Pilar
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Rio Lucio
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Rio Lucio is located in Taos County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rio Lucio
    • Llano
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
    • Penasco
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
    • Picuris Pueblo
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Picuris Pueblo is located in Taos County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Picuris Pueblo
    • Vadito
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Carson
      (27 miles [43.5 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.

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.

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 San Juan - one of the links might be able to help.

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.

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 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.

  • Alcalde
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
  • Chamita
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Chamita is located in Rio Arriba County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chamita
  • Espanola
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
  • Santa Cruz
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
  • Velarde
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
  • Jacona
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
    • Jacona is located in Santa Fe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jacona
  • Pojoaque
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
  • Embudo
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Rinconada
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Rinconada is located in Rio Arriba County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rinconada
  • Continue List   (6 more) ...
    • Ojo Caliente
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
    • Abiquiu
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Barranca
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
      • Barranca is located in Taos County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Barranca
    • El Rito
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
    • Penasco
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
    • Santa Fe
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)

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.

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 90 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 30 miles [48.3 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 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 San Juan:

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' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- San Juan) 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 San Juan, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.