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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 Springer (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 Springer. 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.

Springer is located in Colfax 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 Colfax County: Costilla (CO), Las Animas (CO), Harding, Mora, Taos & Union.

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

  • Colfax County     (The home county of Springer)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Springer, with the one closest to Springer listed first.
    • Colmor ‑ Historic
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Colmor
      • Colmor is located in Colfax County
    • Miami
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Maxwell
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Maxwell have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maxwell
      • Maxwell is located in Colfax County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 213 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Maxwell <1>
    • Cimarron
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Dawson ‑ Historic
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dawson
      • Dawson is located in Colfax County
    • Lauretta ‑ Historic
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Lauretta. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lauretta
      • Lauretta is located in Colfax County
  • Harding County
  • Mora County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Springer, with the one closest to Springer listed first.
    • Wagon Mound
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
    • Ocate
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Halls Peak ‑ Historic
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Halls Peak. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Halls Peak
      • Halls Peak is located in Mora County

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

Cemeteries Near Springer ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Springer.

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

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

  • Miami Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Miami Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Miami Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Chico Creek Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
  • Maxwell Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Maxwell Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Maxwell Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located outside and to the south of Maxwell.
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #1962553 <5>
  • Herrera Cemetery
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Herrera Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Herrera Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Mountain View Cemetery
    (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
  • Abreu Cemetery
    (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Abreu Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Abreu Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Paises Cemetery
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
  • Johnson Cemetery
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Johnson Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Johnson Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Johnson Cemetery
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
  • Cimmarron Cemetery
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Cimmarron Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Cimmarron Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located outside and to the southwest of Cimarron.
    • The Cimmarron Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Mountain View Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #38005 <5>
  • Calhoun Cemetery
    (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
  • Hollenbeck Cemetery
    (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Hollenbeck Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Hollenbeck Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (9 more) ...
    • Wilson Cemetery
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Wilson Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Wilson Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Mestenito Cemetery
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Hillside Cemetery
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)

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>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Springer had a population of 1,114 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Springer had a population of 910 people.

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

  • Colmor ‑ Historic
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Colmor
    • Colmor is located in Colfax County
  • Maxwell
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Maxwell have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maxwell
    • Maxwell is located in Colfax County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 213 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Maxwell <1>
  • Levy
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Levy have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Levy
    • Levy is located in Mora County
  • Cimarron
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
  • Wagon Mound
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
  • Halls Peak ‑ Historic
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Halls Peak. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Halls Peak
    • Halls Peak is located in Mora County
  • Ocate
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Springer ...

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 33 newspapers that have been published in the area around Springer.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Springer. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Springer and those printed in the larger area surrounding Springer.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<4> of Springer.

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 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 Springer:

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

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>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 from Point A (ie- Springer) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Springer. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 36.3661, Longitude: -104.5931       In this case, the coordinates for Springer have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<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 Springer, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 28 Apr 2025