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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 Tatum (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 Tatum. 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 southeast corner of their home county. During their lives, most hospitals and doctors were in the next county to the east. Almost all of the nearby churches and cemeteries were in the county to the south.

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 south 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.

Tatum is located in Lea 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 Lea County: Chaves, Eddy, Roosevelt, Andrews (TX), Cochran (TX), Gaines (TX), Loving (TX), Winkler (TX) & Yoakum (TX).

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

  • Lea County     (The home county of Tatum)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Tatum, with the one closest to Tatum listed first.
    • Gladiola ‑ Historic
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gladiola
      • Gladiola is located in Lea County
    • McDonald
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Hillburn City
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hillburn City have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hillburn City
      • Hillburn City is located in Lea County
    • Bronco
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bronco have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bronco
      • Bronco is located in Lea County
    • Crossroads
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
    • Lovington
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lovington have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lovington
      • Lovington is located in Lea County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 11,474 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Lovington <1>
  • Roosevelt County
  • Cochran County (TX)
    • Bledsoe
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bledsoe have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bledsoe
      • Bledsoe is located in Cochran County (TX)
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Bledsoe <1>
  • Yoakum County (TX)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Tatum, with the one closest to Tatum listed first.
    • Bronco
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bronco have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bronco
      • Bronco is located in Yoakum County (TX)
    • Plains
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plains
      • Plains is located in Yoakum County (TX)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,655 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Plains <1>

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Tatum ...

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 16 newspapers that have been published in the area around Tatum.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Tatum. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Tatum and those printed in the larger area surrounding Tatum.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<3> of Tatum.

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 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 Tatum:

Cemeteries Near Tatum ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Tatum.

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

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

  • Tatum Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
  • King Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the King Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the King Cemetery
  • Old Plainview Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Old Plainview Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Old Plainview Cemetery
  • Cox Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Cox Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Cox Cemetery
  • Murphys Chapel Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Murphys Chapel Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Murphys Chapel Cemetery
  • Field Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
  • Jenkins Cemetery
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
  • Rest Haven Gardens
    (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Rest Haven Gardens have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Rest Haven Gardens
  • Antioch Baptist Church Cemetery
    (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Antioch Baptist Church Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Antioch Baptist Church Cemetery
  • Lovington Cemetery
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Lovington Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Lovington Cemetery
  • Old New Hope Cemetery
    (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Old New Hope Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Old New Hope Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #38296 <4>
  • Bluitt Cemetery
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
  • Continue List   (4 more) ...
    • Perkins Memorial Cemetery
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Perkins Memorial Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Perkins Memorial Cemetery
      • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #38322 <4>
    • Knowles Cemetery
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Knowles Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Knowles Cemetery
    • Plains Cemetery
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)

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

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

The official website for Lea County: www.leacounty.net/

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' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Tatum) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Tatum. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 33.2570, Longitude: -103.3176    
<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.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 20 Jul 2024