Our Genealogy Helper
Introduction ...
So far, we found very little information about Van Houten. The little that we've found leads us believe that the community is historic.<1>
We've added Van Houten to our Gazetteer with the hope that we can develop more information. If you can help us with Van Houten, please Contact Us.
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 Van Houten (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 Van Houten. 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 and 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.
Although our information shows that the community of Van Houten is historic, it would have been located within present day Colfax 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 Colfax County: Costilla (CO), Las Animas (CO), Harding, Mora, Taos & Union.
Below are the counties that are near Van Houten. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Van Houten:
- Colfax County (The home county of Van Houten)
- The following are listed by their distance from Van Houten, with the one closest to Van Houten listed first.
- Raton
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
- Brilliant ‑ Historic
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
- Brilliant is located in Colfax County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brilliant
- Dawson ‑ Historic
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
- Dawson is located in Colfax County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dawson
- Lauretta ‑ Historic
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
- Lauretta is located in Colfax County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lauretta
- Maxwell
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
- Kiowa ‑ Historic
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
- Kiowa is located in Colfax County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kiowa
- Cimarron
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
- Springer
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
- Las Animas County (CO)
- The following are listed by their distance from Van Houten, with the one closest to Van Houten listed first.
- Wootton
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
- Wootton is located in Las Animas County (CO)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wootton
- Morley
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
- Morley is located in Las Animas County (CO)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Morley
- Starkville
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
- Madrid ‑ Historic
(23 miles [37 km] to the north)
- Madrid is located in Las Animas County (CO)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Madrid
- Sopris ‑ Historic
(23 miles [37 km] to the north)
- Sopris is located in Las Animas County (CO)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sopris
- San Miguel ‑ Historic
(23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
- San Miguel is located in Las Animas County (CO)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for San Miguel
- Cokedale
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
- Cokedale is located in Las Animas County (CO)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cokedale
- Population from the 2020 Census: 121 people
- Segundo
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
- Valdez
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
- Valdez is located in Las Animas County (CO)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Valdez
- Engleville
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
- Engleville is located in Las Animas County (CO)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Engleville
- Trinidad
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
- Weston
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
- Beshoar
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
- Beshoar is located in Las Animas County (CO)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beshoar
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Van Houten, see our County-by-County Page for Van Houten.
Cemeteries Near Van Houten ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Van Houten.
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 Van Houten - one of the links might be able to help.
If not found below, our Cemetery List for Van Houten covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Van Houten, with the one closest to Van Houten listed first.
- Mt. Calvary Cemetery
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
- Fairmont Cemetery
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
- St. Johns Methodist Church Cemetery
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
- Maxwell Cemetery
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for 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 <3>
- Catskill Cemetery
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
- Herrera Cemetery
(18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
- Johnson Park Cemetery
(18 miles [29 km] to the east)
- Starkville Cemetery
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
- Tijeras Cemetery
(23 miles [37 km] to the north)
- Wilson Cemetery
(23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
- San Juan Cemetery
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
- San Juan Cemetery
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
- Continue List (22 more) ...
- Vigil Cemetery
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
- Carpios Cemetery
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
- Jansen Cemetery
(25 miles [40.2 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.
While we didn't find Van Houten in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Van Houten.
These communities are listed based on their distance from Van Houten, with the one closest to Van Houten listed first.
- Dillon
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
- Dillon is located in Colfax County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dillon
- Raton
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
- Wootton
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
- Wootton is located in Las Animas County (CO)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wootton
- Morley
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
- Morley is located in Las Animas County (CO)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Morley
- Maxwell
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
- Starkville
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
- Madrid ‑ Historic
(23 miles [37 km] to the north)
- Madrid is located in Las Animas County (CO)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Madrid
- Sopris ‑ Historic
(23 miles [37 km] to the north)
- Sopris is located in Las Animas County (CO)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sopris
- Engleville
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
- Engleville is located in Las Animas County (CO)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Engleville
- Continue List (6 more) ...
- Kiowa ‑ Historic
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
- Kiowa is located in Colfax County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kiowa
- Trinidad
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
- Cimarron
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
- Barela
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
- Barela is located in Las Animas County (CO)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Barela
- Weston
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
- Springer
(29 miles [46.7 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 Van Houten. See our List of 1890's Communities around Van Houten.
Newspapers Published in Van Houten ...
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 85 newspapers that have been published in the area around Van Houten.
Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Van Houten, there are papers which were published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Van Houten.
Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...
When we do our genealogical research, we first visit 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 Van Houten:
- Websites specific to New Mexico
- Pages specific to Colfax County
- Genealogy information for nearby counties
- Cemetery Information and Directories for New Mexico
Footnotes ...
| <1> | 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 Van Houten, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <2> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <3> | 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. |
| <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- Van Houten) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |