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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 Whitetail (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 Whitetail. 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 southwest corner of their home county. During their lives, most hospitals and doctors were in the next county to the west. 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 west 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.

Whitetail is located in Otero 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 Otero County: Chaves, Dona Ana, Eddy, Lincoln, Sierra, Culberson (TX) & Hudspeth (TX).

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

  • Otero County     (The home county of Whitetail)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Whitetail, with the one closest to Whitetail listed first.
    • Carrizo
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carrizo
      • Carrizo is located in Otero County
    • Mescalero
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
    • Bent
      (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
    • Cloudcroft
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Hortonville
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hortonville
      • Hortonville is located in Otero County
    • Mayhill
      (23 miles [37 km] to the south)
    • Mountain Park
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mountain Park
      • Mountain Park is located in Otero County
    • High Rolls
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for High Rolls
      • High Rolls is located in Otero County
    • La Luz
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Tularosa
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
    • Weed
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
    • Sacramento
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
  • Lincoln County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Whitetail, with the one closest to Whitetail listed first.
    • Ruidoso Downs
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ruidoso Downs have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ruidoso Downs
      • Ruidoso Downs is located in Lincoln County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,631 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Ruidoso Downs <1>
    • Hollywood
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hollywood
      • Hollywood is located in Lincoln County
    • Ruidoso
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Alpine Cellars Village
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Alpine Cellars Village have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alpine Cellars Village
      • Alpine Cellars Village is located in Lincoln County
    • Glencoe
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Alto
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Sierra Vista
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sierra Vista
      • Sierra Vista is located in Lincoln County
    • Sun Valley
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Sun Valley. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sun Valley
      • Sun Valley is located in Lincoln County
    • Bonito
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bonito
      • Bonito is located in Lincoln County
    • Fort Stanton ‑ Historic
      (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fort Stanton
      • Fort Stanton is located in Lincoln County
    • Hondo
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Lincoln
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lincoln
      • Lincoln is located in Lincoln County

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

Cemeteries Near Whitetail ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Whitetail.

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

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

  • Whitetail Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Whitetail Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Whitetail Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #38512 <4>
  • Stetson Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
  • Ruidoso-Hondo Valley Memorial Park
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
  • San Ysidro Mission Church Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
  • Forest Lawn Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
  • Mescalero Indian Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
  • West - Box Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the West - Box Cemetery
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for the West - Box Cemetery. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the West - Box Cemetery is located 7 miles [11.3 km]<5> to the north of Capitan.
    • The West - Box Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Pioneer Little Creek Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2176448 <4>
  • George Coe Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the George Coe Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the George Coe Cemetery is located 6 miles [9.7 km]<5> to the east of San Patricio.
    • The George Coe Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Coe Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #38008 <4>
  • Blazer Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
  • Blazers Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Blazers Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Blazers Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Glencoe Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Glencoe Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Glencoe Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Sixteen Springs Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Sixteen Springs Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Sixteen Springs Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (29 more) ...
    • St. Jude Catholic Mission Cemetery
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
    • San Patricio Catholic Church Cemetery
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Walters Cemetery
      (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Walters Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Walters Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #38504 <4>

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 Whitetail in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Whitetail.

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

  • Ruidoso
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Bonito
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bonito
    • Bonito is located in Lincoln County
  • Fort Stanton ‑ Historic
    (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fort Stanton
    • Fort Stanton is located in Lincoln County
  • Lincoln
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lincoln
    • Lincoln is located in Lincoln County
  • Nogal
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
  • Picacho
    (25 miles [40.2 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 Whitetail. See our List of 1890's Communities around Whitetail.

Newspapers Published in Whitetail ...

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 34 newspapers that have been published in the area around Whitetail.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Whitetail, there are papers which were published within 28 miles [45.1 km]<5>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Whitetail.

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 helpful 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 Whitetail:

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

The official website for Otero County: www.co.otero.nm.us/

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>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.
<5>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 from Point A (ie- Whitetail) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Whitetail. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 33.2290, Longitude: -105.5558       In this case, the coordinates for Whitetail have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<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 Whitetail, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 28 Apr 2025