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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 Wimsatt (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 Wimsatt. 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.

Wimsatt 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 Wimsatt. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Wimsatt:

  • Otero County     (The home county of Wimsatt)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Wimsatt, with the one closest to Wimsatt listed first.
    • Cloudcroft
      (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Hortonville
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hortonville
      • Hortonville is located in Otero County
    • Mayhill
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Mountain Park
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mountain Park
      • Mountain Park is located in Otero County
    • High Rolls
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for High Rolls
      • High Rolls is located in Otero County
    • Sacramento
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Weed
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Mescalero
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Sunspot
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunspot
      • Sunspot is located in Otero County
    • La Luz
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
    • Bent
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
    • Alamogordo
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Alamogordo have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alamogordo
      • Alamogordo is located in Otero County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 32,126 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Alamogordo <1>
    • Boles Acres
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Boles Acres
      • Boles Acres is located in Otero County
  • Chaves County
    • Dunken ‑ Historic
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dunken
      • Dunken is located in Chaves County
  • Lincoln County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Wimsatt, with the one closest to Wimsatt listed first.
    • Hollywood
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hollywood
      • Hollywood is located in Lincoln County
    • Ruidoso Downs
      (25 miles [40.2 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>
    • Alpine Cellars Village
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
      • 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
    • Ruidoso
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
    • Alto
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)

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

Newspapers Published in Wimsatt ...

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 44 newspapers that have been published in the area around Wimsatt.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Wimsatt, there are papers which were published within 28 miles [45.1 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Wimsatt.

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 Wimsatt:

Cemeteries Near Wimsatt ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Wimsatt.

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

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

  • James Canyon Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
  • Bass Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Bass Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Bass Cemetery
  • Sixteen Springs Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • 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.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Sixteen Springs Cemetery
  • Parker Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Carner Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Mountain Acres Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
  • Mountain Acres Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Mountain Acres Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Mountain Acres Cemetery
  • Mayhill Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
  • Marcia Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Marcia Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Marcia Cemetery
  • Weed Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Agua Chiquita Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
    • The Agua Chiquita Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Miller Flats Road Cemetery
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Agua Chiquita Cemetery
  • Aqua Chiquita
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
  • Continue List   (22 more) ...
    • Lusk Cemetery
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Lusk Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Lusk Cemetery
    • Mescalero Indian Cemetery
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Blazer Cemetery
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)

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.<5>

While we didn't find Wimsatt in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Wimsatt.

  • Ruidoso
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)

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

Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Wimsatt. 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: 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 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Wimsatt) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Wimsatt. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 32.9581, Longitude: -105.6425       In this case, the coordinates for Wimsatt have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<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>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 Wimsatt, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024