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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 Carson City (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 Carson City. 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.

Name Variations for Carson City ...

When searching records, keep in mind that names and their spelling can change over time. Our sources include documents like maps, railroad schedules, Travel, Express and Shipping Guides. Many of these documents date from the 1800's and it's common to find spelling differences.

Although we can't give a definitive list, hopefully the following will give you a feel for the variations that might have occurred.

The city of Carson City was originally named Eagle Station

If you have information about these names (such as the reason for the change, date of change, the origin of the name), please Contact Us.

A Few Details for Carson City ...

While it's still very early in our research, we found that:

  • Carson City was established in 1858.

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 northwest 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 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 west 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.

Carson City is located in Carson City.

To see how the shape of Nevada's counties have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Carson City: El Dorado (CA), Placer (CA), Douglas, Lyon, Storey & Washoe.

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

  • Carson City     (The home county of Carson City)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Carson City, with the one closest to Carson City listed first.
    • Empire
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Empire. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Empire
      • Empire is located in Carson City
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Empire
      • From Carson City to Empire
    • New Empire
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Lakeview Summit
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lakeview Summit have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lakeview Summit
      • Lakeview Summit is located in Carson City
  • Douglas County
  • Lyon County
  • Storey County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Carson City, with the one closest to Carson City listed first.
    • American City ‑ Historic
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for American City have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for American City
      • American City is located in Storey County
    • American Flat ‑ Historic
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Gold Hill
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Gold Hill. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gold Hill
      • Gold Hill is located in Storey County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Gold Hill
      • From Carson City to Gold Hill
    • Virginia City
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Flowery City ‑ Historic
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Flowery City have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flowery City
      • Flowery City is located in Storey County
    • Lousetown ‑ Historic
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Lousetown. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lousetown
      • Lousetown is located in Storey County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Lousetown
      • From Carson City to Lousetown
    • Virginia City Highlands
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Virginia City Highlands have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Virginia City Highlands
      • Virginia City Highlands is located in Storey County
    • Lockwood
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
    • Clark
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Washoe County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Carson City, with the one closest to Carson City listed first.
    • New Washoe City
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Franktown
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Ophir City ‑ Historic
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ophir City have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ophir City
      • Ophir City is located in Washoe County
    • Washoe City
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Tyrolian Village
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Tyrolian Village have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tyrolian Village
      • Tyrolian Village is located in Washoe County
    • Sundown Town
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sundown Town have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sundown Town
      • Sundown Town is located in Washoe County
    • Incline Village
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Pleasant Valley
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
    • Galena ‑ Historic
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Galena. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Galena
      • Galena is located in Washoe County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Galena
      • From Carson City to Galena
    • Crystal Bay
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
    • Steamboat
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Steamboat have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Steamboat
      • Steamboat is located in Washoe County
    • Bronco ‑ Historic
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
      • 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 Washoe County
      • Bronco has also been known as:
      • Bronca
    • Hidden Valley
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
  • Alpine County (CA)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Carson City, with the one closest to Carson City listed first.
    • Mesa Vista
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
    • Paynesville
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
    • Alpine Village
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Alpine Village have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alpine Village
      • Alpine Village is located in Alpine County (CA)
    • Woodfords
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Woodfords have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodfords
      • Woodfords is located in Alpine County (CA)
    • Sorensens
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
  • El Dorado County (CA)
  • Nevada County (CA)
  • Placer County (CA)
  • Sierra County (CA)
    • Calvada ‑ Historic
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Calvada. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Calvada
      • Calvada is located in Sierra County (CA)
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Calvada
      • From Carson City to Calvada

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

Cemeteries Near Carson City ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Carson City.

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

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

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 Carson City had a population of 3,950 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Carson City had a population of 56,034 people.

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

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Carson City ...

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 122 newspapers that have been published in the area around Carson City.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Carson City. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Carson City and those printed in the larger area surrounding Carson City.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 24 miles [38.6 km]<5> of Carson City.

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 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 Carson City:

The official website for Carson City: www.carson-city.nv.us/

The official website for State of Nevada: https://nv.gov/

Footnotes ...

<1>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.
<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>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 '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- Carson City) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Carson City. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.1739, Longitude: -119.7632    
<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 Carson City, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 28 Apr 2025