Our Genealogy Helper
Introduction ...
Although we found mention of California during our research, we really don't have any information about it.<1> Given the context of how California was mentioned, we believe that it was a community rather than a locale or some type of landmark. We have done a cursory search and if it was a community, we haven't been able to find any evidence that it still exists..
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 California (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 California. 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.
Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...
When we do our genealogical research, we first turn to 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 California:
- Websites specific to Ontario
- Cemetery Information and Directories for Ontario
Cemeteries Near California ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of California.
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 California covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from California, with the one closest to California listed first.
- St. Declan's RC Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
- The St. Declan's RC Cemetery has also been known as:
- French Line Cemetery
- Green Mtn. Cemetery
- St. Declan's RC Church Cemetery
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Declan's RC Cemetery
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2353569 <2>
- Clayton United Church Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
- To give a relative sense of its location, the Clayton United Church Cemetery is located outside and to the southwest of Clayton.
- The Clayton United Church Cemetery has also been known as:
- Clayton Cemetery
- Guthrie United Church Cemetery
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Clayton United Church Cemetery
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2265997 <2>
- Bellamy Mills Cemetery
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
- To give a relative sense of its location, the Bellamy Mills Cemetery is located outside and to the southeast of Clayton.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Bellamy Mills Cemetery
- Hopetown Cemetery
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
- To give a relative sense of its location, the Hopetown Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located outside and to the northwest of Hopetown.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Hopetown Cemetery
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2320454 <2>
- Zion Memorial Cemetery
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
- Robertson / Kellough Cemetery
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
- White Lake Cemetery
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
- Indian Hill Cemetery
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
- Pakenham Union Cemetery
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
- St. Mark's Anglican Cemetery
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
- St. Andrew's Cemetery
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
- Auld Kirk Cemetery
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
- Continue List (34 more) ...
- Methodist Cemetery
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
- Wesleyan Methodist Cemetery
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
- Sacred Heart RC Cemetery
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around California. See our List of 1890's Communities around California.
Off-the-Road Links ...
The official website for Province of Ontario: https://www.ontario.ca/
Footnotes ...
<1> | If we encounter the name of what might be a community, our methodology is to add that name to our Gazetteer. For example, we might find a sentence like "He went south past California and then turned east". While California could be some kind of landmark, we think that it's more likely to be a community. We've added California as a placeholder with the hope that we'll be able to add more information in the future.
Just as a reminder: Our definition of a community is rather broad and includes those places (or areas) where several families lived and had a name which identified that place. For example, you might hear somebody say that they are going over to Bird Creek to see Pete ... Bird Creek is just a gas station and a couple of homes at the crossroads. While it might not be on the map, everybody in the area knows it by that name.
Places of interest include buildings at a crossroad, several families clustered in a hollow or maybe the location of a way station. It also includes places like mines, lumber camps, ferry crossings, etc. The community might still exist, is now gone or only existed for just a short period of time.
Also keep in mind that California could have been on the original document by mistake, misspelled, the original/alternate name of a community that we've listed elsewhere or was placed in the wrong . Sometimes a post office or train station would have a different name than the community where it's located, so two names might be referring to the same community - we're working to straighten it all out.
Since confusion between is common, we searched and weren't able to find another Ontario community named California. |
<2> | 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. |