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 Alta Vista (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 Alta Vista. 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 Alta Vista ...
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.
Alta Vista has also been known as: Alta Vista Colonia.
You might be interested in other communities that are also named Alta Vista. More information can be found on our Tidbits & Trivia Page for Alta Vista.
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.
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 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.
Alta Vista is located in Hidalgo County.
To see how the shape of Texas' counties may have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.
The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Hidalgo County: Brooks, Cameron, Kenedy, Starr & Willacy.
Below are the counties that are near Alta Vista. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Alta Vista:
- Hidalgo County (The home county of Alta Vista)
- The following are listed by their distance from Alta Vista, with the one closest to Alta Vista listed first.
- Aloha Village
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
- Aloha Village is located in Hidalgo County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Aloha Village
- Aloha Village has also been known as:
- Aloha Village Colonia
- Alton North
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
- Alton North is located in Hidalgo County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alton North
- Alton
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
- Citrus City
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
- Citrus City is located in Hidalgo County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Citrus City
- West Sharyland
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
- West Sharyland is located in Hidalgo County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Sharyland
- Doffing
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
- Doffing is located in Hidalgo County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Doffing
- La Homa
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
- La Homa is located in Hidalgo County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for La Homa
- Palmhurst
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
- Palmhurst is located in Hidalgo County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Palmhurst
- Population from the 2020 Census: 2,719 people
- Palmview
(5 miles [8 km] to the south)
- Palmview is located in Hidalgo County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Palmview
- Population from the 2020 Census: 5,839 people
- Monte Christo ‑ Historic
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
- Monte Christo is located in Hidalgo County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Monte Christo
- Mission
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
- Chihuahua
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
- Chihuahua is located in Hidalgo County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chihuahua
- Chihuahua has also been known as:
- Chihuahua Colonia
- Starr County
- The following are listed by their distance from Alta Vista, with the one closest to Alta Vista listed first.
- La Victoria
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
- La Victoria is located in Starr County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for La Victoria
- La Grulla
(18 miles [29 km] to the west)
- La Grulla is located in Starr County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for La Grulla
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,682 people
- Alto Bonito
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
- Alto Bonito is located in Starr County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alto Bonito
- Alto Bonito has also been known as:
- Alto Bonito Colonia
- West Alto Bonito
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
- West Alto Bonito is located in Starr County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Alto Bonito
- West Alto Bonito has also been known as:
- West Alto Bonito Colonia
- Garciasville
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
- La Puerta
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
- La Puerta is located in Starr County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for La Puerta
- Arkansas City
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
- Arkansas City is located in Starr County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Arkansas City
- El Refugio
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
- El Refugio is located in Starr County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for El Refugio
- El Refugio has also been known as:
- El Refugio Colonia
- La Carla
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
- La Carla is located in Starr County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for La Carla
- La Carla has also been known as:
- La Carla Colonia
- Delmita
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
- Las Lomas
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
- Las Lomas is located in Starr County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Las Lomas
- Rio Grande City
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
- Willacy County
- Lasara
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Alta Vista, see our County-by-County Page for Alta Vista.
Cemeteries Near Alta Vista ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Alta Vista.
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 Alta Vista - one of the links might be able to help.
If not found below, our Cemetery List for Alta Vista covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Alta Vista, with the one closest to Alta Vista listed first.
- Laurel Hill Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the south)
- Valley Memorial Gardens
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
- San Antonio Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
- San Jose Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for San Jose Cemetery
- The San Jose Cemetery has also been known as:
- Abram Cemetery
- Lakeview Cemetery
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
- Temple Emanuel Cemetery
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
- La Piedad Cemetery
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
- Roselawn Cemetery
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
- Palm Valley Memorial Gardens
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
- Immaculate Conception Cemetery
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
- Granjeno Cemetery
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Granjeno Cemetery
- To give a relative sense of its location, the Granjeno Cemetery is located in Granjeno.
- Guadalupe Cemetery
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
- Continue List (69 more) ...
- Restlawn Cemetery
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Restlawn Cemetery
- To give a relative sense of its location, the Restlawn Cemetery is located outside and to the northeast of Edinburg.
- Hillcrest Memorial Park
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
- Old Edinburg Cemetery
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
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.<3>
While we didn't find Alta Vista in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Alta Vista.
These communities are listed based on their distance from Alta Vista, with the one closest to Alta Vista listed first.
- Havana
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
- Havana is located in Hidalgo County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Havana
- Hidalgo
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
- Los Angeles
(23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
- Los Angeles is located in Hidalgo County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Los Angeles
- Rio Grande City
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Alta Vista. See our List of 1890's Communities around Alta Vista.
Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...
When we do our genealogical research, we like to start with the websites from Cyndi's List, FamilySearch and Genealogy Trails. These websites either 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 Alta Vista:
- Websites specific to Texas
- Pages specific to Hidalgo County
- Genealogy information for nearby counties
- Starr County
- Willacy County
- Cemetery Information and Directories for Texas
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 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. |
| <3> | 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 Alta Vista, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |