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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 Benevides (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 Benevides. 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 Benevides ...

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.

Benevides has also been known as: Benevides Colonia.

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 northeast 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 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 east 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.

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

  • Hidalgo County     (The home county of Benevides)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Benevides, with the one closest to Benevides listed first.
    • Sullivan City
      (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Cuevitas
      (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
      • Cuevitas is located in Hidalgo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cuevitas
    • Los Ebanos
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Sam Fordyce ‑ Historic
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Sam Fordyce is located in Hidalgo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sam Fordyce
    • Havana
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Havana is located in Hidalgo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Havana
    • La Joya
      (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Penitas
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Chihuahua
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
      • Chihuahua is located in Hidalgo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chihuahua
      • Chihuahua has also been known as:
      • Chihuahua Colonia
    • Doffing
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
      • Doffing is located in Hidalgo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Doffing
    • Abram
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Abram is located in Hidalgo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Abram
    • Citrus City
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
      • Citrus City is located in Hidalgo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Citrus City
    • Palmview South
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
      • Palmview South is located in Hidalgo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Palmview South
    • Palmview
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
      • Palmview is located in Hidalgo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Palmview
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 5,839 people
  • Starr County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Benevides, with the one closest to Benevides listed first.
    • La Grulla
      (5 miles [8 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
    • La Victoria
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
      • La Victoria is located in Starr County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for La Victoria
    • Alto Bonito
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
      • 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
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
      • 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
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • La Puerta
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
      • La Puerta is located in Starr County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for La Puerta
    • El Refugio
      (13 miles [20.9 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
    • Las Lomas
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Las Lomas is located in Starr County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Las Lomas
    • La Carla
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
      • 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
    • Rio Grande City
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Los Villareales
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
      • Los Villareales is located in Starr County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Los Villareales
    • Santel
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
      • Santel is located in Starr County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Santel
      • Santel has also been known as:
      • Santel Colonia
    • Los Alvarez
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
      • Los Alvarez is located in Starr County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Los Alvarez

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

Cemeteries Near Benevides ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Benevides.

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 Benevides - one of the links might be able to help.

If not found below, our Cemetery List for Benevides covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.

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

  • Cuevitas Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
  • Lakeview Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
  • Solizes Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
  • Longoria Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
  • San Vicente Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for San Vicente Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the San Vicente Cemetery is located in La Grulla.
  • San Antonio Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Garciasville Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
  • San Jose Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for San Jose Cemetery
    • The San Jose Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Abram Cemetery
  • Laurel Hill Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
  • Olmos Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
  • Valley Memorial Gardens
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
  • Immaculate Conception Cemetery
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
  • Continue List   (35 more) ...
    • Granjeno Cemetery
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Granjeno Cemetery
      • To give a relative sense of its location, the Granjeno Cemetery is located in Granjeno.
    • Temple Emanuel Cemetery
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
    • La Piedad Cemetery
      (20 miles [32.2 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.<4>

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

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

  • Havana
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Havana is located in Hidalgo County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Havana
  • Rio Grande City
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
  • Hidalgo
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
  • Roma
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
    • Roma is located in Starr County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roma
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 11,476 people
    • Roma has also been known as:
    • Roma - Los Saenz
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Roma <1>

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

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 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 Benevides:

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>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or 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- Benevides) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>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.
<4>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 Benevides, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.