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 Boca Chica (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 Boca Chica. 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 Boca Chica ...

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.

Over the years, Boca Chica had several name changes:

• Prior to its current name of Boca Chica, it was known as Kopernik Shores.
• Before changing to Kopernik Shores, it was named Kennedy Shores.

• Boca Chica was originally named Kennedy Shores

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 Boca Chica ...

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

• Boca Chica was founded in 1967.

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 doctors and hospitals 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.

Boca Chica is located in Cameron County.

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

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Cameron County: Hidalgo & Willacy.

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

• Cameron County     (The home county of Boca Chica)
  • The following are listed by their distance from Boca Chica, with the one closest to Boca Chica listed first.
  • Clarksville ‑ Historic
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Clarksville have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clarksville
    • Clarksville is located in Cameron County
  • Port Isabel
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Port Isabel
    • Port Isabel is located in Cameron County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 6,226 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Port Isabel <2>
  • Laguna Heights
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Laguna Heights have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Laguna Heights
    • Laguna Heights is located in Cameron County
  • South Padre Island
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for South Padre Island have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Padre Island
    • South Padre Island is located in Cameron County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,752 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for South Padre Island <2>
  • Laguna Vista
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Laguna Vista have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Laguna Vista
    • Laguna Vista is located in Cameron County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,217 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Laguna Vista <2>
  • South Point
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for South Point have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Point
    • South Point is located in Cameron County
    • South Point has also been known as:
    • South Point Colonia
  • Del Mar Heights
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Del Mar Heights have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Del Mar Heights
    • Del Mar Heights is located in Cameron County
    • Del Mar Heights has also been known as:
    • Del Mar Heights Colonia
  • Reid Hope King
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Reid Hope King have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Reid Hope King
    • Reid Hope King is located in Cameron County
    • Reid Hope King has also been known as:
    • Reid Hope King Colonia
  • Bayview
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bayview
    • Bayview is located in Cameron County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 404 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Bayview <2>
  • Villa Pancho
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Villa Pancho have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Villa Pancho
    • Villa Pancho is located in Cameron County
    • Villa Pancho has also been known as:
    • Villa Pancho Colonia
  • Chula Vista - Orason
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chula Vista - Orason
    • Chula Vista - Orason is located in Cameron County
  • Cameron Park
    (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cameron Park
    • Cameron Park is located in Cameron County
    • Cameron Park has also been known as:
    • Cameron Park Colonia

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

Newspapers Published in Boca Chica ...

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 59 newspapers that have been published in the area around Boca Chica.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Boca Chica, there are papers which were published within 29 miles [46.7 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Boca Chica.

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 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 Boca Chica:

• Websites specific to Texas
  • Jump to Cyndi's List
  • Jump to Family Search
  • Jump to Genealogy Trails
  • Website for the //www.tsl.texas.gov/

• Pages specific to Cameron County
  • Jump to Cyndi's List
  • Jump to Family Search

• Cemetery Information and Directories for Texas
  • Cemetery Junction: Cemeteries of Texas
  • Cyndi's List
  • Cemeteries of Texas
  • Cemeteries of Cameron County
  • FamilySearch.org: Cemeteries of Texas
  • Find-A-Grave: Home Page
  • Interment.net
  • Cemeteries of Texas
  • Cemeteries of Cameron County

Cemeteries Near Boca Chica ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Boca Chica.

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

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

• Southmost Cemetery
  (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Southmost Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Southmost Cemetery
• Santa Rosalia Cemetery
  (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Santa Rosalia Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Santa Rosalia Cemetery
• Soldiers Cemetery
  (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Soldiers Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Soldiers Cemetery
• Buena Vista Cemetery
  (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
  • To give a relative sense of its location, the Buena Vista Cemetery is located in Brownsville.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Buena Vista Cemetery
• Old City Cemetery
  (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Old City Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Old City Cemetery
• La Leona Cemetery
  (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the La Leona Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the La Leona Cemetery
• Monte Meta Cemetery
  (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Monte Meta Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Monte Meta Cemetery
• San Benito City Cemetery
  (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the San Benito City Cemetery
  • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2145958 <4>
• San Benito Memorial Park Cemetery
  (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the San Benito Memorial Park Cemetery
  • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2309721 <4>
• Zepeda Cemetery
  (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
  • To give a relative sense of its location, the Zepeda Cemetery is located 2 miles [3.2 km]<3> to the northwest of La Paloma.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Zepeda Cemetery
• Rio Hondo Community Cemetery
  (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
  • To give a relative sense of its location, the Rio Hondo Community Cemetery is located outside and to the east of Rio Hondo.
  • The Rio Hondo Community Cemetery has also been known as:
  • Jack Carpenter Cemetery
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Rio Hondo Community Cemetery
  • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2188890 <4>
• Rio Hondo City Cemetery
  (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
  • To give a relative sense of its location, the Rio Hondo City Cemetery is located in Rio Hondo.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Rio Hondo City Cemetery
  • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2138707 <4>

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 Boca Chica in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Boca Chica.

• Brownsville
  (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brownsville
  • Brownsville is located in Cameron County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 183,428 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Brownsville <2>

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

Off-the-Road Links ...

Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Boca Chica. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.

The official website for Cameron County: www.co.cameron.tx.us/

The official website for State of Texas: https://texas.gov/