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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 Colonia Rafael (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 Colonia Rafael. 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.

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 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.

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

  • Hidalgo County     (The home county of Colonia Rafael)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Colonia Rafael, with the one closest to Colonia Rafael listed first.
    • Sullivan City
      (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • 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
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Sam Fordyce is located in Hidalgo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sam Fordyce
    • Havana
      (4 miles [6.4 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 southeast)
    • Penitas
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Chihuahua
      (10 miles [16.1 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
    • 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
    • Doffing
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
      • Doffing is located in Hidalgo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Doffing
    • Abram
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Abram is located in Hidalgo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Abram
    • La Homa
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
      • La Homa is located in Hidalgo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for La Homa
  • Starr County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Colonia Rafael, with the one closest to Colonia Rafael 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
      (6 miles [9.7 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
      (6 miles [9.7 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
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • La Puerta
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
      • La Puerta is located in Starr County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for La Puerta
    • El Refugio
      (12 miles [19.3 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
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
      • Los Villareales is located in Starr County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Los Villareales
    • Santel
      (20 miles [32.2 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

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

Cemeteries Near Colonia Rafael ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Colonia Rafael.

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 Colonia Rafael - one of the links might be able to help.

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

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

  • Cuevitas Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
  • Solizes Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
  • San Vicente Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 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.
  • Lakeview Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
  • Longoria Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
  • San Antonio Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
  • Garciasville Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
  • San Jose Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for San Jose Cemetery
    • The San Jose Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Abram Cemetery
  • Olmos Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Laurel Hill Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
  • Immaculate Conception Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Valley Memorial Gardens
    (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
  • Continue List   (37 more) ...
    • Granjeno Cemetery
      (19 miles [30.6 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
      (21 miles [33.8 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 Colonia Rafael in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Colonia Rafael.

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

  • Havana
    (4 miles [6.4 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 Colonia Rafael. See our List of 1890's Communities around Colonia Rafael.

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 Colonia Rafael:

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 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Colonia Rafael) 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 Colonia Rafael, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.