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 Dolores (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 Dolores. 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 Dolores ...
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.
Dolores has also been known as: Dolores Colonia.
You might be interested in other communities that are also named Dolores. More information can be found on our Tidbits & Trivia Page for Dolores.
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 southwest 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 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 west 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.
Dolores is located in Zapata 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 Zapata County: Jim Hogg, Starr & Webb.
Below are the counties that are near Dolores. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Dolores:
- Zapata County (The home county of Dolores)
- The following are listed by their distance from Dolores, with the one closest to Dolores listed first.
- San Ygnacio
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
- Medina
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
- Medina is located in Zapata County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Medina
- Zapata
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
- Falcon Mesa
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
- Falcon Mesa is located in Zapata County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Falcon Mesa
- Falcon Lake Estates
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
- Falcon Lake Estates is located in Zapata County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Falcon Lake Estates
- Siesta Shores
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
- Siesta Shores is located in Zapata County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Siesta Shores
- Webb County
- The following are listed by their distance from Dolores, with the one closest to Dolores listed first.
- El Cenizo
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
- El Cenizo is located in Webb County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for El Cenizo
- Population from the 2020 Census: 3,092 people
- Rio Bravo
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
- Rio Bravo is located in Webb County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rio Bravo
- Population from the 2020 Census: 4,608 people
- Rio Bravo has also been known as:
- Rio Bravo Colonia
- La Presa
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
- La Presa is located in Webb County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for La Presa
- La Presa has also been known as:
- La Presa Colonia
- Laredo Ranchettes
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
- Laredo Ranchettes is located in Webb County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Laredo Ranchettes
- Larga Vista
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
- Larga Vista is located in Webb County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Larga Vista
- Larga Vista has also been known as:
- Larga Vista Colonia
- Laredo
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
- Pescadito ‑ Historic
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
- Pescadito is located in Webb County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pescadito
- Regency Village
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
- Regency Village is located in Webb County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Regency Village
- Regency Village has also been known as:
- Regency Village Colonia
- Los Ojuelos ‑ Historic
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
- Los Ojuelos is located in Webb County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Los Ojuelos
- Mirando City Addition
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
- Mirando City Addition is located in Webb County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mirando City Addition
- Mirando City Addition has also been known as:
- Mirando City Addition Colonia
- Mirando City
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
- Ranchitos Las Lomas
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
- Ranchitos Las Lomas is located in Webb County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ranchitos Las Lomas
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Dolores, see our County-by-County Page for Dolores.
Cemeteries Near Dolores ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Dolores.
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 Dolores - one of the links might be able to help.
If not found below, our Cemetery List for Dolores covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Dolores, with the one closest to Dolores listed first.
- Dolores Cemetery
(Less than 2 miles to the south)
- Cementerio Blas Maria Uribe
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
- Cementerio del Pueblo Cemetery
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
- City Cemetery
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for City Cemetery
- To give a relative sense of its location, the City Cemetery is a very large cemetery that is located in Laredo.
- The City Cemetery has also been known as:
- Laredo City Cemetery
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #1186555 <2>
- Calvary Catholic Cemetery
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Calvary Catholic Cemetery
- To give a relative sense of its location, the Calvary Catholic Cemetery is a very large cemetery that is located in Laredo.
- The Calvary Catholic Cemetery has also been known as:
- Catholic Cemetery
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #1966533 <2>
- New Ramireno Cemetery
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
- Old Raotireno Cemetery
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
- Uribeno Cemetery
(23 miles [37 km] to the south)
- Ranchito Cemetery
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
- Gracia Cemetery
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gracia Cemetery
- To give a relative sense of its location, the Gracia Cemetery is located 15 miles [24.1 km]<3> to the northeast of Zapata.
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2518825 <2>
- Zapata Cemetery
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
- Camaron Cemetery
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Camaron Cemetery
- To give a relative sense of its location, the Camaron Cemetery is located 15 miles [24.1 km]<3> to the northeast of Zapata.
- The Camaron Cemetery has also been known as:
- Cameron Cemetery
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2717 <2>
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 Dolores in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Dolores.
These communities are listed based on their distance from Dolores, with the one closest to Dolores listed first.
- San Ygnacio
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
- Laredo
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
- Pescadito ‑ Historic
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
- Pescadito is located in Webb County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pescadito
- Aguilares
(23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
- Aguilares is located in Webb County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Aguilares
We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Dolores. See our List of 1890's Communities around Dolores.
Newspapers Published in Dolores ...
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 34 newspapers that have been published in the area around Dolores.
Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Dolores, there are papers which were published within 26 miles [41.8 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Dolores.
Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...
When we do our genealogical research, we first visit 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 Dolores:
- Websites specific to Texas
- Pages specific to Zapata County
- Genealogy information for nearby counties
- 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> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Dolores) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |
| <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 Dolores, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |