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 El Rio Colonia (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 El Rio Colonia. 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 northeast 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 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.
El Rio Colonia 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 El Rio Colonia. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to El Rio Colonia:
- Hidalgo County (The home county of El Rio Colonia)
- The following are listed by their distance from El Rio Colonia, with the one closest to El Rio Colonia listed first.
- Penitas
(Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
- La Joya
(Less than 2 miles to the west)
- Chihuahua
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
- Chihuahua is located in Hidalgo County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chihuahua
- Chihuahua has also been known as:
- Chihuahua Colonia
- Havana
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
- Havana is located in Hidalgo County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Havana
- Palmview
(4 miles [6.4 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
- Doffing
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
- Doffing is located in Hidalgo County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Doffing
- Abram
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
- Abram is located in Hidalgo County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Abram
- Sam Fordyce ‑ Historic
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
- Sam Fordyce is located in Hidalgo County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sam Fordyce
- La Homa
(5 miles [8 km] to the east)
- La Homa is located in Hidalgo County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for La Homa
- Palmview South
(5 miles [8 km] to the east)
- Palmview South is located in Hidalgo County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Palmview South
- Los Ebanos
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
- Citrus City
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
- Citrus City is located in Hidalgo County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Citrus City
- Starr County
- The following are listed by their distance from El Rio Colonia, with the one closest to El Rio Colonia listed first.
- La Grulla
(12 miles [19.3 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
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
- La Victoria is located in Starr County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for La Victoria
- Alto Bonito
(13 miles [20.9 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
(13 miles [20.9 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
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
- El Refugio
(19 miles [30.6 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 Puerta
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
- La Puerta is located in Starr County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for La Puerta
- Las Lomas
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
- Las Lomas is located in Starr County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Las Lomas
- La Carla
(22 miles [35.4 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
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
- Arkansas City
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
- Arkansas City is located in Starr County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Arkansas City
- Los Villareales
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
- Los Villareales is located in Starr County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Los Villareales
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to El Rio Colonia, see our County-by-County Page for El Rio Colonia.
Cemeteries Near El Rio Colonia ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of El Rio Colonia.
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 El Rio Colonia - one of the links might be able to help.
If not found below, our Cemetery List for El Rio Colonia covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from El Rio Colonia, with the one closest to El Rio Colonia listed first.
- San Antonio Cemetery
(Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
- Lakeview Cemetery
(Less than 2 miles to the west)
- San Jose Cemetery
(3 miles [4.8 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
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
- Cuevitas Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
- Granjeno Cemetery
(11 miles [17.7 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.
- Valley Memorial Gardens
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
- San Vicente Cemetery
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
- Temple Emanuel Cemetery
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
- Solizes Cemetery
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
- Longoria Cemetery
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
- La Piedad Cemetery
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
- Continue List (41 more) ...
- Roselawn Cemetery
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
- Hidalgo Cemetery
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hidalgo Cemetery
- To give a relative sense of its location, the Hidalgo Cemetery is located in Hidalgo.
- The Hidalgo Cemetery has also been known as:
- Hidalgo City Cemetery
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2313151 <2>
- Garciasville Cemetery
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
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 El Rio Colonia in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of El Rio Colonia.
These communities are listed based on their distance from El Rio Colonia, with the one closest to El Rio Colonia listed first.
- Havana
(3 miles [4.8 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)
- Rio Grande City
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around El Rio Colonia. See our List of 1890's Communities around El Rio Colonia.
Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...
When we do our genealogical research, we start with 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 El Rio Colonia:
- Websites specific to Texas
- Pages specific to Hidalgo 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 obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- El Rio Colonia) 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 El Rio Colonia, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |