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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 Hidalgo (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 Hidalgo. 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 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.

Hidalgo is located in Hidalgo 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 Hidalgo County: Brooks, Cameron, Kenedy, Starr & Willacy.

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

  • Hidalgo County     (The home county of Hidalgo)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Hidalgo, with the one closest to Hidalgo listed first.
    • Granjeno
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Granjeno
      • Granjeno is located in Hidalgo County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 317 people
    • La Lomita ‑ Historic
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for La Lomita have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for La Lomita
      • La Lomita is located in Hidalgo County
    • McAllen
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Pharr
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pharr
      • Pharr is located in Hidalgo County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 79,513 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Pharr <2>
    • Plumosa Village
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Plumosa Village have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plumosa Village
      • Plumosa Village is located in Hidalgo County
      • Plumosa Village has also been known as:
      • Plumosa Village Colonia
    • San Juan
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Mission
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • South Alamo
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Alamo
      • South Alamo is located in Hidalgo County
    • Southside Village
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Southside Village have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Southside Village
      • Southside Village is located in Hidalgo County
      • Southside Village has also been known as:
      • Southside Village Colonia
    • Alamo
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alamo
      • Alamo is located in Hidalgo County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 20,556 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Alamo <2>
    • Campo Alto
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Campo Alto
      • Campo Alto is located in Hidalgo County
    • Citriana Village
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Citriana Village have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Citriana Village
      • Citriana Village is located in Hidalgo County
      • Citriana Village has also been known as:
      • Citriana Village Colonia
  • Cameron County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Hidalgo, with the one closest to Hidalgo listed first.
    • Bixby
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bixby
      • Bixby is located in Cameron County
    • Longoria Townsite
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Longoria Townsite have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Longoria Townsite
      • Longoria Townsite is located in Cameron County
      • Longoria Townsite has also been known as:
      • Longoria Townsite Colonia
    • Santa Maria
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Santa Maria have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Santa Maria
      • Santa Maria is located in Cameron County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Santa Maria <2>
    • Solis
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Solis have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Solis
      • Solis is located in Cameron County
      • Solis has also been known as:
      • Solis Colonia
    • Bluetown - Iglesia Antigua
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
    • North La Feria Village
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for North La Feria Village have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North La Feria Village
      • North La Feria Village is located in Cameron County
      • North La Feria Village has also been known as:
      • North La Feria Village Colonia
    • Ratamosa
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ratamosa have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ratamosa
      • Ratamosa is located in Cameron County
      • Ratamosa has also been known as:
      • Ratamosa Colonia
    • Arroyo Alto
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Arroyo Alto have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Arroyo Alto
      • Arroyo Alto is located in Cameron County
    • Bluetown
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bluetown
      • Bluetown is located in Cameron County
      • Bluetown has also been known as:
      • Blue Town
      • Bluetown Colonia
    • La Feria North
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for La Feria North
      • La Feria North is located in Cameron County
    • La Feria
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
    • Windsong Village
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Windsong Village have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Windsong Village
      • Windsong Village is located in Cameron County
      • Windsong Village has also been known as:
      • Windsong Village Colonia
  • Starr County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Hidalgo, with the one closest to Hidalgo listed first.
    • La Grulla
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for La Grulla
      • La Grulla is located in Starr County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,682 people
    • La Victoria
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for La Victoria
      • La Victoria is located in Starr County
    • Alto Bonito
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alto Bonito
      • Alto Bonito is located in Starr County
      • Alto Bonito has also been known as:
      • Alto Bonito Colonia
    • West Alto Bonito
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Alto Bonito
      • West Alto Bonito is located in Starr County
      • West Alto Bonito has also been known as:
      • West Alto Bonito Colonia
    • Garciasville
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Hidalgo ...

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 27 newspapers that have been published in the area around Hidalgo.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Hidalgo. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Hidalgo and those printed in the larger area surrounding Hidalgo.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 7 miles [11.3 km]<3> of Hidalgo.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we begin with 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 Hidalgo:

Cemeteries Near Hidalgo ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Hidalgo.

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

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

  • Hidalgo Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • 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 our Gazetteer entry for the Hidalgo Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2313151 <4>
  • Granjeno Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
  • Capota Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Capota Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Capota Cemetery
  • Eli Jackson Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Eli Jackson Cemetery is located 4 miles [6.4 km]<3> to the west of Hidalgo.
    • The Eli Jackson Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Eli Jackson - Brewster Cemetery
    • Jackson - Brewster Cemetery
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Eli Jackson Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2650696 <4>
  • Jackson Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Jackson Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Jackson Cemetery
  • Pharr Memorial Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Pharr Memorial Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Pharr Memorial Cemetery
  • La Piedad Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the La Piedad Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the La Piedad Cemetery
  • Temple Emanuel Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Temple Emanuel Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Temple Emanuel Cemetery
  • Brewster Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Brewster Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Brewster Cemetery
  • Roselawn Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
  • Old Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Old Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Old Cemetery
  • San Juan Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Continue List   (47 more) ...
    • Guadalupe Cemetery
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Guadalupe Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Guadalupe Cemetery
    • Webber Cemetery
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Webber Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Webber Cemetery
    • Laurel Hill Cemetery
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Laurel Hill Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Laurel Hill Cemetery

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>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Hidalgo had a population of 389 people in 1895 with a post office and no railroad service. In 2020, Hidalgo had a population of 14,305 people.

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

  • Havana
    (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Havana
    • Havana is located in Hidalgo County
  • Santa Maria
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Santa Maria have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Santa Maria
    • Santa Maria is located in Cameron County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Santa Maria <2>

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

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

The official website for Hidalgo County: www.co.hidalgo.tx.us/

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

Footnotes ...

<1>The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required.
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<3>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 drawn from Point A (ie- Hidalgo) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Hidalgo. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 26.1024, Longitude: -98.2571    
<4>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.
<5>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 Hidalgo, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024