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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 Orelia (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 Orelia. 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 northwest 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 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 west 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.

Orelia is located in Frio 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 Frio County: Atascosa, Dimmit, La Salle, McMullen, Medina, Uvalde & Zavala.

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

  • Frio County     (The home county of Orelia)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Orelia, with the one closest to Orelia listed first.
    • Derby
      (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
      • Derby is located in Frio County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Derby
      • Derby has also been known as:
      • Derby Colonia
    • Dilley
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
    • Hilltop
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
      • Hilltop is located in Frio County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hilltop
      • Hilltop has also been known as:
      • Hilltop Colonia
    • Pearsall
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
    • North Pearsall
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
      • North Pearsall is located in Frio County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Pearsall
    • West Pearsall
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
      • West Pearsall is located in Frio County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Pearsall
    • Bigfoot
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
    • Divot ‑ Historic
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
      • Divot is located in Frio County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Divot
    • Moore
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
  • Atascosa County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Orelia, with the one closest to Orelia listed first.
    • Hindes
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Hindes is located in Atascosa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hindes
    • Davis
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Davis is located in Atascosa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Davis
    • Charlotte
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Crown
      (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
      • Crown is located in Atascosa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crown
    • Dobrowolski
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
      • Dobrowolski is located in Atascosa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dobrowolski
    • La Parita
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
      • La Parita is located in Atascosa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for La Parita
    • Christine
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
    • Kyote
      (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
      • Kyote is located in Atascosa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kyote
    • Jourdanton
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Iuka
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
      • Iuka is located in Atascosa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Iuka
    • Amphion
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Amphion is located in Atascosa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Amphion
    • Anchorage
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
      • Anchorage is located in Atascosa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Anchorage
  • La Salle County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Orelia, with the one closest to Orelia listed first.
    • Fowlerton
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
    • Los Angeles
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Millett
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
      • Millett is located in La Salle County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Millett
    • Cotulla
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Woodward ‑ Historic
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
      • Woodward is located in La Salle County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodward
  • McMullen County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Orelia, with the one closest to Orelia listed first.
    • Zella
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
      • Zella is located in McMullen County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Zella
    • Tilden
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)

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

Cemeteries Near Orelia ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Orelia.

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 Orelia - one of the links might be able to help.

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

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

  • Luna Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
  • Buckhorn Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
  • Community Cemetery of Charlotte
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Community Cemetery of Charlotte
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Community Cemetery of Charlotte is located outside and to the west of Charlotte.
    • The Community Cemetery of Charlotte has also been known as:
    • Mexican Cemetery of Charlotte
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #1452055 <2>
  • Cross Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
  • Fowlerton Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
  • Garcia Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Miguel Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
  • Derby Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
  • Cross Cemetery
    (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
  • Pearsall Cemetery
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
  • Diller Cemetery
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
  • Mendiola Cemetery
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
  • Continue List   (39 more) ...
    • St. Williams Cemetery
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Salazar Cemetery
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Mendiola Cemetery
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)

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

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

  • Derby
    (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
    • Derby is located in Frio County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Derby
    • Derby has also been known as:
    • Derby Colonia
  • Dilley
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
  • Pearsall
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
  • Millett
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
    • Millett is located in La Salle County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Millett
  • Tilden
    (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
  • Bigfoot
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
  • Amphion
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Amphion is located in Atascosa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Amphion
  • Moore
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
  • Anchorage
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
    • Anchorage is located in Atascosa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Anchorage
  • Cotulla
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Pleasanton
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Poteet
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Rossville
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
    • Rossville is located in Atascosa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rossville

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

Newspapers Published in Orelia ...

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 16 newspapers that have been published in the area around Orelia.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Orelia, 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 Orelia.

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 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 Orelia:

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 '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- Orelia) 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 Orelia, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.