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 Paradise Park (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 Paradise Park. 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 Paradise Park ...
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.
Although we can't give a definitive list, hopefully the following will give you a feel for the variations that might occur.
Paradise Park has also been known as: Paradise Park Colonia.
You might be interested in other communities that are also named Paradise Park. More information can be found on our Tidbits & Trivia Page for Paradise Park.
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 doctors and 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.
Paradise Park 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 Paradise Park. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Paradise Park:
- Hidalgo County (The home county of Paradise Park)
- The following are listed by their distance from Paradise Park, with the one closest to Paradise Park listed first.
- Citriana Village
(Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
- Citriana Village is located in Hidalgo County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Citriana Village
- Citriana Village has also been known as:
- Citriana Village Colonia
- North Alamo
(Less than 2 miles to the east)
- North Alamo is located in Hidalgo County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Alamo
- Lopezville
(Less than 2 miles to the north)
- Lopezville is located in Hidalgo County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lopezville
- San Juan
(Less than 2 miles to the south)
- Campo Alto
(Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
- Campo Alto is located in Hidalgo County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Campo Alto
- Alamo
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
- Pharr
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
- North Alamo Village
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
- North Alamo Village is located in Hidalgo County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Alamo Village
- North Alamo Village has also been known as:
- North Alamo Village Colonia
- Murillo
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
- Murillo is located in Hidalgo County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Murillo
- Murillo has also been known as:
- Murillo Colonia
- Plumosa Village
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
- Plumosa Village is located in Hidalgo County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plumosa Village
- Plumosa Village has also been known as:
- Plumosa Village Colonia
- Muniz
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
- Muniz is located in Hidalgo County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Muniz
- Muniz has also been known as:
- Muniz Colonia
- Nurillo
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
- Nurillo is located in Hidalgo County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nurillo
- South Alamo
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
- South Alamo is located in Hidalgo County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Alamo
- Cameron County
- The following are listed by their distance from Paradise Park, with the one closest to Paradise Park listed first.
- Bixby
(18 miles [29 km] to the east)
- Bixby is located in Cameron County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bixby
- Ratamosa
(18 miles [29 km] to the east)
- Ratamosa is located in Cameron County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ratamosa
- Ratamosa has also been known as:
- Ratamosa Colonia
- North La Feria Village
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
- North La Feria Village is located in Cameron County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North La Feria Village
- North La Feria Village has also been known as:
- North La Feria Village Colonia
- Solis
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
- Solis is located in Cameron County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Solis
- Solis has also been known as:
- Solis Colonia
- Arroyo Alto
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
- Arroyo Alto is located in Cameron County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Arroyo Alto
- Grand Acres
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
- Grand Acres is located in Cameron County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grand Acres
- La Feria North
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
- La Feria North is located in Cameron County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for La Feria North
- La Feria
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
- Santa Rosa
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
- Tierra Bonita
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
- Tierra Bonita is located in Cameron County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tierra Bonita
- Tierra Bonita has also been known as:
- Tierra Bonita Colonia
- Windsong Village
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
- Windsong Village is located in Cameron County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Windsong Village
- Windsong Village has also been known as:
- Windsong Village Colonia
- Longoria Townsite
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
- Longoria Townsite is located in Cameron County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Longoria Townsite
- Longoria Townsite has also been known as:
- Longoria Townsite Colonia
- Santa Maria
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
- Willacy County
- The following are listed by their distance from Paradise Park, with the one closest to Paradise Park listed first.
- Lasara
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
- Zapata Ranch
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
- Zapata Ranch is located in Willacy County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Zapata Ranch
- Zapata Ranch has also been known as:
- Zapata Ranch Colonia
- Sebastian
(23 miles [37 km] to the east)
- Lyford South
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
- Lyford South is located in Willacy County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lyford South
- Lyford South has also been known as:
- Lyford South Colonia
- Lyford
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
- Ranchette Estates
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
- Ranchette Estates is located in Willacy County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ranchette Estates
- Ranchette Estates has also been known as:
- Ranchette Estates Colonia
- Los Angeles Subdivision
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
- Raymondville
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Paradise Park, see our County-by-County Page for Paradise Park.
Cemeteries Near Paradise Park ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Paradise Park.
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 Paradise Park - one of the links might be able to help.
If not found below, our Cemetery List for Paradise Park covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Paradise Park, with the one closest to Paradise Park listed first.
- Guadalupe Cemetery
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
- San Juan Cemetery
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for San Juan Cemetery
- To give a relative sense of its location, the San Juan Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located outside and to the south of San Juan.
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #6707 <2>
- St. Joseph Cemetery
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
- Palm Valley Memorial Gardens
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
- Roselawn Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the west)
- La Piedad Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
- Pharr Memorial Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
- Old Edinburg Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
- Hillcrest Memorial Park
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
- Restlawn Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Restlawn Cemetery
- To give a relative sense of its location, the Restlawn Cemetery is located outside and to the northeast of Edinburg.
- Temple Emanuel Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
- Donna City Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Donna City Cemetery
- To give a relative sense of its location, the Donna City Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located in Donna.
- The Donna City Cemetery has also been known as:
- Donna Cemetery
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #323371 <2>
- Continue List (65 more) ...
- Valley Memorial Gardens
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
- Capota Cemetery
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
- Eli Jackson Cemetery
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eli Jackson Cemetery
- To give a relative sense of its location, the Eli Jackson Cemetery is located 4 miles [6.4 km]<3> to the east of Hidalgo.
- The Eli Jackson Cemetery has also been known as:
- Eli Jackson - Brewster Cemetery
- Jackson - Brewster Cemetery
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2650696 <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 Paradise Park in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Paradise Park.
These communities are listed based on their distance from Paradise Park, with the one closest to Paradise Park listed first.
- Hidalgo
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
- Santa Maria
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
- Havana
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
- Havana is located in Hidalgo County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Havana
- Los Angeles
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
- Los Angeles is located in Hidalgo County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Los Angeles
We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Paradise Park. See our List of 1890's Communities around Paradise Park.
Newspapers Published in Paradise Park ...
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 41 newspapers that have been published in the area around Paradise Park.
Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Paradise Park, there are papers which were published within 6 miles [9.7 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Paradise Park.
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 Paradise Park:
- Websites specific to Texas
- Pages specific to Hidalgo County
- Genealogy information for nearby counties
- Cameron County
- Willacy County
- 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- Paradise Park) 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 Paradise Park, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |