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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 Russelltown (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 Russelltown. 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 and doctors 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.

Russelltown is located in Cameron 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 Cameron County: Hidalgo & Willacy.

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

  • Cameron County     (The home county of Russelltown)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Russelltown, with the one closest to Russelltown listed first.
    • Lago
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
      • Lago is located in Cameron County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lago
      • Lago has also been known as:
      • Lago Colonia
    • Green Valley Farms
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Green Valley Farms is located in Cameron County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Valley Farms
      • Green Valley Farms has also been known as:
      • Green Valley Farms Colonia
    • Rancho Viejo
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Indian Lake
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
      • Indian Lake is located in Cameron County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian Lake
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 864 people
    • El Camino Angosto
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
      • El Camino Angosto is located in Cameron County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for El Camino Angosto
      • El Camino Angosto has also been known as:
      • El Camino Angosto Colonia
    • San Benito
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Encantada - Ranchito El Calaboz
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Laureles
      (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
      • Laureles is located in Cameron County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Laureles
    • Olmito
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • La Paloma
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
      • La Paloma is located in Cameron County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for La Paloma
    • Los Fresnos
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Arroyo Colorado Estates
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
      • Arroyo Colorado Estates is located in Cameron County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Arroyo Colorado Estates
      • Arroyo Colorado Estates has also been known as:
      • Arroyo Colorado Estates Colonia
  • Hidalgo County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Russelltown, with the one closest to Russelltown listed first.
    • Rio Rico
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
      • Rio Rico is located in Hidalgo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rio Rico
    • Heidelberg
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Heidelberg is located in Hidalgo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Heidelberg
    • Relampago
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
      • Relampago is located in Hidalgo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Relampago
    • Mercedes
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
    • Indian Hills
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Indian Hills is located in Hidalgo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian Hills
    • Progreso Lakes
      (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
      • Progreso Lakes is located in Hidalgo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Progreso Lakes
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 270 people
    • Progreso
      (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
    • Llano Grande
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
      • Llano Grande is located in Hidalgo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Llano Grande
    • Mila Doce
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Mila Doce is located in Hidalgo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mila Doce
    • Weslaco
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
    • La Villa
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
      • La Villa is located in Hidalgo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for La Villa
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,935 people
    • Villa Verde
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
      • Villa Verde is located in Hidalgo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Villa Verde
      • Villa Verde has also been known as:
      • Villa Verde Colonia
  • Willacy County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Russelltown, with the one closest to Russelltown listed first.
    • Santa Monica
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
      • Santa Monica is located in Willacy County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Santa Monica
    • Sebastian
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Zapata Ranch
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
      • 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
    • Willamar
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
      • Willamar is located in Willacy County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Willamar
    • Lyford South
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
      • 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 northwest)
    • San Perlita
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
    • Raymondville
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)

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

Cemeteries Near Russelltown ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Russelltown.

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

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

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

  • Zepeda Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Zepeda Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Zepeda Cemetery is located 2 miles [3.2 km]<2> to the southeast of La Paloma.
  • San Benito Memorial Park Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
  • San Benito City Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
  • Russell's Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
  • Monte Meta Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
  • Soldiers Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
  • Rio Hondo City Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
  • Harlingan City Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Rio Hondo Community Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
  • Old City Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Buena Vista Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Ashland Memorial Park
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ashland Memorial Park
    • The Ashland Memorial Park has also been known as:
    • Loma Linda Cemetery
  • Continue List   (44 more) ...
    • Los Omales Cemetery
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
    • La Leona Cemetery
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Restlawn Memorial Park
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)

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

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

  • Brownsville
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
  • Santa Maria
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)

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

Newspapers Published in Russelltown ...

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 55 newspapers that have been published in the area around Russelltown.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Russelltown, there are papers which were published within 15 miles [24.1 km]<2>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Russelltown.

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 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 Russelltown:

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>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 from Point A (ie- Russelltown) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>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.
<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 Russelltown, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.