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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 Sammy Martinez (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 Sammy Martinez. 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 Sammy Martinez ...

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.

Sammy Martinez has also been known as: Sammy Martinez Colonia.

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.

Sammy Martinez is located in Starr 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 Starr County: Brooks, Hidalgo, Jim Hogg & Zapata.

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

  • Starr County     (The home county of Sammy Martinez)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Sammy Martinez, with the one closest to Sammy Martinez listed first.
    • La Carla
      (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
      • 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
    • Las Lomas
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
      • Las Lomas is located in Starr County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Las Lomas
    • La Puerta
      (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
      • La Puerta is located in Starr County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for La Puerta
    • Rio Grande City
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • El Refugio
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
      • 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
    • Garciasville
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Santel
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
      • Santel is located in Starr County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Santel
      • Santel has also been known as:
      • Santel Colonia
    • Los Villareales
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
      • Los Villareales is located in Starr County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Los Villareales
    • Alto Bonito
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
      • 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
    • La Victoria
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
      • La Victoria is located in Starr County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for La Victoria
    • West Alto Bonito
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
      • 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
    • Los Alvarez
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
      • Los Alvarez is located in Starr County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Los Alvarez
    • La Rosita
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
      • La Rosita is located in Starr County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for La Rosita
  • Hidalgo County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Sammy Martinez, with the one closest to Sammy Martinez listed first.
    • Cuevitas
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Cuevitas is located in Hidalgo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cuevitas
    • Sullivan City
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Los Ebanos
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Sam Fordyce ‑ Historic
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
      • Sam Fordyce is located in Hidalgo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sam Fordyce
    • Havana
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
      • Havana is located in Hidalgo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Havana
    • La Joya
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
    • McCook
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
    • Citrus City
      (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
      • Citrus City is located in Hidalgo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Citrus City
    • Penitas
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
    • Chihuahua
      (25 miles [40.2 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
    • Doffing
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Doffing is located in Hidalgo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Doffing
    • Abram
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Abram is located in Hidalgo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Abram
    • La Homa
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
      • La Homa is located in Hidalgo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for La Homa
  • Zapata County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Sammy Martinez, with the one closest to Sammy Martinez listed first.
    • New Falcon
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
      • New Falcon is located in Zapata County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Falcon
      • New Falcon has also been known as:
      • New Falcon Colonia
    • Lopeno
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)

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

Cemeteries Near Sammy Martinez ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Sammy Martinez.

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 Sammy Martinez - one of the links might be able to help.

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

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

  • Olmos Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
  • Garciasville Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
  • Los Garzas Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
  • Longoria Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
  • San Vicente Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for San Vicente Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the San Vicente Cemetery is located in La Grulla.
  • Solizes Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Elizondo Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Garcia Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Cementerio San Antonio de Escobares Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
  • Cuevitas Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
  • Coyote Cemetery
    (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
  • Santa Maria Cemetery
    (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
  • Continue List   (26 more) ...
    • Lakeview Cemetery
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Una de Gato Cemetery
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
    • San Jose Cemetery
      (21 miles [33.8 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 Sammy Martinez in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Sammy Martinez.

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

  • Rio Grande City
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
  • Roma
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
    • Roma is located in Starr County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roma
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 11,476 people
    • Roma has also been known as:
    • Roma - Los Saenz
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Roma <1>
  • Havana
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Havana is located in Hidalgo County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Havana

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

Newspapers Published in Sammy Martinez ...

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 4 newspapers that have been published in the area around Sammy Martinez.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Sammy Martinez, there are papers which were published within 5 miles [8 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Sammy Martinez.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we first turn to the websites from Cyndi's List, FamilySearch and Genealogy Trails. These helpful 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 Sammy Martinez:

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