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 Shoemaker Acres (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 Shoemaker Acres. 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 Shoemaker Acres ...
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.
Shoemaker Acres has also been known as: Shoemaker Acres 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 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.
Shoemaker Acres 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 Shoemaker Acres. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Shoemaker Acres:
- Cameron County (The home county of Shoemaker Acres)
- The following are listed by their distance from Shoemaker Acres, with the one closest to Shoemaker Acres listed first.
- Chula Vista - Orason
(Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
- Chula Vista - Orason is located in Cameron County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chula Vista - Orason
- Del Mar Heights
(Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
- Del Mar Heights is located in Cameron County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Del Mar Heights
- Del Mar Heights has also been known as:
- Del Mar Heights Colonia
- Los Fresnos
(Less than 2 miles to the west)
- Laureles
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
- Laureles is located in Cameron County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Laureles
- Indian Lake
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
- Indian Lake is located in Cameron County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian Lake
- Population from the 2020 Census: 864 people
- Bayview
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
- Olmito
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
- Green Valley Farms
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
- 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
- Cameron Park
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
- Cameron Park is located in Cameron County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cameron Park
- Cameron Park has also been known as:
- Cameron Park Colonia
- Rancho Viejo
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
- Laguna Vista
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
- Arroyo Gardens - La Tina Ranch
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
- Lago
(10 miles [16.1 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
- Hidalgo County
- The following are listed by their distance from Shoemaker Acres, with the one closest to Shoemaker Acres listed first.
- Rio Rico
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
- Rio Rico is located in Hidalgo County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rio Rico
- Heidelberg
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
- Heidelberg is located in Hidalgo County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Heidelberg
- Mercedes
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
- Relampago
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
- Relampago is located in Hidalgo County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Relampago
- Indian Hills
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
- Indian Hills is located in Hidalgo County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian Hills
- Willacy County
- The following are listed by their distance from Shoemaker Acres, with the one closest to Shoemaker Acres listed first.
- Santa Monica
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
- Santa Monica is located in Willacy County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Santa Monica
- Sebastian
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
- Willamar
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
- Willamar is located in Willacy County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Willamar
- Zapata Ranch
(30 miles [48.3 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
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Shoemaker Acres, see our County-by-County Page for Shoemaker Acres.
Cemeteries Near Shoemaker Acres ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Shoemaker Acres.
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 Shoemaker Acres - one of the links might be able to help.
If not found below, our Cemetery List for Shoemaker Acres covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Shoemaker Acres, with the one closest to Shoemaker Acres listed first.
- Soldiers Cemetery
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
- Russell's Cemetery
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
- Old City Cemetery
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
- Buena Vista Cemetery
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
- Monte Meta Cemetery
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
- San Benito City Cemetery
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
- San Benito Memorial Park Cemetery
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
- Zepeda Cemetery
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
- 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]<3> to the southeast of La Paloma.
- Santa Rosalia Cemetery
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
- Rio Hondo Community Cemetery
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rio Hondo Community Cemetery
- To give a relative sense of its location, the Rio Hondo Community Cemetery is located outside and to the east of Rio Hondo.
- The Rio Hondo Community Cemetery has also been known as:
- Jack Carpenter Cemetery
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2188890 <2>
- Rio Hondo City Cemetery
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
- La Leona Cemetery
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
- Continue List (29 more) ...
- Southmost Cemetery
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
- Harlingan City Cemetery
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
- San Antonio Cemetery
(19 miles [30.6 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 Shoemaker Acres in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Shoemaker Acres.
These communities are listed based on their distance from Shoemaker Acres, with the one closest to Shoemaker Acres listed first.
- Brownsville
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
- Santa Maria
(25 miles [40.2 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 Shoemaker Acres. See our List of 1890's Communities around Shoemaker Acres.
Newspapers Published in Shoemaker Acres ...
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 64 newspapers that have been published in the area around Shoemaker Acres.
Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Shoemaker Acres, there are papers which were published within 17 miles [27.4 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Shoemaker Acres.
Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...
When we do our genealogical research, we like to start with 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 Shoemaker Acres:
- Websites specific to Texas
- Pages specific to Cameron County
- Genealogy information for nearby counties
- Hidalgo 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' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Shoemaker Acres) 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 Shoemaker Acres, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |