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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 Southfork Estates (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 Southfork Estates. 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 Southfork Estates ...

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.

Southfork Estates has also been known as: Southfork Estates 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 hospitals and doctors 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.

Southfork Estates 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 Southfork Estates. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Southfork Estates:

  • Hidalgo County     (The home county of Southfork Estates)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Southfork Estates, with the one closest to Southfork Estates listed first.
    • Hidalgo
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Plumosa Village
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
      • 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
    • Southside Village
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
      • Southside Village is located in Hidalgo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Southside Village
      • Southside Village has also been known as:
      • Southside Village Colonia
    • Pharr
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
      • Pharr is located in Hidalgo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pharr
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 79,513 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Pharr <1>
    • San Juan
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • South Alamo
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
      • South Alamo is located in Hidalgo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Alamo
    • McAllen
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Alamo
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Alamo is located in Hidalgo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alamo
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 20,556 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Alamo <1>
    • Granjeno
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
      • Granjeno is located in Hidalgo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Granjeno
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 317 people
    • Scissors
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
      • Scissors is located in Hidalgo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Scissors
    • Citriana Village
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
      • 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
    • Campo Alto
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
      • Campo Alto is located in Hidalgo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Campo Alto
    • Donna
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Donna is located in Hidalgo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Donna
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 16,316 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Donna <1>
  • Cameron County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Southfork Estates, with the one closest to Southfork Estates listed first.
    • Bixby
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
      • Bixby is located in Cameron County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bixby
    • Longoria Townsite
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
      • 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 east)
    • Solis
      (21 miles [33.8 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
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
      • Arroyo Alto is located in Cameron County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Arroyo Alto
    • Bluetown - Iglesia Antigua
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
    • Bluetown
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
      • Bluetown is located in Cameron County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bluetown
      • Bluetown has also been known as:
      • Blue Town
      • Bluetown Colonia
    • La Feria
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
    • North La Feria Village
      (22 miles [35.4 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
    • Ratamosa
      (22 miles [35.4 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
    • La Feria North
      (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
      • La Feria North is located in Cameron County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for La Feria North
    • Windsong Village
      (23 miles [37 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
    • Grand Acres
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
      • Grand Acres is located in Cameron County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grand Acres
  • Willacy County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Southfork Estates, with the one closest to Southfork Estates listed first.
    • Zapata Ranch
      (28 miles [45.1 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
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Lasara
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)

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

Cemeteries Near Southfork Estates ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Southfork Estates.

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 Southfork Estates - one of the links might be able to help.

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

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

  • Eli Jackson Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles 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]<2> 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 <3>
  • Jackson Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
  • Capota Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
  • Pharr Memorial Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
  • Brewster Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
  • Old Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
  • Hidalgo Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hidalgo Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Hidalgo Cemetery is located in Hidalgo.
    • The Hidalgo Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Hidalgo City Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2313151 <3>
  • Webber Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
  • San Juan Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • 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 <3>
  • La Piedad Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
  • St. Joseph Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Guadalupe Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
  • Continue List   (51 more) ...

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

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

  • Hidalgo
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
  • Santa Maria
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
  • Havana
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
    • 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 Southfork Estates. See our List of 1890's Communities around Southfork Estates.

Newspapers Published in Southfork Estates ...

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 28 newspapers that have been published in the area around Southfork Estates.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Southfork Estates, there are papers which were published within 9 miles [14.5 km]<2>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Southfork Estates.

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 Southfork Estates:

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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Southfork Estates) 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 Southfork Estates, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.