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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 Utopia (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 Utopia. 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 northwest 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 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 west 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.

Utopia is located in Uvalde County.

To see how the shape of Texas' counties have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Uvalde County: Bandera, Edwards, Frio, Kinney, Maverick, Medina, Real & Zavala.

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

  • Uvalde County     (The home county of Utopia)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Utopia, with the one closest to Utopia listed first.
    • Concan
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Sabinal
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sabinal have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sabinal
      • Sabinal is located in Uvalde County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,676 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Sabinal <1>
    • Knippa
      (23 miles [37 km] to the south)
  • Bandera County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Utopia, with the one closest to Utopia listed first.
    • Vanderpool
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Vanderpool have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vanderpool
      • Vanderpool is located in Bandera County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Vanderpool <1>
    • Tuff ‑ Historic
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Tuff have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tuff
      • Tuff is located in Bandera County
    • Tarpley
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Tarpley have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tarpley
      • Tarpley is located in Bandera County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Tarpley <1>
    • Medina
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Bandera
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
  • Medina County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Utopia, with the one closest to Utopia listed first.
    • D'Hanis
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Hondo
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Real County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Utopia, with the one closest to Utopia listed first.
    • Rio Frio
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rio Frio have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rio Frio
      • Rio Frio is located in Real County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Rio Frio <1>
    • Leakey
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Camp Wood
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Camp Wood have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Camp Wood
      • Camp Wood is located in Real County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 720 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Camp Wood <1>

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

Newspapers Published in Utopia ...

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 29 newspapers that have been published in the area around Utopia.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Utopia, there are papers which were published within 29 miles [46.7 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Utopia.

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 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 Utopia:

Cemeteries Near Utopia ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Utopia.

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.

If you need information about a burial or interment, photos, transcripts, how to contact the cemetery or local authorities, please visit our selection of Genealogy Websites (see below).

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

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

  • Waresville Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Waresville Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Waresville Cemetery
  • Jones Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
  • Haby Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Miller Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Miller Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Miller Cemetery
  • Bear Creek Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Bear Creek Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Bear Creek Cemetery
  • Concan Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
  • Tarpley Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
  • Bauerlein Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for the Bauerlein Cemetery. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<5>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Bauerlein Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2271 <4>
  • Cypress Creek Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Cypress Creek Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Cypress Creek Cemetery
  • Davenport Cemetery
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Davenport Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Davenport Cemetery
  • Honey Creek Cemetery
    (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for the Honey Creek Cemetery. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<5>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Honey Creek Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #4338 <4>
  • Clark Cemetery
    (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Clark Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Clark Cemetery
  • Continue List   (25 more) ...
    • West Prong Cemetery
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Hillman Cemetery
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Exile Cemetery
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Exile Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Exile Cemetery

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.<6>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that in 1895, Utopia had a post office and railroad service.

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

  • Concan
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
  • Sabinal
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sabinal have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sabinal
    • Sabinal is located in Uvalde County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,676 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Sabinal <1>
  • Medina
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
  • D'Hanis
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
  • Bandera
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
  • Montell
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Montell have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Montell
    • Montell is located in Uvalde County
  • Hondo
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)

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

Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Utopia. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.

The official website for Uvalde County: www.uvaldecounty.com/

The official website for State of Texas: https://texas.gov/

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 location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required.
<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- Utopia) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Utopia. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 29.6152, Longitude: -99.5270       In this case, the coordinates for Utopia have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<4>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.
<5>An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace.
<6>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 Utopia, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024