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 Villareales (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 Villareales. 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 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.
Villareales 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 Villareales. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Villareales:
- Starr County (The home county of Villareales)
- The following are listed by their distance from Villareales, with the one closest to Villareales listed first.
- Santel
(Less than 2 miles to the west)
- Santel is located in Starr County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Santel
- Santel has also been known as:
- Santel Colonia
- Los Villareales
(Less than 2 miles to the north)
- Los Villareales is located in Starr County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Los Villareales
- Los Alvarez
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
- Los Alvarez is located in Starr County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Los Alvarez
- Rio Grande City
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
- La Rosita
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
- La Rosita is located in Starr County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for La Rosita
- Miguel Barrera
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
- Miguel Barrera is located in Starr County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Miguel Barrera
- Miguel Barrera has also been known as:
- Miguel Barrera Colonia
- Garceno
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
- Garceno is located in Starr County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Garceno
- Las Lomas
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
- Las Lomas is located in Starr County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Las Lomas
- Escobares
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
- Escobares is located in Starr County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Escobares
- Estimated population in 2015: 2,451 people
- El Refugio
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
- 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
- North Escobares
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
- North Escobares is located in Starr County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Escobares
- La Puerta
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
- La Puerta is located in Starr County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for La Puerta
- Roma
(8 miles [12.9 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>
- Hidalgo County
- The following are listed by their distance from Villareales, with the one closest to Villareales listed first.
- Cuevitas
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
- Cuevitas is located in Hidalgo County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cuevitas
- Sullivan City
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
- Los Ebanos
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
- Sam Fordyce ‑ Historic
(23 miles [37 km] to the east)
- Sam Fordyce is located in Hidalgo County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sam Fordyce
- Havana
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
- Havana is located in Hidalgo County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Havana
- La Joya
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
- Penitas
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
- Chihuahua
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
- Chihuahua is located in Hidalgo County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chihuahua
- Chihuahua has also been known as:
- Chihuahua Colonia
- Citrus City
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
- Citrus City is located in Hidalgo County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Citrus City
- Doffing
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
- Doffing is located in Hidalgo County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Doffing
- McCook
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
- Zapata County
- The following are listed by their distance from Villareales, with the one closest to Villareales listed first.
- New Falcon
(22 miles [35.4 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
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Villareales, see our County-by-County Page for Villareales.
Cemeteries Near Villareales ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Villareales.
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 Villareales - one of the links might be able to help.
If not found below, our Cemetery List for Villareales covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Villareales, with the one closest to Villareales listed first.
- Los Garzas Cemetery
(Less than 2 miles to the west)
- Olmos Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the east)
- Cementerio San Antonio de Escobares Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
- Garciasville Cemetery
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
- Elizondo Cemetery
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
- Garcia Cemetery
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
- Longoria Cemetery
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
- San Vicente Cemetery
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
- Solizes Cemetery
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
- Los Arrierous Cemetery
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
- Cuevitas Cemetery
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
- Chapeno Cemetery
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
- Continue List (10 more) ...
- Agua Dulce Cemetery
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
- Una de Gato Cemetery
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
- Buena Vista Cemetery
(23 miles [37 km] to the north)
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 Villareales in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Villareales.
These communities are listed based on their distance from Villareales, with the one closest to Villareales listed first.
- Rio Grande City
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
- Roma
(8 miles [12.9 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
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
- 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 Villareales. See our List of 1890's Communities around Villareales.
Newspapers Published in Villareales ...
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 6 newspapers that have been published in the area around Villareales.
Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Villareales, there are papers which were published within 15 miles [24.1 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Villareales.
Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...
When we do our genealogical research, we begin 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 Villareales:
- Websites specific to Texas
- Pages specific to Starr County
- Genealogy information for nearby counties
- Hidalgo County
- Zapata 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' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Villareales) 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 Villareales, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |