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 West Sharyland (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 West Sharyland. 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 West Sharyland ...
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.
Although we can't give a definitive list, hopefully the following will give you a feel for the variations that might occur.
For example, a typical abbreviation for West Sharyland: W. Sharyland
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 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.
West Sharyland 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 West Sharyland. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to West Sharyland:
- Hidalgo County (The home county of West Sharyland)
- The following are listed by their distance from West Sharyland, with the one closest to West Sharyland listed first.
- Aloha Village
(Less than 2 miles to the north)
- Aloha Village is located in Hidalgo County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Aloha Village
- Aloha Village has also been known as:
- Aloha Village Colonia
- Alton
(Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
- Palmhurst
(Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
- Palmhurst is located in Hidalgo County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Palmhurst
- Population from the 2020 Census: 2,719 people
- Alton North
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
- Alton North is located in Hidalgo County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alton North
- La Homa
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
- La Homa is located in Hidalgo County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for La Homa
- Mission
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
- Doffing
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
- Doffing is located in Hidalgo County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Doffing
- Palmview
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
- Palmview is located in Hidalgo County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Palmview
- Population from the 2020 Census: 5,839 people
- Citrus City
(5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
- Citrus City is located in Hidalgo County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Citrus City
- Palmview South
(5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
- Palmview South is located in Hidalgo County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Palmview South
- Chihuahua
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
- Chihuahua is located in Hidalgo County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chihuahua
- Chihuahua has also been known as:
- Chihuahua Colonia
- McAllen
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
- Abram
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
- Abram is located in Hidalgo County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Abram
- Cameron County
- The following are listed by their distance from West Sharyland, with the one closest to West Sharyland listed first.
- Bixby
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
- Bixby is located in Cameron County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bixby
- Ratamosa
(30 miles [48.3 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
- Starr County
- The following are listed by their distance from West Sharyland, with the one closest to West Sharyland listed first.
- La Victoria
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
- La Victoria is located in Starr County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for La Victoria
- Alto Bonito
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
- 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 Grulla
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
- La Grulla is located in Starr County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for La Grulla
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,682 people
- West Alto Bonito
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
- 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
- Garciasville
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
- El Refugio
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
- 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
- La Puerta
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
- La Puerta is located in Starr County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for La Puerta
- Arkansas City
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
- Arkansas City is located in Starr County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Arkansas City
- La Carla
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
- 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
- Delmita
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
- Las Lomas
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
- Las Lomas is located in Starr County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Las Lomas
- Willacy County
- Lasara
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to West Sharyland, see our County-by-County Page for West Sharyland.
Cemeteries Near West Sharyland ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of West Sharyland.
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 West Sharyland - one of the links might be able to help.
If not found below, our Cemetery List for West Sharyland covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from West Sharyland, with the one closest to West Sharyland listed first.
- Laurel Hill Cemetery
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
- Valley Memorial Gardens
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
- San Jose Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for San Jose Cemetery
- The San Jose Cemetery has also been known as:
- Abram Cemetery
- San Antonio Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
- Temple Emanuel Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
- Roselawn Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
- La Piedad Cemetery
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
- Palm Valley Memorial Gardens
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
- Lakeview Cemetery
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
- Granjeno Cemetery
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Granjeno Cemetery
- To give a relative sense of its location, the Granjeno Cemetery is located in Granjeno.
- Guadalupe Cemetery
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
- Hillcrest Memorial Park
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
- Continue List (66 more) ...
- Restlawn Cemetery
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Restlawn Cemetery
- To give a relative sense of its location, the Restlawn Cemetery is located outside and to the northeast of Edinburg.
- Hidalgo Cemetery
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
- 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 <2>
- San Juan Cemetery
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
- 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 <2>
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.<3>
While we didn't find West Sharyland in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of West Sharyland.
These communities are listed based on their distance from West Sharyland, with the one closest to West Sharyland listed first.
- Havana
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
- Havana is located in Hidalgo County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Havana
- Hidalgo
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
- Los Angeles
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
- Los Angeles is located in Hidalgo County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Los Angeles
We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around West Sharyland. See our List of 1890's Communities around West Sharyland.
Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...
When we do our genealogical research, we first visit 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 West Sharyland:
- Websites specific to Texas
- Pages specific to Hidalgo County
- Genealogy information for nearby counties
- Cameron County
- Starr 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> | 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 West Sharyland, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |