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 Willacy 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 Willacy 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 Willacy 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.
Willacy Acres has also been known as: Willacy 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 southwest 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 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.
Willacy Acres is located in Willacy 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 Willacy County: Cameron, Hidalgo & Kenedy.
Below are the counties that are near Willacy Acres. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Willacy Acres:
- Willacy County (The home county of Willacy Acres)
- The following are listed by their distance from Willacy Acres, with the one closest to Willacy Acres listed first.
- Los Angeles Subdivision
(Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
- Raymondville
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
- Ranchette Estates
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
- Ranchette Estates is located in Willacy County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ranchette Estates
- Ranchette Estates has also been known as:
- Ranchette Estates Colonia
- Lyford
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
- Lasara
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
- Lyford South
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
- Lyford South is located in Willacy County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lyford South
- Lyford South has also been known as:
- Lyford South Colonia
- San Perlita
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
- Willamar
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
- Willamar is located in Willacy County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Willamar
- Zapata Ranch
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
- 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
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
- Santa Monica
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
- Santa Monica is located in Willacy County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Santa Monica
- Port Mansfield
(23 miles [37 km] to the east)
- Cameron County
- The following are listed by their distance from Willacy Acres, with the one closest to Willacy Acres listed first.
- Yznaga
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
- Yznaga is located in Cameron County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Yznaga
- Tierra Bonita
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
- Tierra Bonita is located in Cameron County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tierra Bonita
- Tierra Bonita has also been known as:
- Tierra Bonita Colonia
- Grand Acres
(18 miles [29 km] to the south)
- Grand Acres is located in Cameron County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grand Acres
- Santa Rosa
(18 miles [29 km] to the south)
- Combes
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
- Combes is located in Cameron County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Combes
- Population from the 2020 Census: 3,037 people
- Combes has also been known as:
- Combes Colonia
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Combes <1>
- Lasana
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
- Lasana is located in Cameron County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lasana
- Lasana has also been known as:
- Lasana Colonia
- Primera
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
- Primera is located in Cameron County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Primera
- Population from the 2020 Census: 5,271 people
- Ratamosa
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
- Ratamosa is located in Cameron County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ratamosa
- Ratamosa has also been known as:
- Ratamosa Colonia
- Las Palmas - Juarez
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
- Las Palmas - Juarez is located in Cameron County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Las Palmas - Juarez
- Palm Valley
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
- Palm Valley is located in Cameron County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Palm Valley
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,231 people
- Harlingen
(23 miles [37 km] to the south)
- La Feria North
(23 miles [37 km] to the south)
- La Feria North is located in Cameron County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for La Feria North
- Hidalgo County
- The following are listed by their distance from Willacy Acres, with the one closest to Willacy Acres listed first.
- Monte Alto
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
- Hargill
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
- La Villa
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
- La Villa is located in Hidalgo County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for La Villa
- Population from the 2020 Census: 2,935 people
- Edcouch
(18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
- Elsa
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
- Linn
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
- San Manuel
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
- San Manuel is located in Hidalgo County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for San Manuel
- Indian Hills
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
- Indian Hills is located in Hidalgo County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian Hills
- La Blanca
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
- Heidelberg
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
- Heidelberg is located in Hidalgo County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Heidelberg
- Doolittle
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
- Doolittle is located in Hidalgo County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Doolittle
- Faysville
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
- Faysville is located in Hidalgo County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Faysville
- Kenedy County
- Armstrong
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
- Armstrong is located in Kenedy County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Armstrong
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Willacy Acres, see our County-by-County Page for Willacy Acres.
Cemeteries Near Willacy Acres ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Willacy 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 Willacy Acres - one of the links might be able to help.
If not found below, our Cemetery List for Willacy Acres covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Willacy Acres, with the one closest to Willacy Acres listed first.
- La Piedad Cementerio #1 Cemetery
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
- La Piedad Cementerio #2 Cemetery
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
- Raymondville Cemetery
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Raymondville Cemetery
- To give a relative sense of its location, the Raymondville Cemetery is located outside and to the east of Raymondville.
- San Martin Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
- Evergreen Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Evergreen Cemetery
- To give a relative sense of its location, the Evergreen Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located outside and to the northwest of Lyford.
- The Evergreen Cemetery has also been known as:
- Lyford Cemetery
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2207123 <3>
- Guadalupe Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Guadalupe Cemetery
- To give a relative sense of its location, the Guadalupe Cemetery is located outside and to the northwest of Lyford.
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2422545 <3>
- Lasara Memorial Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
- Garcia Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
- Garcia Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Garcia Cemetery
- To give a relative sense of its location, the Garcia Cemetery is located outside and to the east of Lasara.
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #3744 <3>
- San Luis Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for San Luis Cemetery
- To give a relative sense of its location, the San Luis Cemetery is located less than 2 miles<2> to the southeast of Lasara.
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #6714 <3>
- Chavez Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chavez Cemetery
- To give a relative sense of its location, the Chavez Cemetery is located 2 miles [3.2 km]<2> to the southeast of Lasara.
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2882 <3>
- Santa Rita Cemetery
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Santa Rita Cemetery
- To give a relative sense of its location, the Santa Rita Cemetery is located 2 miles [3.2 km]<2> to the west of Sebastian.
- Continue List (51 more) ...
- El Toro Cemetery
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
- Valle De La Paz Cemetery
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
- Cementerio de las Burras Cemetery
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
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 Willacy Acres in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Willacy Acres.
- Los Angeles
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
- 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 Willacy Acres. See our List of 1890's Communities around Willacy Acres.
Newspapers Published in Willacy 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 14 newspapers that have been published in the area around Willacy Acres.
Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Willacy Acres, there are papers which were published within 23 miles [37 km]<2>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Willacy Acres.
Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...
When we do our genealogical research, we start with the websites from Cyndi's List, FamilySearch and Genealogy Trails. These professional and volunteer 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 Willacy Acres:
- Websites specific to Texas
- Pages specific to Willacy County
- Genealogy information for nearby counties
- Cameron County
- Hidalgo County
- Kenedy 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> | 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 from Point A (ie- Willacy Acres) 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 Willacy Acres, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |