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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 Tucson (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 Tucson. 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 southeast 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 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 east 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.

Tucson is located in Pima County and is the County Seat.

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

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Pima County: Cochise, Graham, Maricopa, Pinal, Santa Cruz & Yuma.

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

  • Pima County     (The home county of Tucson)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Tucson, with the one closest to Tucson listed first.
    • Polo Village
      (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Polo Village have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Polo Village
      • Polo Village is located in Pima County
    • South Tucson
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Tucson
      • South Tucson is located in Pima County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 5,742 people
    • Pascua Yaqui Indian Village
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Pascua Yaqui Indian Village have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pascua Yaqui Indian Village
      • Pascua Yaqui Indian Village is located in Pima County
    • Vandenberg Village
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Vandenberg Village have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vandenberg Village
      • Vandenberg Village is located in Pima County
    • Catalina Foothills
      (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Catalina Foothills
      • Catalina Foothills is located in Pima County
    • Drexel - Alvernon
      (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Drexel - Alvernon
      • Drexel - Alvernon is located in Pima County
    • Flowing Wells
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Flowing Wells have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flowing Wells
      • Flowing Wells is located in Pima County
    • Littletown
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Littletown have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Littletown
      • Littletown is located in Pima County
    • Casas Adobes
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Wilmot
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Wilmot have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wilmot
      • Wilmot is located in Pima County
    • Drexel Heights
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Drexel Heights have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Drexel Heights
      • Drexel Heights is located in Pima County
    • Tucson Estates
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Tucson Estates have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tucson Estates
      • Tucson Estates is located in Pima County
  • Pinal County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Tucson, with the one closest to Tucson listed first.
    • Campo Bonito ‑ Historic
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Campo Bonito
      • Campo Bonito is located in Pinal County
    • Oracle
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Tucson ...

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 219 newspapers that have been published in the area around Tucson.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Tucson. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Tucson and those printed in the larger area surrounding Tucson.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 28 miles [45.1 km]<3> of Tucson.

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 Tucson:

Cemeteries Near Tucson ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Tucson.

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 Tucson covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.

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

  • Armory Park Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • The Armory Park Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Military Plaza Park Cemetery
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Armory Park Cemetery
  • East Lawn Palms Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the East Lawn Palms Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the East Lawn Palms Cemetery
  • South Lawn Memorial Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
  • Binghampton Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Binghampton Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Binghampton Cemetery
  • Holy Hope Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Holy Hope Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Holy Hope Cemetery
  • Evergreen Memorial Park
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Evergreen Memorial Park have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Evergreen Memorial Park
  • Pima County Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
  • Tucson Pioneer Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Tucson Pioneer Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Tucson Pioneer Cemetery
  • San Xavier Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the San Xavier Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the San Xavier Cemetery
  • All Faiths Memorial Park
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
  • Monte Calvario Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Monte Calvario Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Monte Calvario Cemetery
  • Tanque Verde Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Tanque Verde Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Tanque Verde Cemetery
  • Continue List   (9 more) ...
    • Rincon Congregational Church Columbarium
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Rincon Congregational Church Columbarium have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Rincon Congregational Church Columbarium
    • Tanque Verde Ranch Cemetery
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Tanque Verde Ranch Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Tanque Verde Ranch Cemetery
    • Vail Childrens' Cemetery
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Vail Childrens' Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Vail Childrens' 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.<5>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Tucson had a population of 5,150 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Tucson had a population of 553,571 people.

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

  • Jaynes
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Jaynes have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jaynes
    • Jaynes is located in Pima County
  • Wilmot
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Wilmot have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wilmot
    • Wilmot is located in Pima County
  • Esmond
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Esmond have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Esmond
    • Esmond is located in Pima County
  • Rillito
    (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
  • Vail
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
  • Pantano
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Pantano have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pantano
    • Pantano is located in Pima County
  • Oracle
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
  • Redington ‑ Historic
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Redington have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Redington
    • Redington is located in Pima County

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

The official website for Tucson: www.cityoftucson.org/

The official website for Pima County: www.co.pima.az.us/

The official website for State of Arizona: https://az.gov/

Footnotes ...

<1>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.
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 drawn from Point A (ie- Tucson) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Tucson. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 32.2215, Longitude: -110.9266    
<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>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 Tucson, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024