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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 Mossyrock (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 Mossyrock. 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.

Mossyrock is located in Lewis County.

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

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Lewis County: Cowlitz, Grays Harbor, Pacific, Pierce, Skamania, Thurston, Wahkiakum & Yakima.

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

  • Lewis County     (The home county of Mossyrock)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Mossyrock, with the one closest to Mossyrock listed first.
    • Ajlune
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ajlune have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ajlune
      • Ajlune is located in Lewis County
    • Silver Creek
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Cinebar
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Salkum
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Lacamas
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lacamas
      • Lacamas is located in Lewis County
    • Morton
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Onalaska
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Ethel
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
    • Glenoma
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
    • Toledo
      (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
    • Mineral
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Saint Urban
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saint Urban
      • Saint Urban is located in Lewis County
    • Napavine
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
  • Cowlitz County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Mossyrock, with the one closest to Mossyrock listed first.
    • Toutle
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
    • Silver Lake
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Olequa
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Olequa have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Olequa
      • Olequa is located in Cowlitz County
    • Castle Rock
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Ryderwood
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ryderwood
      • Ryderwood is located in Cowlitz County
    • Ostrander
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ostrander
      • Ostrander is located in Cowlitz County
  • Pierce County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Mossyrock, with the one closest to Mossyrock listed first.
    • Alder
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Alder have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alder
      • Alder is located in Pierce County
    • Elbe
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
    • La Grande
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
    • Eatonville
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Ashford
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
    • McKenna
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
    • Clay City
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Clay City have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clay City
      • Clay City is located in Pierce County
  • Thurston County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Mossyrock, with the one closest to Mossyrock listed first.
    • Bucoda
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Rainier
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
    • McIntosh
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for McIntosh
      • McIntosh is located in Thurston County
    • Yelm
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Yelm
      • Yelm is located in Thurston County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 9,591 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Yelm <2>
    • Tenino
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
    • North Yelm
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for North Yelm have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Yelm
      • North Yelm is located in Thurston County

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

Newspapers Published in Mossyrock ...

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 57 newspapers that have been published in the area around Mossyrock.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Mossyrock, there are papers which were published within 28 miles [45.1 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Mossyrock.

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 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 Mossyrock:

Cemeteries Near Mossyrock ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Mossyrock.

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

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

  • Klickitat Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Klickitat Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Klickitat Cemetery
  • Shoestring Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Shoestring Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Shoestring Cemetery
  • Alpha Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Alpha Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Alpha Cemetery
  • Lone Hill Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Lone Hill Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Lone Hill Cemetery
  • Tower Twp. Cemetery
    (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for the Tower Twp. Cemetery. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<4>
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Tower Twp. Cemetery is located 8 miles [12.9 km]<3> to the southwest of Castle Rock.
    • The Tower Twp. Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Tower Cemetery
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Tower Twp. Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2277304 <5>
  • Silver Lake Cemetery
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
  • Alder Cemetery
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
  • Mashel Prairie Indian Cemetery
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
  • Fern Hill Cemetery
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Fern Hill Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Fern Hill Cemetery
  • Rosin Cemetery
    (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Rosin Cemetery is located 3 miles [4.8 km]<3> to the southwest of Castle Rock.
    • The Rosin Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Rosin Cemetery
    • Tower Cemetery
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Rosin Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #77025 <5>
  • Greenwood Cemetery
    (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Greenwood Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Greenwood Cemetery
  • Snow Cemetery
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Snow Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Snow Cemetery
  • Continue List   (16 more) ...
    • Little Falls Cemetery
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Little Falls Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Little Falls Cemetery
    • Eatonville Cemetery
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
      • The Eatonville Cemetery has also been known as:
      • Glacier Park Cemetery
      • Glacier View Cemetery
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Eatonville Cemetery
    • Rainier Cemetery
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
      • The Rainier Cemetery has also been known as:
      • Old Indian Cemetery
      • Old Pioneer Cemetery
      • Rainer Free Cemetery
      • Stringtown Cemetery
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Rainier 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 Mossyrock had a population of 64 people in 1895 with a post office and no railroad service. In 2020, Mossyrock had a population of 838 people.

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

  • Harmony
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Harmony have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harmony
    • Harmony is located in Lewis County
  • Swofford
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Swofford have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Swofford
    • Swofford is located in Lewis County
  • Bremer
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bremer have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bremer
    • Bremer is located in Lewis County
  • Silver Creek
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
  • Cinebar
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
  • Wilson
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Wilson have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wilson
    • Wilson is located in Lewis County
  • Salkum
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
  • Alpha
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Alpha have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alpha
    • Alpha is located in Lewis County
  • Morton
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
  • Ethel
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
  • Cowlitz
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cowlitz have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cowlitz
    • Cowlitz is located in Lewis County
  • Toledo
    (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
  • Continue List   (16 more) ...
    • Toutle
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
    • Sightly
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sightly have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sightly
      • Sightly is located in Cowlitz County
    • Silver Lake
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)

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

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

The official website for Lewis County: www.co.lewis.wa.us/

The official website for State of Washington: https://access.wa.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' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Mossyrock) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Mossyrock. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 46.5320, Longitude: -122.4853    
<4>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.
<5>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.
<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 Mossyrock, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.









 

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This page was last modified/updated: 10 Mar 2024