Our Genealogy Helper

Introduction ...

Although we found mention of Otter Point during our research, we really don't have any information about it.<1> We believe that Otter Point had a post office at one time. We have done a cursory search and haven't been able to find any evidence that the community still exists..

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 Otter Point (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 Otter Point. 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 Otter Point ...

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 have occurred.

For example, a typical abbreviation for Otter Point: Otter Pt.

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.

Newspapers Published in Otter Point ...

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 38 newspapers that have been published in the area around Otter Point.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Otter Point, there are papers which were published within 24 miles [38.6 km]<2>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Otter Point.

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 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 Otter Point:

Websites specific to British Columbia
- Jump to Cyndi's List
- Jump to Family Search

Cemetery Information and Directories for British Columbia
- Cemetery Junction: Cemeteries of British Columbia
- Cyndi's List
- Cemeteries of British Columbia
- FamilySearch.org: Cemeteries of British Columbia
- Find-A-Grave: Home Page
- Interment.net
- Cemeteries of British Columbia

Cemeteries Near Otter Point ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Otter Point.

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

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

Sooke Millenium Memorial Park
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
- To give a relative sense of its location, the Sooke Millenium Memorial Park is located in Sooke.
- The Sooke Millenium Memorial Park has also been known as:
- Millenium Memorial Park
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Sooke Millenium Memorial Park
Muir Family Cemetery
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
- To give a relative sense of its location, the Muir Family Cemetery is located in Sooke.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Muir Family Cemetery
Knox Presbyterian Church Cemetery
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Knox Presbyterian Church Cemetery
Sooke Harbour Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
- The Sooke Harbour Cemetery has also been known as:
- Saseenos Cemetery
- Sooke Harbour / Saseenos Cemetery
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Sooke Harbour Cemetery
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2241322 <3>
St. Mary's Cemetery
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
- To give a relative sense of its location, the St. Mary's Cemetery is located in the vicinity of Metchosin
- The St. Mary's Cemetery has also been known as:
- Metchosin Pioneer Cemetery
- St. Mary the Virgin Anglican Church Cemetery
- St. Mary The Virgin Church Yard Cemetery
- St. Mary The Virgin Churchyard Cemetery
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Mary's Cemetery
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2459848 <3>
Colwood Pioneer Cemetery
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Colwood Pioneer Cemetery
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2519234 <3>
Hatley Memorial Gardens
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
- The Hatley Memorial Gardens has also been known as:
- Colwood Burial Park
- Colwood Cemetery
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Hatley Memorial Gardens
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #639374 <3>
Port Crescent Pioneer Memorial Cemetery
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
- The Port Crescent Pioneer Memorial Cemetery has also been known as:
- Crescent Beach Cemetery
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Port Crescent Pioneer Memorial Cemetery
Veteran's Cemetery
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
- The Veteran's Cemetery has also been known as:
- God's Acre Cemetery
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Veteran's Cemetery
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #639365 <3>
Quadra Street Cemetery
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
- The Quadra Street Cemetery has also been known as:
- Pioneer Square Old Burial Ground
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Quadra Street Cemetery
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #639351 <3>
Ross Bay Cemetery
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
- To give a relative sense of its location, the Ross Bay Cemetery is a very large cemetery that is located in Victoria.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Ross Bay Cemetery
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #639348 <3>
Congregation Emanu-El Cemetery
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
- The Congregation Emanu-El Cemetery has also been known as:
- Congregation Emanuel Cemetery
- Jewish Cemetery
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Congregation Emanu-El Cemetery
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2513687 <3>
Continue List (10 more) ...
- Royal Oak Burial Park
  (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
  - The Royal Oak Burial Park has also been known as:
  - Royal Oak Burial Park Cemetery
  - Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Royal Oak Burial Park
  - Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #639349 <3>
- Ocean View Cemetery
  (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
  - Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Ocean View Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  - Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Ocean View Cemetery
- Harling Point Chinese Cemetery
  (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
  - To give a relative sense of its location, the Harling Point Chinese Cemetery is located in Victoria.
  - The Harling Point Chinese Cemetery has also been known as:
  - Chinese Cemetery
  - Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Harling Point Chinese Cemetery
  - Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2385257 <3>

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

Off-the-Road Links ...

The official website for Province of British Columbia: https://www.gov.bc.ca/

Footnotes ...

<1>	If we encounter the name of what might be a community, our methodology is to add that name to our Gazetteer. For example, we might find a sentence like "He went south past Otter Point and then turned west". While Otter Point could be some kind of landmark, we think that it's more likely to be a community. We've added Otter Point as a placeholder with the hope that we'll be able to add more information in the future. Just as a reminder: Our definition of a community is rather broad and includes those places (or areas) where several families lived and had a name which identified that place. For example, you might hear somebody say that they are going over to Miller Creek to see Pete ... Miller Creek is just a gas station and a couple of homes at the crossroads. While it might not be on the map, everybody in the area knows it by that name. Places of interest include buildings at a crossroad, several families clustered in a hollow or maybe the location of a way station. It also includes places like mines, lumber camps, ferry crossings, etc. The community might still exist, is now gone or only existed for just a short period of time. Also keep in mind that Otter Point could have been on the original document by mistake, misspelled, the original/alternate name of a community that we've listed elsewhere or was placed in the wrong . Sometimes a post office or train station would have a different name than the community where it's located, so two names might be referring to the same community - we're working to straighten it all out. Since confusion between is common, we searched and weren't able to find another British Columbia community named Otter Point.
<2>	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- Otter Point) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Otter Point. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 48.3841, Longitude: -123.7834
<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>	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.