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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 Dunns Ferry (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 Dunns Ferry. 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 Dunns Ferry ...

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.

While the name of this community is Dunns Ferry, be aware that it's the common practice of mapmakers to remove the apostrophe from possessive names<1>. So Dunns Ferry may originally have been Dunn's Ferry.

Sometimes the trailing 's' might be dropped altogether, in which case Dunns Ferry might be written as Dunn Ferry.

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.

Dunns Ferry is located in Sutter County.

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

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Sutter County: Butte, Colusa, Placer, Sacramento, Yolo & Yuba.

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

  • Sutter County     (The home county of Dunns Ferry)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Dunns Ferry, with the one closest to Dunns Ferry listed first.
    • Meridian
      (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Tarke
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tarke
      • Tarke is located in Sutter County
    • Sutter
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Tierra Buena
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Tierra Buena have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tierra Buena
      • Tierra Buena is located in Sutter County
    • Pennington
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pennington
      • Pennington is located in Sutter County
    • South Yuba City
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for South Yuba City have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Yuba City
      • South Yuba City is located in Sutter County
    • Bogue
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bogue
      • Bogue is located in Sutter County
    • Yuba City
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
    • Live Oak
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Live Oak
      • Live Oak is located in Sutter County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 9,048 people
    • Marcuse ‑ Historic
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Marcuse. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<4>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marcuse
      • Marcuse is located in Sutter County
    • Robbins
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Rio Oso
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
    • Nicolas
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
  • Butte County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Dunns Ferry, with the one closest to Dunns Ferry listed first.
    • Gridley
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Bigg's
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Peachton
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Peachton
      • Peachton is located in Butte County
    • Robinsons Corner
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Robinsons Corner
      • Robinsons Corner is located in Butte County
    • East Biggs
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Biggs
      • East Biggs is located in Butte County
    • Honcut
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Richvale
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
    • Lorraine ‑ Historic
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Lorraine. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<4>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lorraine
      • Lorraine is located in Butte County
    • Palermo
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Nelson
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
    • Oroville Junction
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oroville Junction
      • Oroville Junction is located in Butte County
  • Colusa County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Dunns Ferry, with the one closest to Dunns Ferry listed first.
    • Grimes
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Colusa
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • College City
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Genevra
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Genevra. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<4>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Genevra
      • Genevra is located in Colusa County
    • Colusa Rancheria
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Colusa Rancheria
      • Colusa Rancheria is located in Colusa County
    • Arbuckle
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Harrington
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harrington
      • Harrington is located in Colusa County
    • Williams
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
    • Maxwell
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Princeton
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
    • Sites
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sites
      • Sites is located in Colusa County
    • Leesville
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leesville
      • Leesville is located in Colusa County
    • Wilbur Springs
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
  • Glenn County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Dunns Ferry, with the one closest to Dunns Ferry listed first.
    • Afton
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Afton
      • Afton is located in Glenn County
    • Butte City
      (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
    • Glenn
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
    • Willows
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Santa Cruz County
  • Yolo County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Dunns Ferry, with the one closest to Dunns Ferry listed first.
    • Hershey
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hershey have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hershey
      • Hershey is located in Yolo County
    • Dunnigan
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
    • Zamora
      (23 miles [37 km] to the south)
    • Rumsey
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
    • Knights Landing
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Guinda
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Yolo
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
    • Capay
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
    • Brooks
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Esparto
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
  • Yuba County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Dunns Ferry, with the one closest to Dunns Ferry listed first.
    • Alicia
      (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alicia
      • Alicia is located in Yuba County
    • Binney Junction
      (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Binney Junction
      • Binney Junction is located in Yuba County
    • Marysville
      (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
    • Linda
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
    • Olivehurst
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
    • Plumas Landing ‑ Historic
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plumas Landing
      • Plumas Landing is located in Yuba County
    • Dantoni
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dantoni
      • Dantoni is located in Yuba County
    • Ostrom ‑ Historic
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ostrom
      • Ostrom is located in Yuba County
    • Iowa City
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Iowa City have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Iowa City
      • Iowa City is located in Yuba County
    • Wheatland
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
    • Browns Valley
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
    • Loma Rica
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Loma Rica
      • Loma Rica is located in Yuba County

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

Cemeteries Near Dunns Ferry ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Dunns Ferry.

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

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

  • Meridian Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Meridian Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Meridian Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Grand Island Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Grand Island Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Grand Island Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Stohlman Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
  • Arbuckle Catholic Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Arbuckle Catholic Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Arbuckle Catholic Cemetery is located outside and to the north of Arbuckle.
  • Arbuckle Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Arbuckle Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Arbuckle Cemetery is located outside and to the north of Arbuckle.
  • Sutter Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
  • Pugh Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Pugh Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Pugh Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Johns Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Johns Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Johns Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • North Butte Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the North Butte Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the North Butte Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Williams Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
  • Yuba City Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Yuba City Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Yuba City Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Live Oak Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Live Oak Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Live Oak Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (32 more) ...
    • Saint Joseph Catholic Cemetery
      (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
    • St. Joseph's Catholic Historical Cemetery
      (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
    • Marysville Cemetery
      (18 miles [29 km] to the east)

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.<7>

While we didn't find Dunns Ferry in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Dunns Ferry.

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

  • Sycamore
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sycamore have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sycamore
    • Sycamore is located in Colusa County
  • Meridian
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
  • Grimes
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
  • Grand Island
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Grand Island have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grand Island
    • Grand Island is located in Colusa County
  • Colusa
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Genevra
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Genevra. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<4>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Genevra
    • Genevra is located in Colusa County
  • College City
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
  • Arbuckle
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
  • Cranmore
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cranmore have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cranmore
    • Cranmore is located in Sutter County
  • Harrington
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harrington
    • Harrington is located in Colusa County
  • Williams
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
  • Pennington
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pennington
    • Pennington is located in Sutter County
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...
    • Dunnigan
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
    • Yuba City
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
    • Lomo
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lomo have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lomo
      • Lomo is located in Sutter County

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

Newspapers Published in Dunns Ferry ...

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 78 newspapers that have been published in the area around Dunns Ferry.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Dunns Ferry, there are papers which were published within 27 miles [43.5 km]<5>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Dunns Ferry.

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 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 Dunns Ferry:

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

The official website for Sutter County: www.co.sutter.ca.us/

The official website for State of California: https://www.ca.gov/

Footnotes ...

<1>It's generally believed that possessive apostrophes are removed to prevent confusion on maps where the apostrophe may be confused with a cartographic symbol. While this is generally true, it's not uncommon to find possessive apostrophes in administrative names (such as towns or counties).
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<3>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.
<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>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Dunns Ferry) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Dunns Ferry. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.1285, Longitude: -121.9258       In this case, the coordinates for Dunns Ferry have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>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.
<7>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 Dunns Ferry, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 28 Apr 2025