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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 Forest Lake (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 Forest Lake. 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 Forest Lake ...

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.

For example, a typical abbreviation for Forest Lake: Forest Lk.

You might be interested in other communities that are also named Forest Lake. More information can be found on our Tidbits & Trivia Page for Forest Lake.

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 northwest corner of their home county. During their lives, most 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.

Forest Lake is located in Lake County.

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

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Lake County: Colusa, Glenn, Mendocino, Napa, Sonoma & Yolo.

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

  • Lake County     (The home county of Forest Lake)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Forest Lake, with the one closest to Forest Lake listed first.
    • Pine Grove
      (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
      • Pine Grove is located in Lake County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine Grove
    • Cobb
      (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Glenbrook
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Glenbrook is located in Lake County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glenbrook
    • Salminas Resort
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
      • Salminas Resort is located in Lake County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Salminas Resort
    • Seigler Springs
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
      • Seigler Springs is located in Lake County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Seigler Springs
    • Glenview
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
      • Glenview is located in Lake County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glenview
    • Middletown
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Hidden Valley Lake
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
      • Hidden Valley Lake is located in Lake County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hidden Valley Lake
    • Lower Lake
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Clearlake
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Clearlake Park
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
    • Kelseyville
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Soda Bay
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
  • Colusa County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Forest Lake, with the one closest to Forest Lake listed first.
    • Wilbur Springs
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Leesville
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Leesville is located in Colusa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leesville
  • Mendocino County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Forest Lake, with the one closest to Forest Lake listed first.
    • Hopland
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
    • Largo ‑ Historic
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Largo is located in Mendocino County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Largo
    • Hermitage ‑ Historic
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
      • Hermitage is located in Mendocino County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hermitage
    • Yorkville
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
  • Napa County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Forest Lake, with the one closest to Forest Lake listed first.
    • Woodleaf
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
      • Woodleaf is located in Napa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodleaf
    • Calistoga
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
    • Pope Valley
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Angwin
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Deer Park
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
    • Saint Helena
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Rutherford
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Las Putas ‑ Historic
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Las Putas is located in Napa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Las Putas
  • Sonoma County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Forest Lake, with the one closest to Forest Lake listed first.
    • Mercuryville ‑ Historic
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Mercuryville is located in Sonoma County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mercuryville
    • Geyserville
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Kellogg
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
      • Kellogg is located in Sonoma County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kellogg
    • Camp Rose
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Camp Rose is located in Sonoma County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Camp Rose
    • Healdsburg
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Cloverdale
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
    • Preston
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
      • Preston is located in Sonoma County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Preston
    • Mark West Springs
      (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
      • Mark West Springs is located in Sonoma County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mark West Springs
    • Windsor
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
    • Fulton
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
    • Trenton
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
      • Trenton is located in Sonoma County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Trenton
    • Rio Nido
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Forestville
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
  • Yolo County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Forest Lake, with the one closest to Forest Lake listed first.
    • Rumsey
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
    • Guinda
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)

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

Cemeteries Near Forest Lake ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Forest Lake.

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 Forest Lake - one of the links might be able to help.

If not found below, our Cemetery List for Forest Lake covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.

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

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 Forest Lake in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Forest Lake.

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

  • Glenbrook
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Glenbrook is located in Lake County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glenbrook
  • Middletown
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Lower Lake
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
  • Geyserville
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Kelseyville
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Kellogg
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
    • Kellogg is located in Sonoma County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kellogg
  • Highland Springs
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Highland Springs is located in Lake County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Highland Springs
  • Asti
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
    • Asti is located in Sonoma County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Asti
  • Preston
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
    • Preston is located in Sonoma County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Preston
  • Cloverdale
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
  • Calistoga
    (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
  • Lakeport
    (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
  • Continue List   (15 more) ...
    • Windsor
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
    • Pieta
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
      • Pieta is located in Mendocino County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pieta
    • Pope Valley
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)

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

Newspapers Published in Forest Lake ...

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 88 newspapers that have been published in the area around Forest Lake.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Forest Lake, there are papers which were published within 25 miles [40.2 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Forest Lake.

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 either 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 Forest Lake:

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>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.
<3>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Forest Lake) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Forest Lake, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.