RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of California >> Shasta County >> Portal Inn >> Genealogy HelperIndex...

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 Portal Inn (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 Portal Inn. 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 and doctors 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.

Portal Inn is located in Shasta 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 Shasta County: Lassen, Modoc, Plumas, Siskiyou, Tehama & Trinity.

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

  • Shasta County     (The home county of Portal Inn)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Portal Inn, with the one closest to Portal Inn listed first.
    • Bayha
      (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
      • Bayha is located in Shasta County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bayha
    • McColl ‑ Historic
      (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
      • McColl is located in Shasta County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for McColl
    • Mountain Gate
      (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
      • Mountain Gate is located in Shasta County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mountain Gate
      • Former names for Mountain Gate:
      • Bass
      • Fish's Station
    • Baird ‑ Historic
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
      • Baird is located in Shasta County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Baird
    • Heroult ‑ Historic
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Heroult is located in Shasta County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Heroult
    • Morley ‑ Historic
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Morley is located in Shasta County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Morley
    • Project City ‑ Historic
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Project City is located in Shasta County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Project City
    • Shasta Lake
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Shasta Lake is located in Shasta County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shasta Lake
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 10,379 people
      • Former names for Shasta Lake:
      • Boomtown
      • Central Valley
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Shasta Lake <1>
    • Toyon ‑ Historic
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Toyon is located in Shasta County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Toyon
      • Former name for Toyon:
      • Seaman's Place
    • Bonita ‑ Historic
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
      • Bonita is located in Shasta County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bonita
    • Kennett ‑ Historic
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
      • Kennett is located in Shasta County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kennett
    • Boralma ‑ Historic
      (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
      • Boralma is located in Shasta County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Boralma
  • Tehama County
    • Hooker
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
      • Hooker is located in Tehama County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hooker
  • Trinity County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Portal Inn, with the one closest to Portal Inn listed first.
    • Deadwood ‑ Historic
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
      • Deadwood is located in Trinity County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Deadwood
    • Lewiston
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
    • Minersville ‑ Historic
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
      • Minersville is located in Trinity County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Minersville
    • Trinity Center
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Carrville
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Carrville is located in Trinity County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carrville

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

Cemeteries Near Portal Inn ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Portal Inn.

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 Portal Inn - one of the links might be able to help.

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

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

  • Central Valley Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
  • Houston Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
  • Churntown Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Buckeye Pioneer Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Redding Memorial Park
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
  • St. Joseph Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
  • St. Josephs Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
  • Lawncrest Memorial Park
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
  • Shasta Catholic Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Shasta Union Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
  • St. Joseph Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Bates Pioneer Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
  • Continue List   (33 more) ...
    • Masonic Cemetery
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
    • IOOF Cemetery
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Millville IOOF Cemetery
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)

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

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

  • Baird ‑ Historic
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Baird is located in Shasta County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Baird
  • Morley ‑ Historic
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Morley is located in Shasta County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Morley
  • Kennett ‑ Historic
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Kennett is located in Shasta County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kennett
  • Mabel ‑ Historic
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Mabel is located in Shasta County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mabel
  • Ydaloom ‑ Historic
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Ydaloom is located in Shasta County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ydaloom
  • Elmore ‑ Historic
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Elmore is located in Shasta County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elmore
  • Buckeye
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Buckeye is located in Shasta County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Buckeye
  • Copley ‑ Historic
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Copley is located in Shasta County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Copley
    • Former name for Copley:
    • Motion
  • Hart ‑ Historic
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Hart is located in Shasta County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hart
    • Hart has also been known as:
    • Hart Village
    • Hart's Camp
  • Waugh ‑ Historic
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Waugh is located in Shasta County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Waugh
  • Redding
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
  • Shasta
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Continue List   (13 more) ...
    • Millville
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Girvan
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
      • Girvan is located in Shasta County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Girvan
    • Delta
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
      • Delta is located in Shasta County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Delta
      • Former name for Delta:
      • Bayles

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

Newspapers Published in Portal Inn ...

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 51 newspapers that have been published in the area around Portal Inn.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Portal Inn, 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 Portal Inn.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we first turn to 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 Portal Inn:

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 'straight-line' (or 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- Portal Inn) 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 Portal Inn, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.