RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Idaho >> Bear Lake County >> Bear Lake Hot Springs >> 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 Bear Lake Hot Springs (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 Bear Lake Hot Springs. 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 Bear Lake Hot Springs ...

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 Bear Lake Hot Springs: Bear Lk. Hot Spgs. (or less commonly used: Bear Lk. Hot Spngs. or Bear Lk. Hot Sprngs.)

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 hospitals 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.

Bear Lake Hot Springs is located in Bear Lake County.

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

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Bear Lake County: Caribou, Franklin, Rich (UT) & Lincoln (WY).

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

  • Bear Lake County     (The home county of Bear Lake Hot Springs)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Bear Lake Hot Springs, with the one closest to Bear Lake Hot Springs listed first.
    • Saint Charles
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Dingle
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Fish Haven
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Bloomington
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Wardboro
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
      • Wardboro is located in Bear Lake County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wardboro
    • Paris
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Paris is located in Bear Lake County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Paris
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 517 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Paris <1>
    • Border
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Border is located in Bear Lake County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Border
    • Montpelier
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
    • Ovid
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Ovid is located in Bear Lake County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ovid
    • Bern
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
    • Bennington
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
      • Bennington is located in Bear Lake County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bennington
    • Geneva
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
  • Franklin County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Bear Lake Hot Springs, with the one closest to Bear Lake Hot Springs listed first.
    • Cherryville
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
      • Cherryville is located in Franklin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cherryville
    • Franklin
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
    • Whitney
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
      • Whitney is located in Franklin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Whitney
  • Cache County (UT)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Bear Lake Hot Springs, with the one closest to Bear Lake Hot Springs listed first.
    • Brachipad
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Brachipad is located in Cache County (UT)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brachipad
      • Brachipad has also been known as:
      • Brachipad Summer Home Area
    • Cove
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
      • Cove is located in Cache County (UT)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cove
    • Richmond
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Rich County (UT)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Bear Lake Hot Springs, with the one closest to Bear Lake Hot Springs listed first.
    • Garden City
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Pickelville ‑ Historic
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Pickelville is located in Rich County (UT)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pickelville
    • Garden
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
      • Garden is located in Rich County (UT)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Garden
    • Laketown
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
    • Meadowville
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
      • Meadowville is located in Rich County (UT)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadowville
    • Round Valley ‑ Historic
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
      • Round Valley is located in Rich County (UT)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Round Valley
    • Sage Creek Junction ‑ Historic
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
      • Sage Creek Junction is located in Rich County (UT)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sage Creek Junction
    • Sage Creek ‑ Historic
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
      • Sage Creek is located in Rich County (UT)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sage Creek
    • Randolph
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
  • Lincoln County (WY)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Bear Lake Hot Springs, with the one closest to Bear Lake Hot Springs listed first.
    • Border
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Border is located in Lincoln County (WY)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Border
    • Taylor
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
      • Taylor is located in Lincoln County (WY)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Taylor
    • Cokeville
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)

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

Cemeteries Near Bear Lake Hot Springs ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Bear Lake Hot Springs.

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 Bear Lake Hot Springs - one of the links might be able to help.

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Bear Lake Hot Springs, with the one closest to Bear Lake Hot Springs 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.<3>

While we didn't find Bear Lake Hot Springs in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Bear Lake Hot Springs.

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

  • Saint Charles
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
  • Dingle
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
  • Fish Haven
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
  • Bloomington
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Paris
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Paris is located in Bear Lake County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Paris
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 517 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Paris <1>
  • Garden City
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Border
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Border is located in Bear Lake County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Border
  • Ovid
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Ovid is located in Bear Lake County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ovid
  • Montpelier
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
  • Cokeville
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
  • Liberty
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Liberty is located in Bear Lake County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Liberty
  • Meadowville
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
    • Meadowville is located in Rich County (UT)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadowville
  • Continue List   (5 more) ...
    • Laketown
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
    • Georgetown
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
    • Novene
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
      • Novene is located in Bear Lake County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Novene

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

Newspapers Published in Bear Lake Hot Springs ...

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 18 newspapers that have been published in the area around Bear Lake Hot Springs.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Bear Lake Hot Springs, there are papers which were published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Bear Lake Hot Springs.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we first visit 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 Bear Lake Hot Springs:

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>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 Bear Lake Hot Springs, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Bear Lake Hot Springs) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.