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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 Collister (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 Collister. 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 southwest 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 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.

Collister is located in Ada County.

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

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Ada County: Boise, Canyon, Elmore, Gem & Owyhee.

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

  • Ada County     (The home county of Collister)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Collister, with the one closest to Collister listed first.
    • Garden City
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Garden City have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Garden City
      • Garden City is located in Ada County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 11,920 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Garden City <2>
    • Boise Junction
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Boise Hills Village
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Boise Hills Village have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Boise Hills Village
      • Boise Hills Village is located in Ada County
    • Boise City
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Eagle
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Meridian
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Star
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Star have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Star
      • Star is located in Ada County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 11,259 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Star <2>
    • Kuna
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Swan Falls
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
  • Boise County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Collister, with the one closest to Collister listed first.
    • Horseshoe Bend
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Horseshoe Bend have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Horseshoe Bend
      • Horseshoe Bend is located in Boise County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 822 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Horseshoe Bend <2>
    • Idaho City
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
    • Brownlee
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Brownlee. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brownlee
      • Brownlee is located in Boise County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Brownlee
      • From Collister to Brownlee
    • Placerville
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Quartzburg
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Quartzburg. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Quartzburg
      • Quartzburg is located in Boise County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Quartzburg
      • From Collister to Quartzburg
    • Banks
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Banks have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Banks
      • Banks is located in Boise County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Banks <2>
  • Canyon County
  • Elmore County
    • Mayfield
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Mayfield. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mayfield
      • Mayfield is located in Elmore County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Mayfield
      • From Collister to Mayfield
  • Gem County
  • Owyhee County

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

Cemeteries Near Collister ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Collister.

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Collister, with the one closest to Collister 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.<5>

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

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

  • Boise City
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
  • Star
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Star have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Star
    • Star is located in Ada County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 11,259 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Star <2>
  • Kuna
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
  • Mora
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mora have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mora
    • Mora is located in Ada County
  • Nampa
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
  • Owyhee
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Owyhee have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Owyhee
    • Owyhee is located in Ada County
  • Horseshoe Bend
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Horseshoe Bend have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Horseshoe Bend
    • Horseshoe Bend is located in Boise County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 822 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Horseshoe Bend <2>
  • Middleton
    (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
  • Caldwell
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
  • Sweet
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
  • Idaho City
    (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
  • Mayfield
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Mayfield. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mayfield
    • Mayfield is located in Elmore County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Mayfield
    • From Collister to Mayfield
  • Continue List   (4 more) ...
    • Placerville
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Quartzburg
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Quartzburg. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Quartzburg
      • Quartzburg is located in Boise County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Quartzburg
      • From Collister to Quartzburg
    • Notus
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Notus have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Notus
      • Notus is located in Canyon County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 634 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Notus <2>

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

Newspapers Published in Collister ...

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 126 newspapers that have been published in the area around Collister.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Collister, there are papers which were published within 23 miles [37 km]<6>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Collister.

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 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 Collister:

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

The official website for Ada County: www.adaweb.net/

The official website for State of Idaho: https://idaho.gov/

Footnotes ...

<1>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.
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<3>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.
<4>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.
<5>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 Collister, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<6>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- Collister) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Collister. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 43.6592, Longitude: -116.2484    









 

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This page was last modified/updated: 28 Apr 2025