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 Melba (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 Melba. 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 northeast corner of their home county. During their lives, most doctors were in the next county to the east. 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 east 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.
Melba is located in Canyon 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 Canyon County: Ada, Gem, Owyhee, Payette & Malheur (OR).
Below are the counties that are near Melba. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Melba:
- Canyon County (The home county of Melba)
- The following are listed by their distance from Melba, with the one closest to Melba listed first.
- Walters Ferry
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
- Walters Ferry is located in Canyon County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Walters Ferry
- Bowmont
(5 miles [8 km] to the north)
- Bowmont is located in Canyon County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bowmont
- Kings Corner
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
- Kings Corner is located in Canyon County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kings Corner
- Nampa
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
- Riverside
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
- Riverside is located in Canyon County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Riverside
- Huston
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
- Caldwell
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
- Middleton
(23 miles [37 km] to the north)
- Weitz
(23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
- Weitz is located in Canyon County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Weitz
- Greenleaf
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
- Notus
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
- Wilder
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
- Ada County
- The following are listed by their distance from Melba, with the one closest to Melba listed first.
- Kuna
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
- Swan Falls
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
- Swan Falls is located in Ada County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Swan Falls
- Meridian
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
- Boise Junction
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
- Boise Junction is located in Ada County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Boise Junction
- Star
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
- Boise
(23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
- Boise is located in Ada County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Boise
- Population from the 2020 Census: 229,776 people
- Former name for Boise:
- Boise City
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Boise <1>
- Garden City
(23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
- Eagle
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
- Boise Hills Village
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
- Boise Hills Village is located in Ada County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Boise Hills Village
- Collister
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
- Collister is located in Ada County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Collister
- Owyhee County
- The following are listed by their distance from Melba, with the one closest to Melba listed first.
- Murphy
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
- Marsing
(18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
- Oreana
(23 miles [37 km] to the south)
- Oreana is located in Owyhee County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oreana
- Rockville
(23 miles [37 km] to the west)
- Rockville is located in Owyhee County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rockville
- Homedale
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
- Silver City
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
- Empire City ‑ Historic
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
- Empire City is located in Owyhee County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Empire City
- De Lamar ‑ Historic
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
- De Lamar is located in Owyhee County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for De Lamar
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Melba, see our County-by-County Page for Melba.
Cemeteries Near Melba ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Melba.
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 Melba - one of the links might be able to help.
If not found below, our Cemetery List for Melba covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Melba, with the one closest to Melba listed first.
- Wilson Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
- Kuna Pioneer Cemetery
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
- Kuna Cemetery
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kuna Cemetery
- To give a relative sense of its location, the Kuna Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located in Kuna.
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #1970611 <2>
- Mt. Calvary Cemetery
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
- Jacob Reuben Graves
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
- Kohlerlawn Cemetery
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
- Reynolds Creek Cemetery
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
- Peaceful Valley Cemetery
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Peaceful Valley Cemetery
- To give a relative sense of its location, the Peaceful Valley Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located 2 miles [3.2 km]<3> to the east of Marsing.
- The Peaceful Valley Cemetery has also been known as:
- Knowlton Heights Cemetery
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2153586 <2>
- Hillcrest Memorial Gardens
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
- Meridian Cemetery
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
- Cloverdale Memorial Park
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
- Terrace Lawn Memorial Gardens
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
- Continue List (22 more) ...
- Five Mile Cemetery
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
- Lower Fairview Cemetery
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
- Mountain View Cemetery
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
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 Melba in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Melba.
These communities are listed based on their distance from Melba, with the one closest to Melba listed first.
- Mora
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
- Mora is located in Ada County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mora
- Kuna
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
- Nampa
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
- Reynolds
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
- Reynolds is located in Owyhee County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Reynolds
- Owyhee
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
- Owyhee is located in Ada County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Owyhee
- Sinker ‑ Historic
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
- Sinker is located in Owyhee County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sinker
- Caldwell
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
- Star
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
- Middleton
(23 miles [37 km] to the north)
- Continue List (6 more) ...
- Oreana
(23 miles [37 km] to the south)
- Oreana is located in Owyhee County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oreana
- Boise
(23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
- Boise is located in Ada County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Boise
- Population from the 2020 Census: 229,776 people
- Former name for Boise:
- Boise City
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Boise <1>
- Rockville
(23 miles [37 km] to the west)
- Rockville is located in Owyhee County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rockville
- Silver City
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
- Notus
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
- De Lamar ‑ Historic
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
- De Lamar is located in Owyhee County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for De Lamar
We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Melba. See our List of 1890's Communities around Melba.
Newspapers Published in Melba ...
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 94 newspapers that have been published in the area around Melba.
Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Melba, 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 Melba.
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 Melba:
- Websites specific to Idaho
- Pages specific to Canyon County
- Genealogy information for nearby counties
- Cemetery Information and Directories for Idaho
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 from Point A (ie- Melba) 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 Melba, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |