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 Minidoka (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 Minidoka. 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 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 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.
Minidoka is located in Minidoka 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 Minidoka County: Blaine, Cassia, Jerome & Lincoln.
Below are the counties that are near Minidoka. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Minidoka:
- Minidoka County (The home county of Minidoka)
- The following are listed by their distance from Minidoka, with the one closest to Minidoka listed first.
- Acequia
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Acequia
- Acequia is located in Minidoka County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 130 people
- Rupert
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rupert have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rupert
- Rupert is located in Minidoka County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 5,946 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Rupert <2>
- Amalga
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Amalga
- Amalga is located in Minidoka County
- Paul
(18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Paul
- Paul is located in Minidoka County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,464 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Paul <2>
- Heyburn
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Heyburn have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Heyburn
- Heyburn is located in Minidoka County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 3,457 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Heyburn <2>
- Cassia County
- The following are listed by their distance from Minidoka, with the one closest to Minidoka listed first.
- Declo
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Declo have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Declo
- Declo is located in Cassia County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 369 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Declo <2>
- Burley
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Burley
- Burley is located in Cassia County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 10,712 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Burley <2>
- Albion
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Albion have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Albion
- Albion is located in Cassia County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 278 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Albion <2>
- Pella
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pella
- Pella is located in Cassia County
- Lincoln County
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Minidoka, see our County-by-County Page for Minidoka.
Newspapers Published in Minidoka ...
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 19 newspapers that have been published in the area around Minidoka.
Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Minidoka, there are papers which were published within 24 miles [38.6 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Minidoka.
Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...
When we do our genealogical research, we like to start with 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 Minidoka:
- Websites specific to Idaho
- Jump to Cyndi's List
- Jump to Family Search
- Jump to Genealogy Trails
- Website for the //history.idaho.gov/idaho-state-archives
- Pages specific to Minidoka County
- Jump to Cyndi's List
- Jump to Family Search
- Jump to Genealogy Trails
- Genealogy information for nearby counties
- Cassia County
- Jump to Cyndi's List
- Jump to Family Search
- Jump to Genealogy Trails
- Lincoln County
- Jump to Cyndi's List
- Jump to Family Search
- Jump to Genealogy Trails
- Cassia County
- Cemetery Information and Directories for Idaho
- Cemetery Junction: Cemeteries of Idaho
- Cyndi's List
- Cemeteries of Idaho
- Cemeteries of Minidoka County
- FamilySearch.org: Cemeteries of Idaho
- Find-A-Grave: Home Page
- Interment.net
- Cemeteries of Idaho
Cemeteries Near Minidoka ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Minidoka.
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 Minidoka covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Minidoka, with the one closest to Minidoka listed first.
- Jackson Cemetery
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Jackson Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Jackson Cemetery
- Rupert Cemetery
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Rupert Cemetery
- Paul Cemetery
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)- To give a relative sense of its location, the Paul Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located 2 miles [3.2 km]<3> to the south of Paul.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Paul Cemetery
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #80598 <4>
- Declo Cemetery
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Declo Cemetery
- Pleasant View Cemetery
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Pleasant View Cemetery
- Gem Memorial Gardens
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)- To give a relative sense of its location, the Gem Memorial Gardens is a large cemetery that is located outside and to the south of Burley.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Gem Memorial Gardens
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #1186675 <4>
- View Cemetery
(23 miles [37 km] to the south)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the View Cemetery
- Albion Cemetery
(23 miles [37 km] to the south)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Albion Cemetery
- Pleasant Hill Cemetery
(23 miles [37 km] to the south)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Pleasant Hill Cemetery
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #80612 <4>
- Pioneer Cemetery
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Pioneer Cemetery
- Pella Cemetery
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)- To give a relative sense of its location, the Pella Cemetery is located less than 2 miles<3> to the east of Pella.
- The Pella Cemetery has also been known as:
- Pella Ward Cemetery
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Pella Cemetery
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #80600 <4>
- Neeley Cemetery
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Neeley Cemetery
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>
The Rand McNally Atlas shows that in 1895, Minidoka had a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Minidoka had a population of 113 people.
These communities are listed based on their distance from Minidoka, with the one closest to Minidoka listed first.
- Wapi
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the east) - Kimama
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the west) - Albion
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Albion have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Albion
- Albion is located in Cassia County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 278 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Albion <2>
We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Minidoka. See our List of 1890's Communities around Minidoka.
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Minidoka. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for Minidoka County: www.minidoka.id.us/
The official website for State of Idaho: www.state.id.us/
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> | 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- Minidoka) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Minidoka. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.7537, Longitude: -113.4902 |
| <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 Minidoka, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |