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A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
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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 Owyhee (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 Owyhee. 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 hospitals 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.

Owyhee is located in Ada 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 Ada County: Boise, Canyon, Elmore, Gem & Owyhee.

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

  • Ada County     (The home county of Owyhee)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Owyhee, with the one closest to Owyhee listed first.
    • Kuna
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Boise Junction
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
      • Boise Junction is located in Ada County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Boise Junction
    • Boise
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
      • 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>
    • Boise Hills Village
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
      • Boise Hills Village is located in Ada County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Boise Hills Village
    • Swan Falls
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Swan Falls is located in Ada County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Swan Falls
    • Collister
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
      • Collister is located in Ada County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Collister
    • Meridian
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Garden City
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
    • Eagle
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
    • Star
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
  • Canyon County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Owyhee, with the one closest to Owyhee listed first.
    • Melba
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
    • Bowmont
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
      • Bowmont is located in Canyon County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bowmont
    • Kings Corner
      (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
      • Kings Corner is located in Canyon County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kings Corner
    • Walters Ferry
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
      • Walters Ferry is located in Canyon County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Walters Ferry
    • Nampa
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Nampa is located in Canyon County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nampa
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 103,215 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Nampa <1>
    • Riverside
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
      • Riverside is located in Canyon County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Riverside
    • Caldwell
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Middleton
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Elmore County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Owyhee, with the one closest to Owyhee listed first.
    • Mayfield
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
      • Mayfield is located in Elmore County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mayfield
    • Cleft
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Cleft is located in Elmore County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cleft
  • Gem County
    • Pearl
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
      • Pearl is located in Gem County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pearl
  • Owyhee County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Owyhee, with the one closest to Owyhee listed first.
    • Murphy
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Oreana
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
      • Oreana is located in Owyhee County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oreana
    • Grand View
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)

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

Cemeteries Near Owyhee ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Owyhee.

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 Owyhee - one of the links might be able to help.

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

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

  • Kuna Pioneer Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Idaho State Penitentiary Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
  • Kuna Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
    • 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>
  • Pioneer Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
  • Morris Hill Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
  • Mountain View Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
  • Ft. Boise Military Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ft. Boise Military Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Ft. Boise Military Cemetery is located outside and to the northeast of Boise.
    • The Ft. Boise Military Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Boise Barracks Military Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #80473 <2>
  • Cloverdale Memorial Park
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
  • Terrace Lawn Memorial Gardens
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
  • Meridian Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
  • Joplin Cemetery
    (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
  • Five Mile Cemetery
    (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
  • Continue List   (12 more) ...

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>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that in 1895, Owyhee had railroad service and no post office.

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

  • Mora
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Mora is located in Ada County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mora
  • Kuna
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Boise
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
    • 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>
  • Mayfield
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
    • Mayfield is located in Elmore County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mayfield
  • Cleft
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Cleft is located in Elmore County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cleft
  • Nampa
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Nampa is located in Canyon County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nampa
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 103,215 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Nampa <1>
  • Star
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
  • Sinker ‑ Historic
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Sinker is located in Owyhee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sinker
  • Oreana
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
    • Oreana is located in Owyhee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oreana
  • Middleton
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Caldwell
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)

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

Newspapers Published in Owyhee ...

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 107 newspapers that have been published in the area around Owyhee.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Owyhee, there are papers which were published within 29 miles [46.7 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Owyhee.

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 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 Owyhee:

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 Owyhee, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>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 drawn from Point A (ie- Owyhee) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.