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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 Rathdrum (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 Rathdrum. 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.

Rathdrum is located in Kootenai 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 Kootenai County: Benewah, Bonner, Shoshone & Spokane (WA).

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

  • Kootenai County     (The home county of Rathdrum)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Rathdrum, with the one closest to Rathdrum listed first.
    • Sturgeon
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
      • Sturgeon is located in Kootenai County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sturgeon
    • Coeur d'Alene Junction
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Garwood
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
      • Garwood is located in Kootenai County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Garwood
    • Hayden
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
      • Hayden is located in Kootenai County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hayden
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 15,713 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Hayden <1>
    • Hayden Lake
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Echo Beach
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
      • Echo Beach is located in Kootenai County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Echo Beach
    • Huetter
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
      • Huetter is located in Kootenai County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Huetter
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 114 people
    • Post Falls
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Hauser
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Dalton Gardens
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Coeur d'Alene
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • State Line Village
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
      • State Line Village is located in Kootenai County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for State Line Village
  • Benewah County
    • Chatcolet
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
      • Chatcolet is located in Benewah County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chatcolet
  • Bonner County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Rathdrum, with the one closest to Rathdrum listed first.
    • Blanchard
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
    • Careywood
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Lakeview
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
      • Lakeview is located in Bonner County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lakeview
    • Cocolalla
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Cedar Creek
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Cedar Creek is located in Bonner County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Creek
    • Laclede
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
    • Priest River
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
    • Oldtown
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
    • Westmond
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Westmond is located in Bonner County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Westmond
    • Dufort
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Dufort is located in Bonner County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dufort
    • Wrencoe
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
      • Wrencoe is located in Bonner County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wrencoe
  • Pend Oreille County (WA)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Rathdrum, with the one closest to Rathdrum listed first.
    • Camden
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
      • Camden is located in Pend Oreille County (WA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Camden
    • Newport
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
      • Newport is located in Pend Oreille County (WA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Newport
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,266 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Newport <1>
  • Spokane County (WA)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Rathdrum, with the one closest to Rathdrum listed first.
    • Newman Lake
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Otis Orchards - East Farms
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Liberty Lake
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Otis Orchards
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Greenacres
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Peone
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
      • Peone is located in Spokane County (WA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Peone
    • Trentwood
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Trentwood is located in Spokane County (WA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Trentwood
    • Veradale
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Green Bluff
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
      • Green Bluff is located in Spokane County (WA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Bluff
    • Irwin
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
      • Irwin is located in Spokane County (WA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Irwin
    • Opportunity
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
      • Opportunity is located in Spokane County (WA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Opportunity
    • Spokane Valley
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)

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

Cemeteries Near Rathdrum ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Rathdrum.

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

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

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

  • Pine Grove Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
  • Evergreen Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Evergreen Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Evergreen Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located in Post Falls.
    • The Evergreen Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Post Falls Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #80458 <2>
  • Restlawn Memorial Park
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Rimrock Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
  • Bestland Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
  • Forest Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Forest Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Forest Cemetery is a very large cemetery that is located in Coeur d'Alene.
    • The Forest Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Ft. Sherman Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #80471 <2>
  • Riverview Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
  • St. Thomas Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
  • Greenwood Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
  • Mountain View Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
  • St. Josephs Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
  • Pine Grove Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
  • Continue List   (41 more) ...
    • Saltese Cemetery
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Pleasant Prairie Cemetery
      (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
    • The Pines Cemetery
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)

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>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Rathdrum had a population of 218 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Rathdrum had a population of 9,419 people.

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

  • Ramsey
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Ramsey is located in Kootenai County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ramsey
  • Hauser
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
  • Post Falls
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Coeur d'Alene
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
  • Athol
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
  • Peone
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
    • Peone is located in Spokane County (WA)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Peone
  • Chester
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Chester is located in Spokane County (WA)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chester
  • Mead
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
  • East Spokane
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
    • East Spokane is located in Spokane County (WA)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Spokane
  • Mica
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Mica is located in Spokane County (WA)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mica
  • Chattaroy
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
  • Buckeye
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
    • Buckeye is located in Spokane County (WA)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Buckeye
  • Continue List   (12 more) ...
    • Freeman
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
      • Freeman is located in Spokane County (WA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Freeman
    • Harrison
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
    • Cocolalla
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Rathdrum ...

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 88 newspapers that have been published in the area around Rathdrum.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Rathdrum. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Rathdrum and those printed in the larger area surrounding Rathdrum.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 29 miles [46.7 km]<3> of Rathdrum.

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 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 Rathdrum:

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 'straight-line' (or 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- Rathdrum) 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 Rathdrum, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.