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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 Sawyer (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 Sawyer. 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 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.

Sawyer is located in Bonner 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 Bonner County: Boundary, Kootenai, Lincoln, Shoshone, Sanders (MT), Pend Oreille (WA) & Spokane (WA).

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

  • Bonner County     (The home county of Sawyer)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Sawyer, with the one closest to Sawyer listed first.
    • Laclede
      (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Cocolalla
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Wrencoe
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Wrencoe is located in Bonner County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wrencoe
    • Dufort
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
      • Dufort is located in Bonner County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dufort
    • Westmond
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
      • Westmond is located in Bonner County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Westmond
    • Priest River
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Algoma
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Algoma is located in Bonner County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Algoma
    • Sagle
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Careywood
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Dover
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Oldtown
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
    • Sandpoint
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Blanchard
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
  • Kootenai County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Sawyer, with the one closest to Sawyer listed first.
    • Athol
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
    • Spirit Lake
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
    • Bayview
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Belmont
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
      • Belmont is located in Kootenai County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Belmont
    • Echo Beach
      (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
      • Echo Beach is located in Kootenai County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Echo Beach
    • Sturgeon
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
      • Sturgeon is located in Kootenai County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sturgeon
    • Garwood
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
      • Garwood is located in Kootenai County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Garwood
    • Rathdrum
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
    • Hayden Lake
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
    • Hayden
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
      • 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>
    • Coeur d'Alene Junction
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
    • Dalton Gardens
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
    • Hauser
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
  • Pend Oreille County (WA)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Sawyer, with the one closest to Sawyer listed first.
    • Newport
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
      • 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>
    • Camden
      (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
      • Camden is located in Pend Oreille County (WA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Camden
    • Dalkena
      (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
      • Dalkena is located in Pend Oreille County (WA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dalkena
    • Usk
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Cusick
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Cusick is located in Pend Oreille County (WA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cusick
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 224 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Cusick <1>
  • Spokane County (WA)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Sawyer, with the one closest to Sawyer listed first.
    • Elk
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
    • Newman Lake
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Grays Landing
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
      • Grays Landing is located in Spokane County (WA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grays Landing

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

Cemeteries Near Sawyer ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Sawyer.

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

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

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

  • Seneacquoteen Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
  • Westmond Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
  • Drake Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
  • Lakeview Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lakeview Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Lakeview Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located outside and to the southwest of Sandpoint.
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #80533 <2>
  • Pinecrest Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Pinecrest Memorial Park
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Pine Grove Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
  • Greenwood Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
  • Mountain View Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
  • Newport Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
  • Clara Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Old Hope Cemetery
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
  • Continue List   (10 more) ...
    • Pack River Cemetery
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pack River Cemetery
      • To give a relative sense of its location, the Pack River Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located 8 miles [12.9 km]<3> to the northeast of Sandpoint.
      • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #80594 <2>
    • Rimrock Cemetery
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
    • Hope Cemetery
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)

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 Sawyer in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Sawyer.

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

  • Cocolalla
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
  • Priest River
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
  • Athol
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
  • Sandpoint
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
  • Kootenai
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Ramsey
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
    • Ramsey is located in Kootenai County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ramsey
  • Rathdrum
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
  • Hauser
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)

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

Newspapers Published in Sawyer ...

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 42 newspapers that have been published in the area around Sawyer.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Sawyer, there are papers which were published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Sawyer.

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 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 Sawyer:

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 drawn from Point A (ie- Sawyer) 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 Sawyer, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.