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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 Orion (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 Orion. 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 and 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.

Orion is located in Henry County.

To see how the shape of Illinois' counties may have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Henry County: Bureau, Knox, Mercer, Rock Island, Stark & Whiteside.

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

  • Henry County     (The home county of Orion)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Orion, with the one closest to Orion listed first.
    • Morristown
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Lynn Center
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Osco
      (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Andover
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Ophiem
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
      • Ophiem is located in Henry County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ophiem
    • Briar Bluff
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Colona
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Green Rock
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
      • Green Rock is located in Henry County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Rock
    • Cambridge
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
    • Cleveland
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
      • Cleveland is located in Henry County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cleveland
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 178 people
    • Dayton
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Hickory Hills
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Hickory Hills is located in Henry County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hickory Hills
    • Alpha
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
  • Bureau County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Orion, with the one closest to Orion listed first.
    • Mineral
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
    • Neponset
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
  • Knox County
  • Mercer County
  • Rock Island County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Orion, with the one closest to Orion listed first.
    • Coal Valley
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Carbon Cliff
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Silvis
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
      • Silvis is located in Rock Island County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Silvis
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 7,473 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Silvis <1>
    • Coyne Center
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
      • Coyne Center is located in Rock Island County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coyne Center
    • Barstow
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
    • East Moline
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
      • East Moline is located in Rock Island County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Moline
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 20,473 people
    • Rustic Acres
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Milan
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Oak Grove
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
      • Oak Grove is located in Rock Island County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oak Grove
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 585 people
    • Moline
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Hampton
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
      • Hampton is located in Rock Island County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hampton
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,738 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Hampton <1>
    • Rock Island
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Rapids City
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
  • Stark County
    • La Fayette
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
  • Warren County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Orion, with the one closest to Orion listed first.
    • Shanghai City
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
      • Shanghai City is located in Warren County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shanghai City
    • Utah
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
    • Gerlaw
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Surrey
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
    • Eleanor
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Little York
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Whiteside County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Orion, with the one closest to Orion listed first.
    • Erie
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Erie is located in Whiteside County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Erie
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,482 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Erie <1>
    • Newton Corners
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Pratt ‑ Historic
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Pratt is located in Whiteside County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pratt
  • Clinton County (IA)
  • Muscatine County (IA)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Orion, with the one closest to Orion listed first.
    • Midway Beach
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
    • Pine Mills ‑ Historic
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
      • Pine Mills is located in Muscatine County (IA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine Mills
    • Fairport
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
    • Pleasant Prairie
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Stockton
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Stockton is located in Muscatine County (IA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stockton
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 189 people
  • Scott County (IA)

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

Cemeteries Near Orion ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Orion.

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

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

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

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 Orion had a population of 624 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Orion had a population of 1,776 people.

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

  • Sunny Hill
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Sunny Hill is located in Henry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunny Hill
  • Warner
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Warner is located in Henry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Warner
  • Lynn Center
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
  • Morristown
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
  • Andover
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
  • Osco
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
  • Swedona
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Swedona is located in Mercer County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Swedona
  • Coal Valley
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Briar Bluff
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
  • Cable
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Cable is located in Mercer County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cable
  • Green River
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Green River is located in Henry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green River
  • Griffin
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
  • Continue List   (16 more) ...

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Orion ...

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 56 newspapers that have been published in the area around Orion.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Orion. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Orion and those printed in the larger area surrounding Orion.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 27 miles [43.5 km]<4> of Orion.

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 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 Orion:

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