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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 Bear Creek (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 Bear Creek. 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.

Name Variations for Bear Creek ...

When searching records, keep in mind that names and their spelling can change over time. Our sources include documents like maps, railroad schedules, Travel, Express and Shipping Guides. Many of these documents date from the 1800's and it's common to find spelling differences.

For example, a typical abbreviation for Bear Creek: Bear Crk. (or less commonly used: Bear Ck. or Bear Cr.)

You might be interested in other communities that are also named Bear Creek. More information can be found on our Tidbits & Trivia Page for Bear Creek.

If you have information about these names (such as the reason for the change, date of change, the origin of the name), please Contact Us.

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.

Bear Creek is located in Lane County.

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

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Lane County: Benton, Deschutes, Douglas, Klamath, Lincoln & Linn.

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

  • Lane County     (The home county of Bear Creek)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Bear Creek, with the one closest to Bear Creek listed first.
    • Cheshire
      (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Franklin
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
      • Franklin is located in Lane County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Franklin
    • Junction City
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Alvadore
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Fern Ridge Shores
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
      • Fern Ridge Shores is located in Lane County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fern Ridge Shores
    • Elmira
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
    • Veneta
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
    • River Road
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
      • River Road is located in Lane County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for River Road
    • Santa Clara
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Santa Clara is located in Lane County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Santa Clara
    • Coburg
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Long Tom
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Long Tom is located in Lane County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Long Tom
    • Blachly
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
  • Benton County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Bear Creek, with the one closest to Bear Creek listed first.
    • Monroe
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Bellfountain Junction
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Jennyopolis ‑ Historic
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
      • Jennyopolis is located in Benton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jennyopolis
    • Alsea
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Flynn
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
      • Flynn is located in Benton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flynn
    • Philomath
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
    • Corvallis
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
    • Wren
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
      • Wren is located in Benton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wren
    • Lewisburg
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
      • Lewisburg is located in Benton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lewisburg
    • Blodgett
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
  • Linn County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Bear Creek, with the one closest to Bear Creek listed first.
    • Harrisburg
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Halsey
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Boston ‑ Historic
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
      • Boston is located in Linn County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Boston
      • Boston has also been known as:
      • Boston Mills
    • Brownsville
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Shedd
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Oakville
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
      • Oakville is located in Linn County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oakville
    • Crawfordsville
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
    • Tangent
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
    • Holley
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
      • Holley is located in Linn County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holley
    • Sodaville
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Sodaville is located in Linn County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sodaville
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 346 people
    • South Lebanon
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
      • South Lebanon is located in Linn County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Lebanon
    • Irvinville
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Irvinville is located in Linn County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Irvinville

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

Cemeteries Near Bear Creek ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Bear Creek.

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 Bear Creek - one of the links might be able to help.

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

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

  • Danish Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
  • Rest Lawn Memorial Park
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rest Lawn Memorial Park
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Rest Lawn Memorial Park is a large cemetery that is located 4 miles [6.4 km]<2> to the west of Junction City.
    • The Rest Lawn Memorial Park has also been known as:
    • Independent Order of Odd Fellows Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #316522 <3>
  • Resthaven Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
  • Union - Turnbow - Mays Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
  • Jones - Kime - Brown Property Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
  • Ferguson Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
  • Franklin Grange Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
  • Milliorn Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
  • Caldwell Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
  • Lancaste - Young Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
  • St. Rose Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
  • Richardson Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
  • Continue List   (128 more) ...
    • Goldson Cemetery
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Inman Cemetery
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Monroe Cemetery
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)

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

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

  • Franklin
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Franklin is located in Lane County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Franklin
  • Junction City
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
  • Monroe
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
  • Harrisburg
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Irving
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Irving is located in Lane County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Irving
  • Elmira
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
  • Rowland
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Rowland is located in Linn County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rowland
  • Long Tom
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Long Tom is located in Lane County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Long Tom
  • Coburg
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Halsey
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
  • Crow
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
    • Crow is located in Lane County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crow
  • Eugene
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
  • Continue List   (15 more) ...
    • Peoria
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
      • Peoria is located in Linn County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Peoria
    • Hadleyville
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
      • Hadleyville is located in Lane County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hadleyville
    • Springfield
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)

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

Newspapers Published in Bear Creek ...

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 37 newspapers that have been published in the area around Bear Creek.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Bear Creek, there are papers which were published within 24 miles [38.6 km]<2>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Bear Creek.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we begin 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 Bear Creek:

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>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Bear Creek) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>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.
<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 Bear Creek, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.