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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 Biggs (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 Biggs. 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 northwest corner of their home county. During their lives, most doctors and hospitals were in the next county to the west. 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 west 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.

Biggs is located in Sherman County.

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

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Sherman County: Gilliam, Wasco, Wheeler & Klickitat (WA).

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

  • Sherman County     (The home county of Biggs)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Biggs, with the one closest to Biggs listed first.
    • Biggs Junction
      (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Biggs Junction have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Biggs Junction
      • Biggs Junction is located in Sherman County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Biggs Junction <2>
    • Rufus
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rufus have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rufus
      • Rufus is located in Sherman County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 257 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Rufus <2>
    • Wasco
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Wasco have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wasco
      • Wasco is located in Sherman County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 419 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Wasco <2>
    • Sinks ‑ Historic
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sinks
      • Sinks is located in Sherman County
    • Gordon ‑ Historic
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Gordon. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gordon
      • Gordon is located in Sherman County
    • Klondike
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Klondike
      • Klondike is located in Sherman County
    • Emigrant Springs ‑ Historic
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Emigrant Springs. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Emigrant Springs
      • Emigrant Springs is located in Sherman County
    • De Moss Springs
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for De Moss Springs
      • De Moss Springs is located in Sherman County
    • Moro
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Moro
      • Moro is located in Sherman County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 332 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Moro <2>
    • Monkland
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Monkland. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Monkland
      • Monkland is located in Sherman County
    • Grass Valley
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
    • Rosebush ‑ Historic
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Rosebush. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rosebush
      • Rosebush is located in Sherman County
  • Gilliam County
    • Arlington
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
  • Wasco County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Biggs, with the one closest to Biggs listed first.
    • Celilo Village
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Celilo Village have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Celilo Village
      • Celilo Village is located in Wasco County
    • Fairbanks
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fairbanks
      • Fairbanks is located in Wasco County
    • Rice ‑ Historic
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rice
      • Rice is located in Wasco County
    • Boyd ‑ Historic
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Boyd
      • Boyd is located in Wasco County
    • City of The Dalles
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for City of The Dalles came from an uncertain source and they still need to be verified:<4>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for City of The Dalles
      • City of The Dalles is located in Wasco County
    • The Dalles
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
    • Chenoweth
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Chenoweth have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chenoweth
      • Chenoweth is located in Wasco County
    • Dufur
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Rowena
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
    • Nansene
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Nansene. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nansene
      • Nansene is located in Wasco County
    • Ortley ‑ Historic
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ortley
      • Ortley is located in Wasco County
    • Mosier
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
    • Kingsley ‑ Historic
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kingsley
      • Kingsley is located in Wasco County
  • Klickitat County (WA)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Biggs, with the one closest to Biggs listed first.
    • Maryhill
      (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Centerville
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Wishram
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Goldendale
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Blockhouse
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Blockhouse. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blockhouse
      • Blockhouse is located in Klickitat County (WA)
    • Wahkiacus
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wahkiacus
      • Wahkiacus is located in Klickitat County (WA)
    • Dallesport
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
    • Klickitat
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
    • Lyle
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
    • Appleton
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
    • Dot
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Dot. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dot
      • Dot is located in Klickitat County (WA)
    • Roosevelt
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
    • Bingen
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bingen
      • Bingen is located in Klickitat County (WA)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 748 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Bingen <2>

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

Cemeteries Near Biggs ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Biggs.

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.

If you need information about a burial or interment, photos, transcripts, how to contact the cemetery or local authorities, please visit our selection of Genealogy Websites (see below).

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

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

  • Celilo Indian Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Celilo Indian Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Celilo Indian Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Celilo Indian Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Celilo Indian Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Celilo Indian Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Rufus Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Rufus Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Rufus Cemetery is located outside and to the east of Rufus.
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2252887 <5>
  • Centerville Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Centerville Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Centerville Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Sun Rise Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Sun Rise Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Sun Rise Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located less than 2 miles<6> to the southeast of Wasco.
    • The Sun Rise Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Sunrise Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #39471 <5>
  • Wasco Methodist Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Petersburg Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Petersburg Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Petersburg Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Crawford Family Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
  • Moro Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Moro Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Moro Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located outside and to the northwest of Moro.
    • The Moro Cemetery has also been known as:
    • American Legion Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #38534 <5>
  • De Moss Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the De Moss Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the De Moss Cemetery is located 3 miles [4.8 km]<6> to the southwest of Moro.
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #38702 <5>
  • Viewpoint Grave Island Memorial
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Viewpoint Grave Island Memorial
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Viewpoint Grave Island Memorial have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Emigrant Springs Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
  • Continue List   (27 more) ...
    • Rice Cemetery
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Rice Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Rice Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Hartland Cemetery
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Hartland Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Hartland Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Wish - Ham Cemetery
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Wish - Ham Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Wish - Ham Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.

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.<7>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that in 1895, Biggs had a post office and railroad service.

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

  • Rufus
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rufus have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rufus
    • Rufus is located in Sherman County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 257 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Rufus <2>
  • Wasco
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Wasco have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wasco
    • Wasco is located in Sherman County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 419 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Wasco <2>
  • Goldendale
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
  • Blockhouse
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Blockhouse. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blockhouse
    • Blockhouse is located in Klickitat County (WA)
  • Moro
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Moro
    • Moro is located in Sherman County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 332 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Moro <2>
  • De Moss Springs
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for De Moss Springs
    • De Moss Springs is located in Sherman County
  • Emigrant Springs ‑ Historic
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Emigrant Springs. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Emigrant Springs
    • Emigrant Springs is located in Sherman County
  • Monkland
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Monkland. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Monkland
    • Monkland is located in Sherman County
  • The Dalles
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
  • Boyd ‑ Historic
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Boyd
    • Boyd is located in Wasco County
  • Dufur
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
  • Rowena
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
  • Continue List   (8 more) ...
    • Nansene
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Nansene. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nansene
      • Nansene is located in Wasco County
    • Grass Valley
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
    • Lyle
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)

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

Newspapers Published in Biggs ...

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 31 newspapers that have been published in the area around Biggs.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Biggs, there are papers which were published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<6>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Biggs.

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 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 Biggs:

Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Biggs. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.

The official website for Sherman County: www.sherman-county.com/

The official website for State of Oregon: https://www.oregon.gov/

Footnotes ...

<1>The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required.
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<3>An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace.
<4>If we found a location and have questions about the accuracy of our information, we will simply say that the marker is 'in the vicinity'. We are not confident about the location and the position of our marker is only a rough guide. If we have too many doubts about the location, we will not include it in our database.
<5>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.
<6>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- Biggs) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Biggs. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 45.6679, Longitude: -120.8384       In this case, the coordinates for Biggs have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<7>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 Biggs, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 29 Apr 2025