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A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
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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 Bonifer (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 Bonifer. 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 and hospitals 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.

Bonifer is located in Umatilla 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 Umatilla County: Grant, Morrow, Union, Wallowa, Benton (WA), Columbia (WA) & Walla Walla (WA).

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

  • Umatilla County     (The home county of Bonifer)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Bonifer, with the one closest to Bonifer listed first.
    • Gibbon
      (Less than 2 miles to the north)
      • Gibbon is located in Umatilla County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gibbon
    • Bingham Springs
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Bingham Springs is located in Umatilla County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bingham Springs
    • Weston
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Athena
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Cayuse
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Adams
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Meacham
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
    • Blue Mountain
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
      • Blue Mountain is located in Umatilla County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blue Mountain
    • Tollgate
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Tollgate is located in Umatilla County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tollgate
    • Havana
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
      • Havana is located in Umatilla County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Havana
    • Kirkpatrick
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
      • Kirkpatrick is located in Umatilla County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kirkpatrick
    • Mission
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
      • Mission is located in Umatilla County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mission
    • Tutuilla
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
      • Tutuilla is located in Umatilla County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tutuilla
  • Union County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Bonifer, with the one closest to Bonifer listed first.
    • Summerville
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Elgin
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
      • Elgin is located in Union County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elgin
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,801 people
      • Former names for Elgin:
      • Fish Trap
      • Indian Valley
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Elgin <1>
    • Hilgard
      (23 miles [37 km] to the south)
      • Hilgard is located in Union County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hilgard
    • Imbler
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Orodell ‑ Historic
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Orodell is located in Union County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Orodell
    • Conley
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Conley is located in Union County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Conley
    • Island City
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Island City is located in Union County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Island City
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,024 people
    • La Grande
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
  • Walla Walla County (WA)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Bonifer, with the one closest to Bonifer listed first.
    • Calhounville
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
      • Calhounville is located in Walla Walla County (WA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Calhounville
    • Mojonnier
      (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
      • Mojonnier is located in Walla Walla County (WA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mojonnier
    • College Place
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
    • Garrett
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
      • Garrett is located in Walla Walla County (WA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Garrett
    • Walla Walla
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
    • Lowden
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Kibler
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
      • Kibler is located in Walla Walla County (WA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kibler
    • Touchet
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)

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

Cemeteries Near Bonifer ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Bonifer.

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

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

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

  • Red Elk Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
  • Homeli Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
  • Key Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
  • Hyatt Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
  • Weston Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
  • Athena Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Meacham Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
  • St. Andrews Mission Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
  • Agency Indian Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
  • Greasewood Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greasewood Cemetery
    • The Greasewood Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Gallaher Cemetery
  • Old City Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
  • Finland Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Continue List   (32 more) ...

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.<2>

While we didn't find Bonifer in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Bonifer.

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

  • Gibbon
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Gibbon is located in Umatilla County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gibbon
  • Weston
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
  • Athena
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
  • Cayuse
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
  • North Fork
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
    • North Fork is located in Umatilla County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Fork
  • Adams
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Downing
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
    • Downing is located in Umatilla County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Downing
  • Meacham
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
  • Huron
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
    • Huron is located in Umatilla County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Huron
  • Blue Mountain
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
    • Blue Mountain is located in Umatilla County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blue Mountain
  • Havana
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
    • Havana is located in Umatilla County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Havana
  • Mission
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
    • Mission is located in Umatilla County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mission
  • Continue List   (15 more) ...
    • Kamela
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
      • Kamela is located in Union County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kamela
    • Helix
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
    • Fulton
      (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
      • Fulton is located in Umatilla County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fulton

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

Newspapers Published in Bonifer ...

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 29 newspapers that have been published in the area around Bonifer.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Bonifer, there are papers which were published within 28 miles [45.1 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Bonifer.

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 Bonifer:

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