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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 Camp Elkanah (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 Camp Elkanah. 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 Camp Elkanah ...

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.

Although we can't give a definitive list, hopefully the following will give you a feel for the variations that might occur.

For example, a typical abbreviation for Camp Elkanah: Cp. Elkanah

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 southeast 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 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 east 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.

Camp Elkanah is located in Union 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 Union County: Baker, Grant, Umatilla & Wallowa.

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

  • Union County     (The home county of Camp Elkanah)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Camp Elkanah, with the one closest to Camp Elkanah listed first.
    • Starkey
      (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Hilgard
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
      • Hilgard is located in Union County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hilgard
    • Orodell ‑ Historic
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Orodell is located in Union County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Orodell
    • La Grande
      (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
    • Island City
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
      • Island City is located in Union County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Island City
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,024 people
    • Hot Lake
      (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
      • Hot Lake is located in Union County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hot Lake
    • Conley
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
      • Conley is located in Union County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Conley
    • Summerville
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Union
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
    • Imbler
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
    • North Powder
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Baker County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Camp Elkanah, with the one closest to Camp Elkanah listed first.
    • Hutchinson ‑ Historic
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Hutchinson is located in Baker County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hutchinson
    • Bourne
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Bourne is located in Baker County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bourne
  • Grant County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Camp Elkanah, with the one closest to Camp Elkanah listed first.
    • Cabell City
      (23 miles [37 km] to the south)
      • Cabell City is located in Grant County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cabell City
    • Granite
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
      • Granite is located in Grant County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Granite
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 36 people
    • Dale
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Umatilla County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Camp Elkanah, with the one closest to Camp Elkanah listed first.
    • Lehman Springs
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Lehman Springs is located in Umatilla County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lehman Springs
      • Lehman Springs has also been known as:
      • Lehman Hot Springs
      • Lehman
    • Meacham
      (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
    • Ukiah
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
    • Pilot Rock
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Tutuilla
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Tutuilla is located in Umatilla County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tutuilla

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

Cemeteries Near Camp Elkanah ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Camp Elkanah.

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 Camp Elkanah - one of the links might be able to help.

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

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

  • Starkey Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
  • Hilgard Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
  • Rugg Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
  • Grandview Cemetery
    (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
  • Calvary Cemetery
    (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
  • Hillcrest East Cemetery
    (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
  • Hillcrest Cemetery
    (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hillcrest Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Hillcrest Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located in La Grande.
    • The Hillcrest Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Masonic Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #38904 <2>
  • Meacham Cemetery
    (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
  • Island City Cemetery
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
  • Ackles Cemetery
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
  • Warner Family Cemetery
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
  • Cabell Cemetery
    (23 miles [37 km] to the south)
  • Continue List   (15 more) ...
    • Albee Cemetery
      (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
    • Ukiah Cemetery
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
    • Pilot Rock Cemetery
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)

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

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

  • Starkey
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
  • Hilgard
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Hilgard is located in Union County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hilgard
  • Kamela
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
    • Kamela is located in Union County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kamela
  • Perry
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Perry is located in Union County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Perry
  • La Grande
    (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
  • Huron
    (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
    • Huron is located in Umatilla County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Huron
  • Meacham
    (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
  • Island City
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
    • Island City is located in Union County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Island City
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,024 people
  • North Fork
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
    • North Fork is located in Umatilla County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Fork
  • Hot Lake
    (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
    • Hot Lake is located in Union County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hot Lake
  • Ukiah
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
  • Alicel
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Alicel is located in Union County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alicel
  • Continue List   (6 more) ...
    • Pilot Rock
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Summerville
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Union
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)

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

Newspapers Published in Camp Elkanah ...

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 38 newspapers that have been published in the area around Camp Elkanah.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Camp Elkanah, there are papers which were published within 29 miles [46.7 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Camp Elkanah.

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 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 Camp Elkanah:

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' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Camp Elkanah) 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 Camp Elkanah, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.