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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 Clarke (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 Clarke. 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 northeast corner of their home county. During their lives, most doctors were in the next county to the east. 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 east 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.

Clarke is located in Morrow 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 Morrow County: Gilliam, Grant, Umatilla, Wheeler, Benton (WA) & Klickitat (WA).

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

  • Morrow County     (The home county of Clarke)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Clarke, with the one closest to Clarke listed first.
    • Boardman
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Irrigon
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Alpine
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
      • Alpine is located in Morrow County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alpine
    • Pine City
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
      • Pine City is located in Morrow County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine City
    • Ione
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Lexington
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
  • Gilliam County
    • Arlington
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
  • Umatilla County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Clarke, with the one closest to Clarke listed first.
    • Ordnance ‑ Historic
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
      • Ordnance is located in Umatilla County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ordnance
    • Hinkle
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
      • Hinkle is located in Umatilla County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hinkle
    • Umatilla
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Hermiston
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
    • Power City
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
      • Power City is located in Umatilla County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Power City
    • Stanfield
      (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
    • Echo
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
      • Echo is located in Umatilla County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Echo
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 705 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Echo <1>
    • Cold Springs
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
      • Cold Springs is located in Umatilla County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cold Springs
  • Benton County (WA)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Clarke, with the one closest to Clarke listed first.
    • Paterson
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Plymouth
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
      • Plymouth is located in Benton County (WA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plymouth
    • Prosser
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
      • Prosser is located in Benton County (WA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prosser
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 6,398 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Prosser <1>
    • Benton City
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
    • Highland
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Highland is located in Benton County (WA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Highland
  • Klickitat County (WA)
  • Yakima County (WA)
    • Byron
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Byron is located in Yakima County (WA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Byron

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

Cemeteries Near Clarke ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Clarke.

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

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

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

  • Riverview Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
  • Irrigon Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Desert Lawn Memorial Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Sunset Hills Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Pioneer Memorial Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
  • Umatilla Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
  • Wells Spring Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
  • Hermiston Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
  • Baumgardner Cemetery
    (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
  • Sand Hollow Cemetery
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
  • Foster Cemetery
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
  • Pleasant View Cemetery
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
  • Continue List   (16 more) ...
    • Echo Memorial Cemetery
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
    • Siphon Cemetery
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
    • Sixprong Cemetery
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)

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>

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

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

  • Umatilla
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
  • Alpine
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
    • Alpine is located in Morrow County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alpine
  • Ella
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Ella is located in Morrow County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ella
  • Galloway ‑ Historic
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
    • Galloway is located in Morrow County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Galloway
  • Echo
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
    • Echo is located in Umatilla County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Echo
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 705 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Echo <1>
  • Cold Springs
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
    • Cold Springs is located in Umatilla County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cold Springs
  • Willows
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
    • Willows is located in Gilliam County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Willows
  • Cecil
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Cecil is located in Morrow County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cecil
  • Ione
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
  • Nolin
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Nolin is located in Umatilla County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nolin
  • Lexington
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
  • Byron
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Byron is located in Yakima County (WA)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Byron
  • Yoakum
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
    • Yoakum is located in Umatilla County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Yoakum

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

Newspapers Published in Clarke ...

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 49 newspapers that have been published in the area around Clarke.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Clarke, there are papers which were published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Clarke.

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 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 Clarke:

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