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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 Dawson (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 Dawson. 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 southeast corner of their home county. During their lives, most hospitals and doctors 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.

Dawson is located in Benton 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 Benton County: Lane, Lincoln, Linn, Marion & Polk.

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

  • Benton County     (The home county of Dawson)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Dawson, with the one closest to Dawson listed first.
    • Bellfountain Junction
      (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Monroe
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Jennyopolis ‑ Historic
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
      • Jennyopolis is located in Benton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jennyopolis
    • Alsea
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Flynn
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
      • Flynn is located in Benton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flynn
    • Philomath
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
    • Wren
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
      • Wren is located in Benton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wren
    • Corvallis
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Blodgett
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
    • Lewisburg
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Lewisburg is located in Benton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lewisburg
    • Summit
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Summit is located in Benton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Summit
    • Adair Village
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
      • Adair Village is located in Benton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Adair Village
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 872 people
  • Lane County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Dawson, with the one closest to Dawson listed first.
    • Blachly
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Cheshire
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Franklin
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
      • Franklin is located in Lane County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Franklin
    • Junction City
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Alvadore
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Alpha
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
      • Alpha is located in Lane County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alpha
    • Elmira
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
    • Fern Ridge Shores
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
      • Fern Ridge Shores is located in Lane County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fern Ridge Shores
    • Noti
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
    • Long Tom
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
      • Long Tom is located in Lane County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Long Tom
    • Veneta
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
    • Santa Clara
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Santa Clara is located in Lane County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Santa Clara
  • Lincoln County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Dawson, with the one closest to Dawson listed first.
    • Tidewater
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
    • Westwood Village
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
      • Westwood Village is located in Lincoln County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Westwood Village
    • Eddyville
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Elk City
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Elk City is located in Lincoln County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elk City
    • Pioneer City ‑ Historic
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Pioneer City is located in Lincoln County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pioneer City
  • Linn County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Dawson, with the one closest to Dawson listed first.
    • Harrisburg
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Halsey
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
    • Oakville
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Oakville is located in Linn County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oakville
    • Shedd
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Boston ‑ Historic
      (17 miles [27.4 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
    • Tangent
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Brownsville
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
    • Albany
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Irvinville
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Irvinville is located in Linn County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Irvinville
    • Crawfordsville
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
    • Draperville
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Draperville is located in Linn County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Draperville
    • Lebanon
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
  • Polk County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Dawson, with the one closest to Dawson listed first.
    • Airlie
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
      • Airlie is located in Polk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Airlie
    • Lewisville
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
      • Lewisville is located in Polk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lewisville
    • Buena Vista
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Buena Vista is located in Polk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Buena Vista

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

Cemeteries Near Dawson ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Dawson.

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

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

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

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

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

  • Monroe
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Alsea
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
  • Peoria
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Peoria is located in Linn County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Peoria
  • Philomath
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
  • Harrisburg
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
  • Franklin
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
    • Franklin is located in Lane County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Franklin
  • Junction City
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
  • Halsey
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
  • Wren
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
    • Wren is located in Benton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wren
  • Oakville
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Oakville is located in Linn County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oakville
  • Harris
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
    • Harris is located in Benton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harris
  • Shedd
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Continue List   (13 more) ...
    • Corvallis
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Blodgett
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
    • Rowland
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
      • Rowland is located in Linn County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rowland

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

Newspapers Published in Dawson ...

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 75 newspapers that have been published in the area around Dawson.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Dawson, there are papers which were published within 27 miles [43.5 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Dawson.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we start with the websites from Cyndi's List, FamilySearch and Genealogy Trails. These professional and volunteer 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 Dawson:

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 Dawson, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or 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- Dawson) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.