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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 Drift Creek (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 Drift Creek. 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 Drift Creek ...

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.

For example, a typical abbreviation for Drift Creek: Drift Crk. (or less commonly used: Drift Ck. or Drift Cr.)

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 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.

Drift Creek is located in Lincoln 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 Lincoln County: Benton, Lane, Polk & Tillamook.

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

  • Lincoln County     (The home county of Drift Creek)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Drift Creek, with the one closest to Drift Creek listed first.
    • Westwood Village
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
      • Westwood Village is located in Lincoln County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Westwood Village
    • Waldport
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Tidewater
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Tillicum Beach
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
      • Tillicum Beach is located in Lincoln County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tillicum Beach
    • Seal Rock
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Yachats
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Yaquina
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
      • Yaquina is located in Lincoln County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Yaquina
      • Yaquina has also been known as:
      • Yaquina City
    • South Beach
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
    • Toledo
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
    • Elk City
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
      • Elk City is located in Lincoln County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elk City
    • Newport
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
    • Newport Heights
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
      • Newport Heights is located in Lincoln County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Newport Heights
    • Pioneer City ‑ Historic
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
      • Pioneer City is located in Lincoln County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pioneer City
  • Benton County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Drift Creek, with the one closest to Drift Creek listed first.
    • Alsea
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
    • Summit
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Summit is located in Benton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Summit
    • Blodgett
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Wren
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Wren is located in Benton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wren
  • Lane County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Drift Creek, with the one closest to Drift Creek listed first.
    • Alpha
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Alpha is located in Lane County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alpha
    • Deadwood
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Mapleton
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
    • Swisshome
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
    • Blachly
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Point Terrace
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
      • Point Terrace is located in Lane County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Point Terrace
    • Florence
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)

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

Cemeteries Near Drift Creek ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Drift Creek.

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 Drift Creek - one of the links might be able to help.

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

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

  • Alder Grove Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
  • Memorial Home Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
  • Tidewater Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
  • Fern Ridge Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
  • Yachats Memorial Park
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
  • Carson Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
  • Glenwood Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
  • Madera Grave
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
  • Bray Family Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bray Family Cemetery
    • The Bray Family Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Stonefield Beach Cemetery
  • Toledo Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Toledo Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Toledo Cemetery is located outside and to the north of Toledo.
  • Eureka Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
  • Lone Fir Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Continue List   (28 more) ...
    • Elk City Cemetery
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
    • Harlan Cemetery
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Lobster Valley Cemetery
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lobster Valley Cemetery
      • To give a relative sense of its location, the Lobster Valley Cemetery is located 6 miles [9.7 km]<3> to the southwest of Alsea.
      • The Lobster Valley Cemetery has also been known as:
      • Charles Hendrix Memorial Gardens
      • Hendrix - Lobster Valley Cemetery
      • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2246942 <2>

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

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

  • Yaquina
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
    • Yaquina is located in Lincoln County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Yaquina
    • Yaquina has also been known as:
    • Yaquina City
  • Alsea
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
  • Alpha
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Alpha is located in Lane County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alpha
  • Deadwood
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
  • Summit
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Summit is located in Benton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Summit
  • Siuslaw ‑ Historic
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
    • Siuslaw is located in Lane County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Siuslaw
  • Blodgett
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
  • Point Terrace
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
    • Point Terrace is located in Lane County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Point Terrace
  • Harris
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Harris is located in Benton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harris

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

Newspapers Published in Drift Creek ...

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 37 newspapers that have been published in the area around Drift Creek.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Drift Creek, there are papers which were published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Drift Creek.

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 helpful 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 Drift Creek:

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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Drift Creek) 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 Drift Creek, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.