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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 Elk Lake (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 Elk Lake. 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 Elk Lake ...

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 have occurred.

For example, a typical abbreviation for Elk Lake: Elk Lk.

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 northwest corner of their home county. During their lives, most hospitals and doctors were in the next county to the west. 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 west 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.

Elk Lake is located in Deschutes County.

To see how the shape of Oregon's counties have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Deschutes County: Crook, Harney, Jefferson, Klamath, Lake, Lane & Linn.

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

  • Deschutes County     (The home county of Elk Lake)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Elk Lake, with the one closest to Elk Lake listed first.
    • Sunriver
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
    • Three Rivers
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Three Rivers have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Three Rivers
      • Three Rivers is located in Deschutes County
    • Deschutes River Woods
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Deschutes River Woods have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Deschutes River Woods
      • Deschutes River Woods is located in Deschutes County
    • Sisters
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Bend
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bend
      • Bend is located in Deschutes County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 101,886 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Bend <1>
    • Tumalo
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tumalo
      • Tumalo is located in Deschutes County
    • La Pine
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Black Butte Ranch
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
  • Lane County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Elk Lake, with the one closest to Elk Lake listed first.
    • Belknap Springs
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Belknap Springs
      • Belknap Springs is located in Lane County
    • McKenzie Bridge
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Blue River
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Finn Rock
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)

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

Newspapers Published in Elk Lake ...

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 16 newspapers that have been published in the area around Elk Lake.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Elk Lake, 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 Elk Lake.

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 Elk Lake:

Cemeteries Near Elk Lake ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Elk Lake.

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.

If you need information about a burial or interment, photos, transcripts, how to contact the cemetery or local authorities, please visit our selection of Genealogy Websites (see below).

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

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

  • Billy Quinn Gravesite
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Billy Quinn Gravesite have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Billy Quinn Gravesite
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #38582 <4>
  • Craig Grave
    (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Craig Grave have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Craig Grave
  • Harper Cemetery
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Harper Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • The Harper Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Allen Ranch Cemetery
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Harper Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #38870 <4>
  • Breese Cemetery
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
  • Masten Cemetery
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Masten Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Masten Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #39104 <4>
  • Greenwood Cemetery
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
  • Pilot Butte Cemetery
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
  • Improved Order of Redmen Cemetery
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Improved Order of Redmen Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Improved Order of Redmen Cemetery
  • LaPine Community Cemetery
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
  • Deschutes Memorial Gardens
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
  • Tumalo Cemetery
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Tumalo Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • The Tumalo Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Laidlaw Cemetery
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Tumalo Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #39502 <4>
  • Camp Polk Cemetery
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)

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.<5>

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

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

  • Belknap Springs
    (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Belknap Springs
    • Belknap Springs is located in Lane County
  • Foley Springs
    (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Foley Springs have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Foley Springs
    • Foley Springs is located in Lane County
  • Blue River
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)

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

Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Elk Lake. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.

The official website for Deschutes County: www.co.deschutes.or.us/

The official website for State of Oregon: https://www.oregon.gov/

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 location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required.
<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- Elk Lake) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Elk Lake. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 43.9815, Longitude: -121.8059       In this case, the coordinates for Elk Lake have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<4>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.
<5>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 Elk Lake, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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In closing, please keep in mind that we can not guarantee the accuracy or timeliness of the information on this website, so use with care. We encourage you to double-check the information that is critical to you.

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024