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 Fords Mill (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 Fords Mill. 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 Fords Mill ...
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.
- A typical abbreviation for Fords Mill: Fords Ml. (or less commonly used: Fords Mll.)
- While the name of this community is Fords Mill, be aware that it's the common practice of mapmakers to remove the apostrophe from possessive names<1>. So Fords Mill may originally have been Ford's Mill.
Sometimes the trailing 's' might be dropped altogether, in which case Fords Mill might be written as Ford Mill.
You might be interested in other communities that are also named Fords Mill. More information can be found on our Tidbits & Trivia Page for Fords Mill.
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 southwest corner of their home county. During their lives, most hospitals were in the next county to the west. 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 west 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.
Fords Mill is located in Linn 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 Linn County: Benton, Deschutes, Jefferson, Lane, Marion & Polk.
Below are the counties that are near Fords Mill. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Fords Mill:
- Linn County (The home county of Fords Mill)
- The following are listed by their distance from Fords Mill, with the one closest to Fords Mill listed first.
- Lacomb
(Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
- Lacomb is located in Linn County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lacomb
- Waterloo
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
- Waterloo is located in Linn County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Waterloo
- Population from the 2020 Census: 250 people
- Crabtree
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
- Sodaville
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
- Sodaville is located in Linn County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sodaville
- Population from the 2020 Census: 346 people
- South Lebanon
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
- South Lebanon is located in Linn County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Lebanon
- Lebanon
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
- Foster
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
- Jordan
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
- Jordan is located in Linn County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jordan
- Scio
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
- Sweet Home
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
- Irvinville
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
- Irvinville is located in Linn County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Irvinville
- West Scio
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
- West Scio is located in Linn County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Scio
- Holley
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
- Holley is located in Linn County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holley
- Benton County
- The following are listed by their distance from Fords Mill, with the one closest to Fords Mill listed first.
- North Albany
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
- North Albany is located in Benton County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Albany
- Adair Village
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
- Adair Village is located in Benton County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Adair Village
- Population from the 2020 Census: 872 people
- Lewisburg
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
- Lewisburg is located in Benton County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lewisburg
- Wellsdale
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
- Wellsdale is located in Benton County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wellsdale
- Corvallis
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
- Jennyopolis ‑ Historic
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
- Jennyopolis is located in Benton County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jennyopolis
- Lane County
- The following are listed by their distance from Fords Mill, with the one closest to Fords Mill listed first.
- Mabel
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
- Mabel is located in Lane County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mabel
- Marcola
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
- Vida
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
- Marion County
- The following are listed by their distance from Fords Mill, with the one closest to Fords Mill listed first.
- Mehama
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
- Stayton
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
- West Stayton
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
- Jefferson
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
- Marion
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
- Sublimity
(18 miles [29 km] to the north)
- Santiam City ‑ Historic
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
- Santiam City is located in Marion County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Santiam City
- Aumsville
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
- Silver Falls City
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
- Silver Falls City is located in Marion County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Silver Falls City
- Turner
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
- Drake Crossing
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
- Drake Crossing is located in Marion County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Drake Crossing
- Macleay
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
- Macleay is located in Marion County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Macleay
- Four Corners
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
- Four Corners is located in Marion County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Four Corners
- Polk County
- The following are listed by their distance from Fords Mill, with the one closest to Fords Mill listed first.
- Buena Vista
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
- Buena Vista is located in Polk County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Buena Vista
- Independence
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Fords Mill, see our County-by-County Page for Fords Mill.
Cemeteries Near Fords Mill ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Fords Mill.
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 Fords Mill - one of the links might be able to help.
If not found below, our Cemetery List for Fords Mill covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Fords Mill, with the one closest to Fords Mill listed first.
- Lacomb Cemetery
(Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
- Bellinger Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
- Berlin Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the south)
- Gaines Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
- Providence Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
- Linn Memorial Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
- Klum Cemetery
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
- IOOF Cemetery
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
- Masonic Cemetery
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
- Spring Family Cemetery
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
- James Cemetery
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
- Pioneer Cemetery
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
- Continue List (120 more) ...
- Liberty Cemetery
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
- Lewis Cemetery
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
- Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Cemetery
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
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 Fords Mill in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Fords Mill.
These communities are listed based on their distance from Fords Mill, with the one closest to Fords Mill listed first.
- Lacomb
(Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
- Lacomb is located in Linn County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lacomb
- Waterloo
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
- Waterloo is located in Linn County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Waterloo
- Population from the 2020 Census: 250 people
- Lebanon
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
- Sodaville
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
- Sodaville is located in Linn County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sodaville
- Population from the 2020 Census: 346 people
- Crabtree
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
- Sweet Home
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
- Scio
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
- Jordan
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
- Jordan is located in Linn County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jordan
- Spicer
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
- Spicer is located in Linn County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spicer
- Irvinville
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
- Irvinville is located in Linn County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Irvinville
- West Scio
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
- West Scio is located in Linn County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Scio
- Tallman
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
- Tallman is located in Linn County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tallman
- Continue List (15 more) ...
- Shelburn ‑ Historic
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
- Shelburn is located in Linn County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shelburn
- Holley
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
- Holley is located in Linn County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holley
- Plainview
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
- Plainview is located in Linn County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plainview
We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Fords Mill. See our List of 1890's Communities around Fords Mill.
Newspapers Published in Fords Mill ...
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 88 newspapers that have been published in the area around Fords Mill.
Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Fords Mill, 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 Fords Mill.
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 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 Fords Mill:
- Websites specific to Oregon
- Pages specific to Linn County
- Genealogy information for nearby counties
- Benton County
- Lane County
- Marion County
- Polk County
- Cemetery Information and Directories for Oregon
Footnotes ...
| <1> | It's generally believed that possessive apostrophes are removed to prevent confusion on maps where the apostrophe may be confused with a cartographic symbol. While this is generally true, it's not uncommon to find possessive apostrophes in administrative names (such as towns or counties). |
| <2> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <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 Fords Mill, 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' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Fords Mill) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |