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 Galena (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 Galena. 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 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 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.
Galena is located in Grant 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 Grant County: Baker, Crook, Harney, Malheur, Morrow, Umatilla, Union & Wheeler.
Below are the counties that are near Galena. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Galena:
- Grant County (The home county of Galena)
- The following are listed by their distance from Galena, with the one closest to Galena listed first.
- Susanville ‑ Historic
(Less than 2 miles to the east)
- Long Creek
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
- Fox
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
- Prairie City
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Prairie City have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prairie City
- Prairie City is located in Grant County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 872 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Prairie City <1>
- Austin
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
- Bates
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
- Granite
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
- Dale
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
- Ritter
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
- John Day
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
- Canyon City
(23 miles [37 km] to the south)
- Mount Vernon
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
- Hamilton
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
- Baker County
- The following are listed by their distance from Galena, with the one closest to Galena listed first.
- Greenhorn
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
- Whitney ‑ Historic
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
- Sumpter
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
- Umatilla County
- Ukiah
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ukiah have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ukiah
- Ukiah is located in Umatilla County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 194 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Ukiah <1>
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Galena, see our County-by-County Page for Galena.
Cemeteries Near Galena ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Galena.
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 Galena covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Galena, with the one closest to Galena listed first.
- Galena Cemetery
(Less than 2 miles to the east)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Galena Cemetery
- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Galena Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Willow Creek Cemetery
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Willow Creek Cemetery
- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Willow Creek Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Long Creek Cemetery
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Long Creek Cemetery
- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Long Creek Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Greenhorn Cemetery
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Greenhorn Cemetery
- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Greenhorn Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #38846 <4>
- Fox Valley Cemetery
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Fox Valley Cemetery
- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Fox Valley Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- McHaley Cemetery
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the McHaley Cemetery
- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the McHaley Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Prairie City Cemetery
(18 miles [29 km] to the south)
- Granite Cemetery
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
- Dickerson Ranch Cemetery
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Dickerson Ranch Cemetery
- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Dickerson Ranch Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Rest Lawn Cemetery
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
- Ritter Cemetery
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Ritter Cemetery
- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Ritter Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- St. Andrews Cemetery
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Andrews Cemetery
- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Andrews Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Continue List (11 more) ...
- Boot Hill Cemetery
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Boot Hill Cemetery
- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Boot Hill Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Canyon City Cemetery
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Canyon City Cemetery
- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Canyon City Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Ingle Cemetery
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Ingle Cemetery
- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Ingle Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
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 Galena in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Galena.
These communities are listed based on their distance from Galena, with the one closest to Galena listed first.
- Susanville ‑ Historic
(Less than 2 miles to the east)
- Long Creek
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
- Fox
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
- Prairie City
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Prairie City have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prairie City
- Prairie City is located in Grant County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 872 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Prairie City <1>
- Austin
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
- Granite
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
- Ritter
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
- John Day
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
- Canyon City
(23 miles [37 km] to the south)
- Mount Vernon
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
- Hamilton
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
- Ukiah
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ukiah have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ukiah
- Ukiah is located in Umatilla County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 194 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Ukiah <1>
We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Galena. See our List of 1890's Communities around Galena.
Newspapers Published in Galena ...
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 19 newspapers that have been published in the area around Galena.
Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Galena, there are papers which were published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<6>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Galena.
Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...
When we do our genealogical research, we first turn to 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 Galena:
- Websites specific to Oregon
- Pages specific to Grant County
- Genealogy information for nearby counties
- Baker County
- Umatilla County
- Cemetery Information and Directories for Oregon
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Galena. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
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> | An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace. |
<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 Galena, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
<6> | 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 drawn from Point A (ie- Galena) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Galena. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 44.7107, Longitude: -118.8154 |