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The Commemorative Quarter for Oregon





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 Harper (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 Harper. 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 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.

Harper is located in Malheur 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 Malheur County: Canyon (ID), Owyhee (ID), Payette (ID), Washington (ID), Humboldt (NV), Baker, Grant & Harney.

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

  • Malheur County     (The home county of Harper)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Harper, with the one closest to Harper listed first.
    • Westfall ‑ Historic
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Westfall
      • Westfall is located in Malheur County
    • Vale
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vale
      • Vale is located in Malheur County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,806 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Vale <1>
    • Jamieson
      (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
    • Juntura
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
    • Brogan
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
    • Adrian
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Adrian have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Adrian
      • Adrian is located in Malheur County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 175 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Adrian <1>
    • Owyhee
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Owyhee have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Owyhee
      • Owyhee is located in Malheur County
    • Nyssa
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Nyssa have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nyssa
      • Nyssa is located in Malheur County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,231 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Nyssa <1>
  • Canyon County (ID)
    • Apple Valley
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Apple Valley
      • Apple Valley is located in Canyon County (ID)

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

Newspapers Published in Harper ...

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 9 newspapers that have been published in the area around Harper.

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

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 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 Harper:

Cemeteries Near Harper ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Harper.

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 Harper covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.

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

  • Harper Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • 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.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Harper Cemetery
  • Westfall Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Westfall Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Westfall Cemetery
  • Pioneer Cemetery
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Pioneer Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Pioneer Cemetery
  • Valley View Cemetery
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Valley View Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Valley View Cemetery
  • Dell Cemetery
    (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Dell Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Dell Cemetery
  • Juntura Cemetery
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Juntura Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Juntura Cemetery
  • Littlefield Cemetery
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Littlefield Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Littlefield Cemetery
  • Owyhee Cemetery
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Owyhee Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Owyhee Cemetery
  • Brogan Cemetery
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Brogan Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Brogan Cemetery
  • Agency Valley Cemetery
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Agency Valley Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Agency Valley Cemetery
  • Nyssa Cemetery
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Nyssa Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Nyssa Cemetery

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

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

  • Westfall ‑ Historic
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Westfall
    • Westfall is located in Malheur County
  • Vale
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vale
    • Vale is located in Malheur County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,806 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Vale <1>
  • Juntura
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
  • Dell ‑ Historic
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Dell have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dell
    • Dell is located in Malheur County
  • Beulah
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Beulah have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beulah
    • Beulah is located in Malheur County
  • Owyhee
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Owyhee have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Owyhee
    • Owyhee is located in Malheur County

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

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

The official website for Malheur County: www.malheurco.org/

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 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Harper) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Harper. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 43.8634, Longitude: -117.6108    
<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 Harper, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024