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A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
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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 Kamela (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 Kamela. 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 northwest corner of their home county. During their lives, most 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.

Kamela is located in Union 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 Union County: Baker, Grant, Umatilla & Wallowa.

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

  • Union County     (The home county of Kamela)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Kamela, with the one closest to Kamela listed first.
    • Hilgard
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Hilgard is located in Union County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hilgard
    • Starkey
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
    • Orodell ‑ Historic
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Orodell is located in Union County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Orodell
    • La Grande
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Island City
      (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
      • Island City is located in Union County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Island City
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,024 people
    • Conley
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
      • Conley is located in Union County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Conley
    • Summerville
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
    • Imbler
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
    • Elgin
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
      • Elgin is located in Union County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elgin
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,801 people
      • Former names for Elgin:
      • Fish Trap
      • Indian Valley
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Elgin <1>
    • Hot Lake
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
      • Hot Lake is located in Union County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hot Lake
    • Cove
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
    • Union
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Umatilla County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Kamela, with the one closest to Kamela listed first.
    • Meacham
      (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Gibbon
      (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
      • Gibbon is located in Umatilla County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gibbon
    • Cayuse
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
    • Tutuilla
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
      • Tutuilla is located in Umatilla County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tutuilla
    • Kirkpatrick
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Kirkpatrick is located in Umatilla County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kirkpatrick
    • Mission
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Mission is located in Umatilla County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mission
    • Pilot Rock
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
    • Bingham Springs
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
      • Bingham Springs is located in Umatilla County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bingham Springs
    • Havana
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
      • Havana is located in Umatilla County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Havana
    • Riverside
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
      • Riverside is located in Umatilla County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Riverside
    • Lehman Springs
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
      • Lehman Springs is located in Umatilla County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lehman Springs
      • Lehman Springs has also been known as:
      • Lehman Hot Springs
      • Lehman
    • Adams
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
    • Pendleton
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)

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

Cemeteries Near Kamela ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Kamela.

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 Kamela - one of the links might be able to help.

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

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

  • Meacham Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
  • Rugg Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Hilgard Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
  • Starkey Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
  • Hillcrest Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hillcrest Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Hillcrest Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located in La Grande.
    • The Hillcrest Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Masonic Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #38904 <2>
  • Ackles Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
  • Grandview Cemetery
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
  • Calvary Cemetery
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
  • Hillcrest East Cemetery
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
  • St. Andrews Mission Cemetery
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
  • Red Elk Cemetery
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
  • Homeli Cemetery
    (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
  • Continue List   (27 more) ...
    • Island City Cemetery
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
    • Summerville - Imbler Cemetery
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Summerville - Imbler Cemetery
      • To give a relative sense of its location, the Summerville - Imbler Cemetery is located between<3> the communities of Imbler and Summerville.  The cemetery lies less than 2 miles<4> to the southeast of Summerville.
    • Agency Indian Cemetery
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)

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>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that in 1895, Kamela had a post office and railroad service.

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

  • Huron
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Huron is located in Umatilla County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Huron
  • Meacham
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
  • North Fork
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • North Fork is located in Umatilla County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Fork
  • Hilgard
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Hilgard is located in Union County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hilgard
  • Perry
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Perry is located in Union County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Perry
  • Starkey
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
  • La Grande
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Island City
    (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
    • Island City is located in Union County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Island City
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,024 people
  • Cayuse
    (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
  • Gibbon
    (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
    • Gibbon is located in Umatilla County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gibbon
  • Summerville
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
  • Alicel
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
    • Alicel is located in Union County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alicel
  • Continue List   (17 more) ...
    • Imbler
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
    • Mission
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Mission is located in Umatilla County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mission
    • Pilot Rock
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)

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

Newspapers Published in Kamela ...

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 41 newspapers that have been published in the area around Kamela.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Kamela, there are papers which were published within 29 miles [46.7 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Kamela.

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 Kamela:

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>To help visualize the location of the cemetery, we've drawn a straight line between the communities of Imbler and Summerville. The cemetery can be found near that line and roughly halfway between the two communities. Remember that this is just an approximate location.
<4>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 drawn from Point A (ie- Kamela) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Kamela, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.