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Our Genealogy Helper

Introduction ...

So far, we found very little information about Kinzua. The little that we've found leads us believe that the community is historic.<1>

We've added Kinzua to our Gazetteer with the hope that we can develop more information. If you can help us with Kinzua, please Contact Us.

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 Kinzua (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 Kinzua. 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 and hospitals 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.

Although our information shows that the community of Kinzua is historic, it would have been located within present day Wheeler 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 Wheeler County: Crook, Gilliam, Grant, Jefferson & Sherman.

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

  • Wheeler County     (The home county of Kinzua)
  • Gilliam County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Kinzua, with the one closest to Kinzua listed first.
    • Mayville
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Lonerock
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Condon
      (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
    • Clem
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Clem. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clem
      • Clem is located in Gilliam County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Clem
      • From Kinzua to Clem
  • Grant County
  • Jefferson County
  • Morrow County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Kinzua, with the one closest to Kinzua listed first.
    • Eightmile
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Eightmile. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eightmile
      • Eightmile is located in Morrow County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Eightmile
      • From Kinzua to Eightmile
    • Gooseberry
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Gooseberry. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gooseberry
      • Gooseberry is located in Morrow County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Gooseberry
      • From Kinzua to Gooseberry
    • Hardman
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
  • Wasco County

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

Cemeteries Near Kinzua ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Kinzua.

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

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

  • Lost Valley Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Lost Valley Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Lost Valley Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Masonic Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Masonic Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Masonic Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Fossil IOOF Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Fossil IOOF Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Fossil IOOF Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Winlock Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
  • Papersack Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
  • Mayville Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
  • Lonerock Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Lonerock Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Lonerock Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Spray Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Spray Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Spray Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Haystack Cemetery
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Haystack Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Haystack Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • IOOF Cemetery
    (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the IOOF Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the IOOF Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • King of Peace Cemetery
    (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the King of Peace Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the King of Peace Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Masonic Cemetery
    (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Masonic Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Masonic Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (19 more) ...
    • St. Joseph Cemetery
      (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Joseph Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Joseph Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Richmond Cemetery
      (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Richmond Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Richmond Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Clarno Cemetery
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)

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.

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

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

  • Fossil
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
  • Mayville
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Lonerock
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Condon
    (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
  • Igo ‑ Historic
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Igo have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Igo
    • Igo is located in Gilliam County
  • Eightmile
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Eightmile. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eightmile
    • Eightmile is located in Morrow County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Eightmile
    • From Kinzua to Eightmile
  • Hardman
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
  • Gooseberry
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Gooseberry. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gooseberry
    • Gooseberry is located in Morrow County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Gooseberry
    • From Kinzua to Gooseberry

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

Newspapers Published in Kinzua ...

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 10 newspapers that have been published in the area around Kinzua.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Kinzua, there are papers which were published within 29 miles [46.7 km]<5>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Kinzua.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we begin with 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 Kinzua:

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

Footnotes ...

<1>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 Kinzua, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 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.
<5>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Kinzua) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Kinzua. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 44.9895, Longitude: -120.0593    









 

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This page was last modified/updated: 29 Apr 2025