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 Nelson (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 Nelson. 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.
Nelson is located in Baker 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 Baker County: Adams (ID), Grant, Malheur, Union, Wallowa & Washington.
Below are the counties that are near Nelson. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Nelson:
- Baker County (The home county of Nelson)
- The following are listed by their distance from Nelson, with the one closest to Nelson listed first.
- Durkee
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
- Weatherby
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
- Weatherby is located in Baker County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Weatherby
- Rye Valley
(5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
- Rye Valley is located in Baker County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rye Valley
- Lime ‑ Historic
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
- Lime is located in Baker County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lime
- China Town
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
- China Town is located in Baker County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for China Town
- Huntington
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
- Bridgeport
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
- Richland
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
- New Bridge
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
- New Bridge is located in Baker County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Bridge
- Sparta ‑ Historic
(23 miles [37 km] to the north)
- Sparta is located in Baker County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sparta
- Keating
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
- Keating is located in Baker County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Keating
- Robinette ‑ Historic
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
- Robinette is located in Baker County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Robinette
- Baker City
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
- Baker City is located in Baker County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Baker City
- Population from the 2020 Census: 9,876 people
- Baker City has also been known as:
- Baker
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Baker City <1>
- Malheur County
- The following are listed by their distance from Nelson, with the one closest to Nelson listed first.
- Malheur City ‑ Historic
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
- Malheur City is located in Malheur County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Malheur City
- Brogan
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
- Jamieson
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
- Ironside
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
- Washington County (ID)
- The following are listed by their distance from Nelson, with the one closest to Nelson listed first.
- Eaton
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
- Eaton is located in Washington County (ID)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eaton
- Weiser
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
- Weiser is located in Washington County (ID)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Weiser
- Population from the 2020 Census: 5,463 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Weiser <1>
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Nelson, see our County-by-County Page for Nelson.
Cemeteries Near Nelson ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Nelson.
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 Nelson - one of the links might be able to help.
If not found below, our Cemetery List for Nelson covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Nelson, with the one closest to Nelson listed first.
- Rye Valley Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rye Valley Cemetery
- To give a relative sense of its location, the Rye Valley Cemetery is located outside and to the east of Rye Valley.
- The Rye Valley Cemetery has also been known as:
- Rye Valley Road Cemetery
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #39369 <2>
- Durkee Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
- Lime - Dixie Cemetery
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
- Hibbard Creek Cemetery
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hibbard Creek Cemetery
- To give a relative sense of its location, the Hibbard Creek Cemetery is located 8 miles [12.9 km]<3> to the east of Weatherby.
- The Hibbard Creek Cemetery has also been known as:
- Hibbard Creek Pioneer Cemetery
- Home Cemetery
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2171605 <2>
- Clarksville Cemetery
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
- Pleasant Valley Cemetery
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Valley Cemetery
- To give a relative sense of its location, the Pleasant Valley Cemetery is located 11 miles [17.7 km]<3> to the southeast of Baker City.
- The Pleasant Valley Cemetery has also been known as:
- Alder Creek Cemetery
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2252750 <2>
- Pioneer Cemetery
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
- Old Oregon Trail Cemetery
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
- Bridgeport Cemetery
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
- Van Ornum Massacre Site
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
- Malheur Cemetery
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
- Eagle Valley Cemetery
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
- Continue List (14 more) ...
- Love Family Cemetery
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
- Brogan Cemetery
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
- Goose Creek Cemetery
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Goose Creek Cemetery
- The Goose Creek Cemetery has also been known as:
- Keating Cemetery
- Lower Powder 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 Nelson in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Nelson.
These communities are listed based on their distance from Nelson, with the one closest to Nelson listed first.
- Weatherby
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
- Weatherby is located in Baker County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Weatherby
- Durkee
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
- Conner Creek ‑ Historic
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
- Conner Creek is located in Baker County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Conner Creek
- Pleasant Valley
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
- Pleasant Valley is located in Baker County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Valley
- Huntington
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
- Bridgeport
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
- Mineral
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
- Mineral is located in Washington County (ID)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mineral
- Malheur City ‑ Historic
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
- Malheur City is located in Malheur County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Malheur City
- Encina
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
- Encina is located in Baker County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Encina
- Continue List (6 more) ...
- Dell ‑ Historic
(23 miles [37 km] to the south)
- Dell is located in Malheur County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dell
- Sparta ‑ Historic
(23 miles [37 km] to the north)
- Sparta is located in Baker County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sparta
- Baker City
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
- Baker City is located in Baker County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Baker City
- Population from the 2020 Census: 9,876 people
- Baker City has also been known as:
- Baker
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Baker City <1>
- Auburn ‑ Historic
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
- Auburn is located in Baker County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Auburn
- Ironside
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
- Weiser
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
- Weiser is located in Washington County (ID)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Weiser
- Population from the 2020 Census: 5,463 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Weiser <1>
We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Nelson. See our List of 1890's Communities around Nelson.
Newspapers Published in Nelson ...
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 39 newspapers that have been published in the area around Nelson.
Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Nelson, there are papers which were published within 29 miles [46.7 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Nelson.
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 websites either 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 Nelson:
- Websites specific to Oregon
- Pages specific to Baker County
- Genealogy information for nearby counties
- Malheur County
- Washington County
- Cemetery Information and Directories for Oregon
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> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Nelson) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |
| <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 Nelson, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |