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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 North Powder (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 North Powder. 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.

Name Variations for North Powder ...

When searching records, keep in mind that names and their spelling can change over time. Our sources include documents like maps, railroad schedules, Travel, Express and Shipping Guides. Many of these documents date from the 1800's and it's common to find spelling differences.

For example, a typical abbreviation for North Powder: N. Powder

If you have information about these names (such as the reason for the change, date of change, the origin of the name), please Contact Us.

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 doctors and 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.

North Powder 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 North Powder. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to North Powder:

  • Union County     (The home county of North Powder)
    • The following are listed by their distance from North Powder, with the one closest to North Powder listed first.
    • Union
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
    • Medical Springs
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
      • Medical Springs is located in Union County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Medical Springs
    • Hot Lake
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
      • Hot Lake is located in Union County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hot Lake
    • Cove
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
    • La Grande
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
    • Island City
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
      • Island City is located in Union County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Island City
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,024 people
    • Conley
      (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
      • Conley is located in Union County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Conley
    • Orodell ‑ Historic
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
      • Orodell is located in Union County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Orodell
    • Hilgard
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Hilgard is located in Union County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hilgard
    • Starkey
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Imbler
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
  • Baker County
    • The following are listed by their distance from North Powder, with the one closest to North Powder listed first.
    • Hutchinson ‑ Historic
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
      • Hutchinson is located in Baker County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hutchinson
    • Haines
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Pocahontas ‑ Historic
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
      • Pocahontas is located in Baker County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pocahontas
    • Baker City
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
      • 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>
    • Keating
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
      • Keating is located in Baker County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Keating
    • Bourne
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
      • Bourne is located in Baker County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bourne
    • Auburn ‑ Historic
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
      • Auburn is located in Baker County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Auburn
    • Sumpter
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
  • Grant County
    • The following are listed by their distance from North Powder, with the one closest to North Powder listed first.
    • Cabell City
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
      • Cabell City is located in Grant County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cabell City
    • Granite
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Granite is located in Grant County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Granite
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 36 people

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

Cemeteries Near North Powder ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of North Powder.

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 North Powder - one of the links might be able to help.

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

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

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>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that North Powder had a population of 185 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, North Powder had a population of 458 people.

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

  • Telocaset
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Telocaset is located in Union County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Telocaset
  • Haines
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
  • Union
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
  • Medical Springs
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
    • Medical Springs is located in Union County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Medical Springs
  • Hot Lake
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
    • Hot Lake is located in Union County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hot Lake
  • Baker City
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
    • 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>
  • Cove
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
  • La Grande
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
  • Island City
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
    • Island City is located in Union County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Island City
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,024 people
  • Auburn ‑ Historic
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
    • Auburn is located in Baker County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Auburn
  • Sumpter
    (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
  • Encina
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Encina is located in Baker County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Encina
  • Continue List   (8 more) ...
    • Perry
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Perry is located in Union County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Perry
    • Alicel
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
      • Alicel is located in Union County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alicel
    • Hilgard
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Hilgard is located in Union County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hilgard

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of North Powder ...

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 34 newspapers that have been published in the area around North Powder.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of North Powder. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of North Powder and those printed in the larger area surrounding North Powder.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 23 miles [37 km]<3> of North Powder.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we start 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 North Powder:

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 '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- North Powder) 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 North Powder, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.