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 Ontario Heights (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 Ontario Heights. 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 Ontario Heights ...
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.
Although we can't give a definitive list, hopefully the following will give you a feel for the variations that might occur.
For example, a typical abbreviation for Ontario Heights: Ontario Hts. (in Canada, 'Hgts.' is the more common abbreviation.)
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 southwest 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 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 west 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.
Ontario Heights is located in Malheur 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 Malheur County: Canyon (ID), Owyhee (ID), Payette (ID), Washington (ID), Humboldt (NV), Baker, Grant & Harney.
Below are the counties that are near Ontario Heights. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Ontario Heights:
- Malheur County (The home county of Ontario Heights)
- The following are listed by their distance from Ontario Heights, with the one closest to Ontario Heights listed first.
- Ontario
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
- Vale
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
- Nyssa
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
- Owyhee
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
- Owyhee is located in Malheur County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Owyhee
- Jamieson
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
- Adrian
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
- Brogan
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
- Baker County
- The following are listed by their distance from Ontario Heights, with the one closest to Ontario Heights listed first.
- Huntington
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
- Lime ‑ Historic
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
- Lime is located in Baker County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lime
- Canyon County (ID)
- The following are listed by their distance from Ontario Heights, with the one closest to Ontario Heights listed first.
- Apple Valley
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
- Apple Valley is located in Canyon County (ID)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Apple Valley
- Parma
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
- Roswell
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
- Roswell is located in Canyon County (ID)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roswell
- Sand Hollow
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
- Sand Hollow is located in Canyon County (ID)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sand Hollow
- Notus
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
- Wilder
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
- Greenleaf
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
- Weitz
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
- Weitz is located in Canyon County (ID)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Weitz
- Gem County (ID)
- The following are listed by their distance from Ontario Heights, with the one closest to Ontario Heights listed first.
- Letha
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
- Bramwell
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
- Bramwell is located in Gem County (ID)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bramwell
- Emmett
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
- Payette County (ID)
- The following are listed by their distance from Ontario Heights, with the one closest to Ontario Heights listed first.
- Washoe
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
- Washoe is located in Payette County (ID)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Washoe
- Payette
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
- Fruitland
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
- Buckingham
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
- Buckingham is located in Payette County (ID)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Buckingham
- New Plymouth
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
- Washington County (ID)
- The following are listed by their distance from Ontario Heights, with the one closest to Ontario Heights listed first.
- Weiser
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
- 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>
- Eaton
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
- Eaton is located in Washington County (ID)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eaton
- Midvale
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Ontario Heights, see our County-by-County Page for Ontario Heights.
Cemeteries Near Ontario Heights ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Ontario Heights.
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 Ontario Heights - one of the links might be able to help.
If not found below, our Cemetery List for Ontario Heights covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Ontario Heights, with the one closest to Ontario Heights listed first.
- St. Johns Cemetery
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
- Washoe Cemetery
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
- Evergreen Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
- Riverside Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Riverside Cemetery
- To give a relative sense of its location, the Riverside Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located outside and to the north of Payette (ID).
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #80623 <2>
- Fairview Cemetery
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
- Pioneer Cemetery
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
- Parkview Cemetery
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
- Valley View Cemetery
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
- Nyssa Cemetery
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
- Kennedy Cemetery
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
- Galloway Cemetery
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
- Hillcrest Cemetery
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
- Continue List (18 more) ...
- Falk Cemetery
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
- Owyhee Cemetery
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
- Parma Cemetery
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
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.<3>
While we didn't find Ontario Heights in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Ontario Heights.
These communities are listed based on their distance from Ontario Heights, with the one closest to Ontario Heights listed first.
- Ontario
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
- Payette
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
- Vale
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
- Weiser
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
- 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>
- Nyssa
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
- Owyhee
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
- Owyhee is located in Malheur County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Owyhee
- Parma
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
- Huntington
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
- Dell ‑ Historic
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
- Dell is located in Malheur County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dell
- Notus
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Ontario Heights. See our List of 1890's Communities around Ontario Heights.
Newspapers Published in Ontario Heights ...
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 51 newspapers that have been published in the area around Ontario Heights.
Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Ontario Heights, 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 Ontario Heights.
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 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 Ontario Heights:
- Websites specific to Oregon
- Pages specific to Malheur County
- Genealogy information for nearby counties
- Baker County
- Canyon County
- Gem County
- Payette 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> | 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 Ontario Heights, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <4> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Ontario Heights) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |