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 (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. 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 southwest corner of their home county. During their lives, most hospitals 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 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. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Ontario:
- Malheur County (The home county of Ontario)
- The following are listed by their distance from Ontario, with the one closest to Ontario listed first.
- Nyssa
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
- Vale
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
- Owyhee
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
- Owyhee is located in Malheur County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Owyhee
- Adrian
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
- Jamieson
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
- Brogan
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
- Baker County
- Huntington
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
- Canyon County (ID)
- The following are listed by their distance from Ontario, with the one closest to Ontario listed first.
- Apple Valley
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
- Apple Valley is located in Canyon County (ID)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Apple Valley
- Parma
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
- Sand Hollow
(18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
- Sand Hollow is located in Canyon County (ID)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sand Hollow
- Roswell
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
- Roswell is located in Canyon County (ID)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roswell
- Notus
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
- Wilder
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
- Greenleaf
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
- Weitz
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
- Weitz is located in Canyon County (ID)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Weitz
- Caldwell
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
- Middleton
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
- Huston
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
- Gem County (ID)
- The following are listed by their distance from Ontario, with the one closest to Ontario listed first.
- Letha
(18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
- Bramwell
(23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
- Bramwell is located in Gem County (ID)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bramwell
- Emmett
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
- Owyhee County (ID)
- Homedale
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
- Payette County (ID)
- The following are listed by their distance from Ontario, with the one closest to Ontario listed first.
- Fruitland
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
- Washoe
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
- Washoe is located in Payette County (ID)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Washoe
- Payette
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
- Buckingham
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
- Buckingham is located in Payette County (ID)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Buckingham
- New Plymouth
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
- Washington County (ID)
- The following are listed by their distance from Ontario, with the one closest to Ontario listed first.
- Weiser
(15 miles [24.1 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
(18 miles [29 km] to the north)
- Eaton is located in Washington County (ID)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eaton
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Ontario, see our County-by-County Page for Ontario.
Cemeteries Near Ontario ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Ontario.
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 - one of the links might be able to help.
If not found below, our Cemetery List for Ontario covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Ontario, with the one closest to Ontario listed first.
- St. Johns Cemetery
(Less than 2 miles to the west)
- Evergreen Cemetery
(Less than 2 miles to the south)
- Washoe Cemetery
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
- Riverside Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the north)
- 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>
- Parkview Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
- Kennedy Cemetery
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
- Nyssa Cemetery
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
- Falk Cemetery
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
- Fairview Cemetery
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
- Pioneer Cemetery
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
- Valley View Cemetery
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
- Galloway Cemetery
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
- Continue List (18 more) ...
- Owyhee Cemetery
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
- Parma Cemetery
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
- Hillcrest Cemetery
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
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>
The Rand McNally Atlas shows that in 1895, Ontario had a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Ontario had a population of 11,140 people.
These communities are listed based on their distance from Ontario, with the one closest to Ontario listed first.
- Payette
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
- Nyssa
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
- Vale
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
- Weiser
(15 miles [24.1 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>
- Owyhee
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
- Owyhee is located in Malheur County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Owyhee
- Parma
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
- Notus
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
- Huntington
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
- Dell ‑ Historic
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
- Dell is located in Malheur County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dell
- Caldwell
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
- Middleton
(28 miles [45.1 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. See our List of 1890's Communities around Ontario.
Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Ontario ...
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 65 newspapers that have been published in the area around Ontario.
We have organized these newspapers into two lists:
- A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Ontario. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Ontario and those printed in the larger area surrounding Ontario.
- An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 28 miles [45.1 km]<4> of Ontario.
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 Ontario:
- Websites specific to Oregon
- Pages specific to Malheur County
- Genealogy information for nearby counties
- Baker County
- Canyon County
- Gem County
- Owyhee 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, 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 drawn from Point A (ie- Ontario) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |