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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 Porter Creek (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 Porter Creek. 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 Porter Creek ...

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 have occurred.

For example, a typical abbreviation for Porter Creek: Porter Crk. (or less commonly used: Porter Ck. or Porter Cr.)

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.

Porter Creek is located in Douglas 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 Douglas County: Coos, Curry, Jackson, Josephine, Klamath & Lane.

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

  • Douglas County     (The home county of Porter Creek)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Porter Creek, with the one closest to Porter Creek listed first.
    • Tenmile
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Brockway
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Brockway. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brockway
      • Brockway is located in Douglas County
    • Dillard
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Winston
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Winston have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Winston
      • Winston is located in Douglas County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 5,541 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Winston <1>
    • Lookingglass
      (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lookingglass
      • Lookingglass is located in Douglas County
    • Green
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Green. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green
      • Green is located in Douglas County
    • Melrose
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Melrose
      • Melrose is located in Douglas County
    • Camas Valley
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Roseburg
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Cleveland
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Cleveland. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cleveland
      • Cleveland is located in Douglas County
    • Myrtle Creek
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Riddle
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Riddle
      • Riddle is located in Douglas County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,216 people
      • Former names for Riddle:
      • Riddles
      • Riddlesburg
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Riddle <1>
    • Tri City
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Tri City have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tri City
      • Tri City is located in Douglas County
  • Coos County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Porter Creek, with the one closest to Porter Creek listed first.
    • Remote
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
    • Dora
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Dora. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dora
      • Dora is located in Coos County
    • Bridge
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bridge
      • Bridge is located in Coos County
    • Bancroft
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Bancroft. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bancroft
      • Bancroft is located in Coos County
    • Gravelford
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gravelford
      • Gravelford is located in Coos County
  • Josephine County

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

Cemeteries Near Porter Creek ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Porter Creek.

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

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

  • McGuire Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the McGuire Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the McGuire Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Tenmile Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Tenmile Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Tenmile Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • McCulloch Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the McCulloch Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the McCulloch Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Cox Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Cox Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Cox Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Civil Bend Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
  • Lookingglass Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Lookingglass Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Lookingglass Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Willis Creek Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Willis Creek Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Willis Creek Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Thrush Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Thrush Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Thrush Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Patterson Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Patterson Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Patterson Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Burnett Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Burnett Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Burnett Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Noah Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Noah Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Noah Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Murray Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Murray Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Murray Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (59 more) ...
    • Martindale Cemetery
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Melrose Cemetery
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Roseburg National Cemetery
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Roseburg National Cemetery
      • To give a relative sense of its location, the Roseburg National Cemetery is located in Roseburg.
      • The Roseburg National Cemetery has also been known as:
      • Roseburg Veterans Cemetery
      • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #39362 <4>

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.<5>

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

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

  • Tenmile
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
  • Olalla
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Olalla have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Olalla
    • Olalla is located in Douglas County
  • Brockway
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Brockway. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brockway
    • Brockway is located in Douglas County
  • Lookingglass
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lookingglass
    • Lookingglass is located in Douglas County
  • Reston
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Reston have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Reston
    • Reston is located in Douglas County
  • Green
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Green. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green
    • Green is located in Douglas County
  • Camas Valley
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
  • Ruckles
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ruckles have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ruckles
    • Ruckles is located in Douglas County
  • Melrose
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Melrose
    • Melrose is located in Douglas County
  • Roseburg
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Riddle
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Riddle
    • Riddle is located in Douglas County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,216 people
    • Former names for Riddle:
    • Riddles
    • Riddlesburg
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Riddle <1>
  • Myrtle Creek
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
  • Continue List   (13 more) ...
    • Cleveland
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Cleveland. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cleveland
      • Cleveland is located in Douglas County
    • Winchester
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Wilbur
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)

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

Newspapers Published in Porter Creek ...

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 40 newspapers that have been published in the area around Porter Creek.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Porter Creek, there are papers which were published within 24 miles [38.6 km]<6>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Porter Creek.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we first turn to the websites from Cyndi's List, FamilySearch and Genealogy Trails. These helpful 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 Porter Creek:

Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Porter Creek. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.

The official website for Douglas County: www.co.douglas.or.us/

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

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>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.
<3>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.
<4>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.
<5>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 Porter Creek, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<6>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- Porter Creek) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Porter Creek. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 43.1109, Longitude: -123.5220       In this case, the coordinates for Porter Creek have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 29 Apr 2025