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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 Prairie City (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 Prairie City. 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 northeast 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 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 east 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.

Prairie City is located in Grant 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 Grant County: Baker, Crook, Harney, Malheur, Morrow, Umatilla, Union & Wheeler.

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

  • Grant County     (The home county of Prairie City)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Prairie City, with the one closest to Prairie City listed first.
    • Canyon City
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
    • John Day
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
    • Bates
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Austin
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Austin
      • Austin is located in Grant County
    • Galena
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Galena
      • Galena is located in Grant County
    • Susanville ‑ Historic
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Susanville
      • Susanville is located in Grant County
    • Mount Vernon
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
    • Fox
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Long Creek
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Seneca
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Seneca have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Seneca
      • Seneca is located in Grant County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 225 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Seneca <1>
    • Granite
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Granite
      • Granite is located in Grant County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 36 people
  • Baker County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Prairie City, with the one closest to Prairie City listed first.
    • Greenhorn
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenhorn
      • Greenhorn is located in Baker County
    • Whitney ‑ Historic
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Whitney
      • Whitney is located in Baker County
    • Unity
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Unity have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Unity
      • Unity is located in Baker County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 71 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Unity <1>

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

Cemeteries Near Prairie City ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Prairie City.

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 Prairie City covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.

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

  • Prairie City Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
  • McHaley Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the McHaley Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the McHaley Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Rest Lawn Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
  • Boot Hill Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Boot Hill Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Boot Hill Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Canyon City Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Canyon City Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Canyon City Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • St. Andrews Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Andrews Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Andrews Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Galena Cemetery
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Galena Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Galena Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Ingle Cemetery
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Ingle Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Ingle Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Fletcher Cemetery
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Fletcher Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Fletcher Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Greenhorn Cemetery
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Greenhorn Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Greenhorn Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #38846 <3>
  • Hester A. Lemons Grave
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Hester A. Lemons Grave
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Hester A. Lemons Grave is located outside and to the west of Mount Vernon.
  • Southworth Cemetery
    (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Southworth Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Southworth Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (9 more) ...
    • Unity Cemetery
      (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Unity Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Unity Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #39517 <3>
    • Fox Valley Cemetery
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Fox Valley Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Fox Valley Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Whitney Cemetery
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Whitney Cemetery
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for the Whitney Cemetery. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<4>
      • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2246786 <3>

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>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Prairie City had a population of 222 people in 1895 with a post office and no railroad service. In 2020, Prairie City had a population of 872 people.

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

  • John Day
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
  • Canyon City
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Austin
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Austin
    • Austin is located in Grant County
  • Susanville ‑ Historic
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Susanville
    • Susanville is located in Grant County
  • Mount Vernon
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
  • Fox
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
  • Unity
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Unity have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Unity
    • Unity is located in Baker County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 71 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Unity <1>
  • Long Creek
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
  • Granite
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Granite
    • Granite is located in Grant County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 36 people

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Prairie City ...

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 12 newspapers that have been published in the area around Prairie City.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Prairie City. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Prairie City and those printed in the larger area surrounding Prairie City.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 26 miles [41.8 km]<6> of Prairie City.

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 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 Prairie City:

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

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>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.
<3>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.
<4>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.
<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 Prairie City, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<6>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Prairie City) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Prairie City. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 44.4611, Longitude: -118.7099       In this case, the coordinates for Prairie City have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 29 Apr 2025