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The Commemorative Quarter for Oregon





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 Rainbow (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 Rainbow. 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 hospitals and doctors 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.

Rainbow is located in Lane 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 Lane County: Benton, Deschutes, Douglas, Klamath, Lincoln & Linn.

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

  • Lane County     (The home county of Rainbow)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Rainbow, with the one closest to Rainbow listed first.
    • McKenzie Bridge
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Blue River
      (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Finn Rock
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Belknap Springs
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Belknap Springs
      • Belknap Springs is located in Lane County
    • Vida
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
    • Leaburg
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
    • Walterville
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
    • Unity
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Westfir
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Marcola
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
  • Linn County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Rainbow, with the one closest to Rainbow listed first.
    • Cascadia
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Foster
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Sweet Home
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sweet Home have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sweet Home
      • Sweet Home is located in Linn County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 10,021 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Sweet Home <1>
    • Holley
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holley
      • Holley is located in Linn County
    • Bryant City ‑ Historic
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bryant City have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bryant City
      • Bryant City is located in Linn County

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

Newspapers Published in Rainbow ...

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 4 newspapers that have been published in the area around Rainbow.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Rainbow, there are papers which were published within 28 miles [45.1 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Rainbow.

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 Rainbow:

Cemeteries Near Rainbow ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Rainbow.

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

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

  • Renfrew Grave
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Renfrew Grave have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Renfrew Grave
  • Greenwood Cemetery
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Greenwood Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Greenwood Cemetery
  • Craig Grave
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Craig Grave have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Craig Grave
  • Whitcomb Island Cemetery
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Whitcomb Island Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Whitcomb Island Cemetery
  • Wiley Cemetery
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Wiley Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Wiley Cemetery
  • Spring Family Cemetery
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Spring Family Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Spring Family Cemetery
  • Lewis Cemetery
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Lewis Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Lewis Cemetery
  • Sweet Home Valley Cemetery
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Sweet Home Valley Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Sweet Home Valley Cemetery
  • Drury Cemetery
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Drury Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Drury Cemetery
  • Forestvale Cemetery
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Forestvale Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Forestvale Cemetery
  • Ames Cemetery
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Mabel Cemetery
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Mabel Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Mabel Cemetery

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>

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

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

  • Blue River
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
  • Foley Springs
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Foley Springs have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Foley Springs
    • Foley Springs is located in Lane County
  • Belknap Springs
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Belknap Springs
    • Belknap Springs is located in Lane County
  • Leaburg
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
  • Sweet Home
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sweet Home have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sweet Home
    • Sweet Home is located in Linn County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 10,021 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Sweet Home <1>
  • Walterville
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
  • Holley
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holley
    • Holley is located in Linn County

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

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

The official website for Lane County: www.lanecounty.org/

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>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- Rainbow) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Rainbow. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 44.1668, Longitude: -122.2367       In this case, the coordinates for Rainbow have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<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 Rainbow, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024