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 Ritter (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 Ritter. 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 northwest 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 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 west 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.
Ritter 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 Ritter. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Ritter:
- Grant County (The home county of Ritter)
- The following are listed by their distance from Ritter, with the one closest to Ritter listed first.
- Dale
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
- Long Creek
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
- Hamilton
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
- Monument
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
- Fox
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
- Galena
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
- Susanville ‑ Historic
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
- Kimberly
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
- Morrow County
- Heck and Gone ‑ Historic
(18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
- Umatilla County
- The following are listed by their distance from Ritter, with the one closest to Ritter listed first.
- Ukiah
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ukiah have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ukiah
- Ukiah is located in Umatilla County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 194 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Ukiah <1>
- Lehman Springs
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Ritter, see our County-by-County Page for Ritter.
Cemeteries Near Ritter ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Ritter.
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 Ritter covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Ritter, with the one closest to Ritter listed first.
- Dickerson Ranch Cemetery
(Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Dickerson Ranch Cemetery
- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Dickerson Ranch Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Ritter Cemetery
(Less than 2 miles to the north)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Ritter Cemetery
- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Ritter Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Willow Creek Cemetery
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Willow Creek Cemetery
- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Willow Creek Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Long Creek Cemetery
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Long Creek Cemetery
- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Long Creek Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Hamilton Cemetery
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Hamilton Cemetery
- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Hamilton Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Monument Cemetery
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Monument Cemetery
- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Monument Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Cupper Canyon Cemetery
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
- Fox Valley Cemetery
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
- 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.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Galena Cemetery
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
- 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.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Ukiah Cemetery
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Ukiah Cemetery
- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Ukiah Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Sturdivant Cemetery
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
- Albee Cemetery
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
- Continue List (4 more) ...
- Patterson Grave
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Patterson Grave
- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Patterson Grave have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Gurdane Cemetery
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Gurdane Cemetery
- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Gurdane Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Rhea Creek Cemetery
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Rhea Creek Cemetery
- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Rhea Creek Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
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>
The Rand McNally Atlas shows that in 1895, Ritter had a post office and no railroad service.
These communities are listed based on their distance from Ritter, with the one closest to Ritter listed first.
- Long Creek
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
- Hamilton
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
- Monument
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
- Fox
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
- Ukiah
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ukiah have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ukiah
- Ukiah is located in Umatilla County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 194 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Ukiah <1>
- Susanville ‑ Historic
(21 miles [33.8 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 Ritter. See our List of 1890's Communities around Ritter.
Newspapers Published in Ritter ...
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 3 newspapers that have been published in the area around Ritter.
Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Ritter, there are papers which were published within 19 miles [30.6 km]<5>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Ritter.
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 websites either 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 Ritter:
- Websites specific to Oregon
- Pages specific to Grant County
- Genealogy information for nearby counties
- Morrow County
- Umatilla County
- Cemetery Information and Directories for Oregon
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Ritter. 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> | 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> | 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 Ritter, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
<5> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Ritter) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Ritter. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 44.8912, Longitude: -119.1437 In this case, the coordinates for Ritter have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |