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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 Rock 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 Rock 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 Rock 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.

Another variation: Rockcreek.

  • A typical abbreviation for Rock Creek: Rock Crk. (or less commonly used: Rock Ck. or Rock 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 northeast corner of their home county. During their lives, most 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.

Rock Creek is located in Baker 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 Baker County: Adams (ID), Grant, Malheur, Union, Wallowa & Washington.

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

  • Baker County     (The home county of Rock Creek)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Rock Creek, with the one closest to Rock Creek listed first.
    • Haines
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Hutchinson ‑ Historic
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hutchinson have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hutchinson
      • Hutchinson is located in Baker County
    • Pocahontas ‑ Historic
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Pocahontas have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pocahontas
      • Pocahontas is located in Baker County
    • Bourne
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bourne
      • Bourne is located in Baker County
    • Baker City
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Baker City
      • Baker City is located in Baker County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 9,876 people
      • Baker City has also been known as:
      • Baker
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Baker City <1>
    • Sumpter
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Auburn ‑ Historic
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Auburn
      • Auburn is located in Baker County
    • Keating
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Keating
      • Keating is located in Baker County
    • Whitney ‑ Historic
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Whitney
      • Whitney is located in Baker County
    • Greenhorn
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenhorn
      • Greenhorn is located in Baker County
    • Hereford
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
  • Grant County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Rock Creek, with the one closest to Rock Creek listed first.
    • Cabell City
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cabell City
      • Cabell City is located in Grant County
    • Granite
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Granite
      • Granite is located in Grant County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 36 people
  • Union County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Rock Creek, with the one closest to Rock Creek listed first.
    • North Powder
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for North Powder have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Powder
      • North Powder is located in Union County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 458 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for North Powder <1>
    • Union
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
    • Hot Lake
      (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hot Lake have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hot Lake
      • Hot Lake is located in Union County
    • Cove
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
    • La Grande
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
    • Starkey
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Island City
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Island City
      • Island City is located in Union County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,024 people
    • Orodell ‑ Historic
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Orodell. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Orodell
      • Orodell is located in Union County

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

Newspapers Published in Rock 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 27 newspapers that have been published in the area around Rock Creek.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Rock Creek, there are papers which were published within 28 miles [45.1 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Rock 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 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 Rock Creek:

Cemeteries Near Rock Creek ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Rock 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 Rock Creek covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.

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

  • Rock Creek Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
  • Haines Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
  • Hutchinson Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
  • Wingville Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
  • St. Francis de Sales Catholic Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
  • Blue Mtn. Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
  • Auburn Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for the Auburn Cemetery. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Auburn Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2191022 <5>
  • Mt. Hope Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
  • Baker City Chinese Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
  • McEwen Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for the McEwen Cemetery. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the McEwen Cemetery is located 5 miles [8 km]<4> to the northwest of Sumpter.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the McEwen Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2252726 <5>
  • Cabell Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
  • Big Creek Cemetery
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for the Big Creek Cemetery. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • The Big Creek Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Beagle Creek Cemetery
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Big Creek Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2191042 <5>
  • Continue List   (19 more) ...
    • Granite Cemetery
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
    • Whitney Cemetery
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
      • 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.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Whitney Cemetery
      • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2246786 <5>
    • Dunham Wright Cemetery
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for the Dunham Wright Cemetery. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Dunham Wright Cemetery
      • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2557785 <5>

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.<6>

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

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

  • Haines
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
  • North Powder
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for North Powder have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Powder
    • North Powder is located in Union County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 458 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for North Powder <1>
  • Baker City
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Baker City
    • Baker City is located in Baker County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 9,876 people
    • Baker City has also been known as:
    • Baker
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Baker City <1>
  • Sumpter
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
  • Auburn ‑ Historic
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Auburn
    • Auburn is located in Baker County
  • Telocaset
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Telocaset have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Telocaset
    • Telocaset is located in Union County
  • Granite
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Granite
    • Granite is located in Grant County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 36 people
  • Medical Springs
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Medical Springs have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Medical Springs
    • Medical Springs is located in Union County
  • Encina
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Encina have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Encina
    • Encina is located in Baker County
  • Union
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
  • Hot Lake
    (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hot Lake have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hot Lake
    • Hot Lake is located in Union County
  • Pleasant Valley
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Pleasant Valley have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Valley
    • Pleasant Valley is located in Baker County
  • Continue List   (5 more) ...
    • Hereford
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
    • Cove
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
    • Starkey
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)

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

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

The official website for Baker County: www.bakercounty.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>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.
<4>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or 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- Rock Creek) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Rock Creek. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 44.9140, Longitude: -118.0358       In this case, the coordinates for Rock Creek have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>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.
<6>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 Rock Creek, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024