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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 Ruckel Junction (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 Ruckel Junction. 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 Ruckel Junction ...

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 Ruckel Junction: Ruckel Jct. (or less commonly used: Ruckel Jctn.)

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 hospitals 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.

Ruckel Junction is located in Umatilla 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 Umatilla County: Grant, Morrow, Union, Wallowa, Benton (WA), Columbia (WA) & Walla Walla (WA).

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

  • Umatilla County     (The home county of Ruckel Junction)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Ruckel Junction, with the one closest to Ruckel Junction listed first.
    • Bingham Springs
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bingham Springs
      • Bingham Springs is located in Umatilla County
    • Tollgate
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tollgate
      • Tollgate is located in Umatilla County
    • Gibbon
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Gibbon have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gibbon
      • Gibbon is located in Umatilla County
    • Meacham
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Weston
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Weston have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Weston
      • Weston is located in Umatilla County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 650 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Weston <2>
    • Athena
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Athena have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Athena
      • Athena is located in Umatilla County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,140 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Athena <2>
    • Blue Mountain
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Blue Mountain have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blue Mountain
      • Blue Mountain is located in Umatilla County
    • Cayuse
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
    • Adams
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Adams have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Adams
      • Adams is located in Umatilla County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 359 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Adams <2>
    • Milton - Freewater
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Milton - Freewater have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Milton - Freewater
      • Milton - Freewater is located in Umatilla County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 7,052 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Milton - Freewater <2>
    • Kirkpatrick
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kirkpatrick
      • Kirkpatrick is located in Umatilla County
    • Mission
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mission have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mission
      • Mission is located in Umatilla County
    • Tutuilla
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Tutuilla have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tutuilla
      • Tutuilla is located in Umatilla County
  • Union County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Ruckel Junction, with the one closest to Ruckel Junction listed first.
    • Elgin
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elgin
      • Elgin is located in Union County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,801 people
      • Former names for Elgin:
      • Fish Trap
      • Indian Valley
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Elgin <2>
    • Summerville
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Imbler
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Conley
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Conley
      • Conley is located in Union County
    • Hilgard
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hilgard have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hilgard
      • Hilgard is located in Union County
    • Orodell ‑ Historic
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
      • 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
    • Island City
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Island City
      • Island City is located in Union County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,024 people
    • La Grande
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
    • Hot Lake
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hot Lake have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hot Lake
      • Hot Lake is located in Union County
    • Cove
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
  • Wallowa County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Ruckel Junction, with the one closest to Ruckel Junction listed first.
    • Maxville ‑ Historic
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maxville
      • Maxville is located in Wallowa County
    • Wallowa
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Wallowa have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wallowa
      • Wallowa is located in Wallowa County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 831 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Wallowa <2>
  • Walla Walla County (WA)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Ruckel Junction, with the one closest to Ruckel Junction listed first.
    • Calhounville
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Calhounville have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Calhounville
      • Calhounville is located in Walla Walla County (WA)
    • Mojonnier
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mojonnier
      • Mojonnier is located in Walla Walla County (WA)

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

Newspapers Published in Ruckel Junction ...

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 34 newspapers that have been published in the area around Ruckel Junction.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Ruckel Junction, there are papers which were published within 29 miles [46.7 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Ruckel Junction.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we like to start with 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 Ruckel Junction:

Cemeteries Near Ruckel Junction ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Ruckel Junction.

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

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

  • Galloway Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
  • Summerville - Imbler Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Summerville - Imbler Cemetery is located between<5> the communities of Imbler and Summerville.  The cemetery lies less than 2 miles<4> to the southeast of Summerville.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Summerville - Imbler Cemetery
  • Elgin Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Elgin Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Elgin Cemetery
  • Indian Creek Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Indian Creek Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Indian Creek Cemetery
  • Highland Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Highland Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Highland Cemetery
  • Hyatt Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Hyatt Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Hyatt Cemetery
  • Red Elk Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Red Elk Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Red Elk Cemetery
  • Meacham Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Meacham Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Meacham Cemetery
  • Mt. Pleasant Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Mt. Pleasant Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Mt. Pleasant Cemetery
  • Rugg Cemetery
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Rugg Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Rugg Cemetery
  • Ackles Cemetery
    (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Ackles Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Ackles Cemetery
  • Pine Grove Cemetery
    (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Pine Grove Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Pine Grove Cemetery
  • Continue List   (29 more) ...
    • Weston Cemetery
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Weston Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Weston Cemetery
    • Hilgard Cemetery
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Hilgard Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Hilgard Cemetery
    • Key Cemetery
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Key Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Key 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.<6>

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

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

  • North Fork
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for North Fork have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Fork
    • North Fork is located in Umatilla County
  • Summerville
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Elgin
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elgin
    • Elgin is located in Union County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,801 people
    • Former names for Elgin:
    • Fish Trap
    • Indian Valley
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Elgin <2>
  • Gibbon
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Gibbon have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gibbon
    • Gibbon is located in Umatilla County
  • Huron
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Huron have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Huron
    • Huron is located in Umatilla County
  • Imbler
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
  • Meacham
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Alicel
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Alicel have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alicel
    • Alicel is located in Union County
  • Kamela
    (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Kamela have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kamela
    • Kamela is located in Union County
  • Hilgard
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hilgard have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hilgard
    • Hilgard is located in Union County
  • Perry
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Perry have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Perry
    • Perry is located in Union County
  • Weston
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Weston have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Weston
    • Weston is located in Umatilla County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 650 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Weston <2>
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...
    • Island City
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Island City
      • Island City is located in Union County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,024 people
    • Downing
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Downing have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Downing
      • Downing is located in Umatilla County
    • La Grande
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)

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

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

The official website for Umatilla County: www.co.umatilla.or.us/

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

Footnotes ...

<1>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.
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Ruckel Junction) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Ruckel Junction. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 45.6285, Longitude: -118.1330       In this case, the coordinates for Ruckel Junction have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>To help visualize the location of the cemetery, we've drawn a straight line between the communities of Imbler and Summerville. The cemetery can be found near that line and roughly halfway between the two communities. Remember that this is just an approximate location.
<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 Ruckel Junction, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024