RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Oregon >> Deschutes County >> Sisters >> Genealogy HelperIndex...










Learn About
The Commemorative
Quarter for
Oregon

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 Sisters (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 Sisters. 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 hospitals 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.

Sisters is located in Deschutes 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 Deschutes County: Crook, Harney, Jefferson, Klamath, Lake, Lane & Linn.

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

  • Deschutes County     (The home county of Sisters)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Sisters, with the one closest to Sisters listed first.
    • Black Butte Ranch
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Tumalo
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tumalo
      • Tumalo is located in Deschutes County
    • Redmond
      (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Redmond have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Redmond
      • Redmond is located in Deschutes County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 34,293 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Redmond <1>
    • Terrebonne
      (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
    • Bend
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bend
      • Bend is located in Deschutes County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 101,886 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Bend <1>
    • Deschutes River Woods
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Deschutes River Woods have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Deschutes River Woods
      • Deschutes River Woods is located in Deschutes County
    • Sunriver
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
    • Alfalfa
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Crook County
  • Jefferson County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Sisters, with the one closest to Sisters listed first.
    • Camp Sherman
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Geneva ‑ Historic
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Geneva
      • Geneva is located in Jefferson County
    • Crooked River Ranch
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Grandview ‑ Historic
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grandview
      • Grandview is located in Jefferson County
    • Opal City
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Opal City have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Opal City
      • Opal City is located in Jefferson County
    • Culver
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Culver have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Culver
      • Culver is located in Jefferson County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,686 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Culver <1>
    • Metolius
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Metolius have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Metolius
      • Metolius is located in Jefferson County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 820 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Metolius <1>
  • Lane County
    • Belknap Springs
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Belknap Springs
      • Belknap Springs is located in Lane County

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

Newspapers Published in Sisters ...

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 15 newspapers that have been published in the area around Sisters.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Sisters, there are papers which were published within 27 miles [43.5 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Sisters.

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 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 Sisters:

Cemeteries Near Sisters ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Sisters.

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

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

  • Camp Polk Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
  • Craig Grave
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
    • 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
  • Tumalo Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Tumalo Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • The Tumalo Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Laidlaw Cemetery
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Tumalo Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #39502 <4>
  • Geneva Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Geneva Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Geneva Cemetery
  • Deschutes Memorial Gardens
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
  • Redmond Memorial Cemetery
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
  • Grandview Cemetery
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for the Grandview Cemetery. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<5>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Grandview Cemetery
  • Greenwood Cemetery
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
  • Pilot Butte Cemetery
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
  • Terrebonne Cemetery
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
  • John Swallow Grave
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the John Swallow Grave have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the John Swallow Grave
  • Gray Butte Cemetery
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Gray Butte Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Gray Butte Cemetery
  • Continue List   (7 more) ...
    • Hale Cemetery
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Hale Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Hale Cemetery
    • German Cemetery
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the German Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the German Cemetery
    • Pilgrims Rest Cemetery
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
      • To give a relative sense of its location, the Pilgrims Rest Cemetery is located 11 miles [17.7 km]<3> to the northeast of Prineville.
      • The Pilgrims Rest Cemetery has also been known as:
      • Powell Butte Cemetery
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Pilgrims Rest Cemetery
      • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2140925 <4>

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 Sisters in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Sisters.

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

  • Belknap Springs
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Belknap Springs
    • Belknap Springs is located in Lane County
  • Foley Springs
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
    • 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

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

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

The official website for Deschutes County: www.co.deschutes.or.us/

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 obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Sisters) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Sisters. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 44.2913, Longitude: -121.5475    
<4>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.
<5>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.
<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 Sisters, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

Copyright 2024
All Rights Reserved

Thank you for visiting our website.

In closing, please keep in mind that we can not guarantee the accuracy or timeliness of the information on this website, so use with care. We encourage you to double-check the information that is critical to you.

If you've found an error or have additional information that you would like to share, please don't hesitate to write: Click here to contact us.

This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024