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A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
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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 Sunnydale (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 Sunnydale. 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 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.

Sunnydale is located in Douglas County.

To see how the shape of Oregon's counties may have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Douglas County: Coos, Curry, Jackson, Josephine, Klamath & Lane.

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

  • Douglas County     (The home county of Sunnydale)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Sunnydale, with the one closest to Sunnydale listed first.
    • Drain
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
      • Drain is located in Douglas County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Drain
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,201 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Drain <1>
    • Yoncalla
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Elkton
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Rice Hill
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Curtin
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Kellogg
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Kellogg is located in Douglas County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kellogg
    • Isadore
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
      • Isadore is located in Douglas County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Isadore
    • Elkhead
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
      • Elkhead is located in Douglas County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elkhead
    • Oakland
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
    • Old Town
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
      • Old Town is located in Douglas County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Old Town
    • Sutherlin
      (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
    • Fair Oaks
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
      • Fair Oaks is located in Douglas County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fair Oaks
    • Scottsburg ‑ Historic
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
  • Lane County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Sunnydale, with the one closest to Sunnydale listed first.
    • Divide ‑ Historic
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Divide is located in Lane County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Divide
    • Lorane
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Cottage Grove
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Saginaw
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Walker
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Walker is located in Lane County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Walker
    • Crow
      (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
      • Crow is located in Lane County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crow
    • Cresswell
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Creswell
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Dorena ‑ Historic
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
    • Long Tom
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
      • Long Tom is located in Lane County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Long Tom
    • Veneta
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
    • Walton
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
    • Culp Creek
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)

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

Cemeteries Near Sunnydale ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Sunnydale.

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.

Although we don't have the information ourselves, if you need information about a burial or interment, photos, transcripts, how to contact the cemetery or local authorities, please visit our list of websites on our Genealogy Helper Page for Sunnydale - one of the links might be able to help.

If not found below, our Cemetery List for Sunnydale covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.

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

  • Putnam Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
  • Ensley Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
  • Drain Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
  • Colvin Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
  • Applegate Family Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
  • Drain IOOF Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
  • Applegate Pioneer Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Yoncalla Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Drain - Yoncalla Masonic Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Elkton Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
  • Wells Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
  • Dimmick Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
  • Continue List   (78 more) ...
    • Kellogg Cemetery
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Henderer Cemetery
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Indian Burial Ground
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)

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.<3>

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

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

  • Drain
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Drain is located in Douglas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Drain
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,201 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Drain <1>
  • Yoncalla
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Elkton
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
  • Rice Hill
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
  • Kellogg
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Kellogg is located in Douglas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kellogg
  • Isadore
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
    • Isadore is located in Douglas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Isadore
  • Comstock
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Comstock is located in Douglas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Comstock
  • Elkhead
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Elkhead is located in Douglas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elkhead
  • Wallace ‑ Historic
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
    • Wallace is located in Lane County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wallace
  • Divide ‑ Historic
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Divide is located in Lane County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Divide
  • Lorane
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
  • Alma
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
    • Alma is located in Lane County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alma
  • Continue List   (13 more) ...
    • Oakland
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
    • Stephens
      (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
      • Stephens is located in Douglas County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stephens
    • Royal
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
      • Royal is located in Lane County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Royal

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

Newspapers Published in Sunnydale ...

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 53 newspapers that have been published in the area around Sunnydale.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Sunnydale, there are papers which were published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Sunnydale.

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 Sunnydale:

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 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.
<3>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 Sunnydale, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Sunnydale) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.