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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 Tharp (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 Tharp. 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 southeast corner of their home county. During their lives, most hospitals and doctors were in the next county to the east. 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 east 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.

Tharp 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 Tharp. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Tharp:

  • Douglas County     (The home county of Tharp)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Tharp, with the one closest to Tharp listed first.
    • Reedsport
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Winchester Bay
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Gardiner
      (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Umpqua City ‑ Historic
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
      • Umpqua City is located in Douglas County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Umpqua City
    • Scottsburg ‑ Historic
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
    • Elkton
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
    • Kellogg
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
      • Kellogg is located in Douglas County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kellogg
  • Coos County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Tharp, with the one closest to Tharp listed first.
    • Lakeside
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Saunders Lake
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Saunders Lake is located in Coos County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saunders Lake
    • Allegany
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
    • Glasgow
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
      • Glasgow is located in Coos County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glasgow
    • Cooston
      (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
      • Cooston is located in Coos County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cooston
    • North Bend
      (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
    • Empire
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
      • Empire is located in Coos County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Empire
    • Coos Bay
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
    • Eastside
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
    • Bunker Hill
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
      • Bunker Hill is located in Coos County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bunker Hill
    • Coos City ‑ Historic
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
      • Coos City is located in Coos County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coos City
    • Charleston
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
  • Lane County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Tharp, with the one closest to Tharp listed first.
    • Westlake
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
    • Dunes City
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
      • Dunes City is located in Lane County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dunes City
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,412 people
    • Glenada
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
      • Glenada is located in Lane County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glenada
    • Florence
      (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
    • Point Terrace
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
      • Point Terrace is located in Lane County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Point Terrace
    • Mapleton
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)

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

Cemeteries Near Tharp ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Tharp.

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 Tharp - one of the links might be able to help.

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

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

  • Masonic Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
  • Gardiner Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
  • Lakeside Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Templeton Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
  • IOOF Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
  • Lower Smith River Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Allegany Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
  • Scottsburg Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
  • Fir Grove Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
  • Empire Cemetery
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
  • Ocean View Memory Gardens
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
  • Coos River Cemetery
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
  • Continue List   (23 more) ...
    • Glenada Odd Fellows Cemetery
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glenada Odd Fellows Cemetery
      • To give a relative sense of its location, the Glenada Odd Fellows Cemetery is located outside and to the southeast of Glenada.
      • The Glenada Odd Fellows Cemetery has also been known as:
      • Independent Order of Odd Fellows Cemetery
      • Odd Fellows Cemetery
    • Heceta Lodge #11 IOOF Cemetery
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
    • Marshfield Pioneer Cemetery
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)

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

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

  • Gardiner
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
  • Sulphur Springs
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Sulphur Springs is located in Douglas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sulphur Springs
  • Scottsburg ‑ Historic
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
  • Empire
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Empire is located in Coos County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Empire
  • Glenada
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
    • Glenada is located in Lane County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glenada
  • Libby
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
    • Libby is located in Coos County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Libby
  • Acme
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
    • Acme is located in Lane County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Acme
  • Florence
    (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
  • Elkton
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
  • Point Terrace
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
    • Point Terrace is located in Lane County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Point Terrace
  • Kellogg
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
    • Kellogg is located in Douglas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kellogg
  • Coaledo
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
    • Coaledo is located in Coos County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coaledo
  • Fairview
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
    • Fairview is located in Coos County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fairview

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

Newspapers Published in Tharp ...

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 23 newspapers that have been published in the area around Tharp.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Tharp, there are papers which were published within 24 miles [38.6 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Tharp.

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 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 Tharp:

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