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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 Laketown (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 Laketown. 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 Laketown ...

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.

The town of Laketown was originally named Last Chance

Another variation: Lake Town.

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.

A Few Details for Laketown ...

While it's still very early in our research, we found that:

  • Laketown was established in 1864.

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 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.

Laketown is located in Rich County.

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

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Rich County: Bear Lake (ID), Cache, Morgan, Summit, Weber, Lincoln (WY) & Uinta (WY).

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

  • Rich County     (The home county of Laketown)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Laketown, with the one closest to Laketown listed first.
    • Round Valley ‑ Historic
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Meadowville
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Garden
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Garden have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Garden
      • Garden is located in Rich County
    • Pickelville ‑ Historic
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Garden City
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Sage Creek Junction ‑ Historic
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
    • Sage Creek ‑ Historic
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Sage Creek. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sage Creek
      • Sage Creek is located in Rich County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Sage Creek
      • From Laketown to Sage Creek
    • Randolph
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Randolph have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Randolph
      • Randolph is located in Rich County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 500 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Randolph <3>
    • Argyle ‑ Historic
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Woodruff
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Woodruff have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodruff
      • Woodruff is located in Rich County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 210 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Woodruff <3>
  • Cache County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Laketown, with the one closest to Laketown listed first.
    • Brachipad
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Brachipad. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brachipad
      • Brachipad is located in Cache County
      • Brachipad has also been known as:
      • Brachipad Summer Home Area
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Brachipad
      • From Laketown to Brachipad
    • Beindneau
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
    • White Horse Village
      (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
    • Hyde Park
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
    • North Logan
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
    • Cove
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cove have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cove
      • Cove is located in Cache County
    • Providence
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Providence have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Providence
      • Providence is located in Cache County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 8,051 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Providence <3>
    • Richmond
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Richmond have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Richmond
      • Richmond is located in Cache County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,899 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Richmond <3>
    • River Heights
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for River Heights have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for River Heights
      • River Heights is located in Cache County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,141 people
    • Smithfield
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
    • Logan
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
    • Millville
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Millville have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Millville
      • Millville is located in Cache County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,222 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Millville <3>
    • Nibley
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Nibley have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nibley
      • Nibley is located in Cache County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 7,168 people
  • Bear Lake County (ID)
  • Franklin County (ID)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Laketown, with the one closest to Laketown listed first.
    • Cherryville
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Franklin
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Franklin have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Franklin
      • Franklin is located in Franklin County (ID)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 857 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Franklin <3>
  • Lincoln County (WY)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Laketown, with the one closest to Laketown listed first.
    • Taylor
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Taylor. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Taylor
      • Taylor is located in Lincoln County (WY)
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Taylor
      • From Laketown to Taylor
    • Cokeville
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Border
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Border. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Border
      • Border is located in Lincoln County (WY)
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Border
      • From Laketown to Border

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

Cemeteries Near Laketown ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Laketown.

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

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

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.<5>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Laketown had a population of 302 people in 1895 with a post office and no railroad service. In 2020, Laketown had a population of 271 people.

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

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

Newspapers Published in Laketown ...

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 28 newspapers that have been published in the area around Laketown.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Laketown, there are papers which were published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<6>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Laketown.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we first visit 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 Laketown:

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

The official website for State of Utah: https://www.utah.gov/

Footnotes ...

<1>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.
<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>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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>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 Laketown, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<6>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Laketown) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Laketown. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 41.8234, Longitude: -111.3200    









 

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This page was last modified/updated: 29 Apr 2025