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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 Salem (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 Salem. 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.

A Few Details for Salem ...

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

  • Salem was settled in 1851.
  • It was incorporated on May 10, 1920.

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 and doctors 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.

Salem is located in Utah 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 Utah County: Carbon, Duchesne, Juab, Salt Lake, Sanpete, Tooele & Wasatch.

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

  • Utah County     (The home county of Salem)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Salem, with the one closest to Salem listed first.
    • Woodland Hills
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Woodland Hills have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodland Hills
      • Woodland Hills is located in Utah County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,614 people
    • Benjamin Station
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Elk Ridge
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Elk Ridge have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elk Ridge
      • Elk Ridge is located in Utah County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 4,427 people
    • Payson
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Spanish Fork
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Benjamin
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Lake Shore
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lake Shore have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Shore
      • Lake Shore is located in Utah County
    • Spring Lake
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Covered Bridge Canyon
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Palmyra
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • West Mountain
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for West Mountain have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Mountain
      • West Mountain is located in Utah County
    • Mapleton
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mapleton have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mapleton
      • Mapleton is located in Utah County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 11,139 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Mapleton <2>
    • Santaquin
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Juab County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Salem, with the one closest to Salem listed first.
    • Rocky Ridge
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Mona
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Knightville
      (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Knightville. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Knightville
      • Knightville is located in Juab County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Knightville
      • From Salem to Knightville
    • Nephi
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
    • Eureka
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
    • Fort Nephi ‑ Historic
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Fort Nephi. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fort Nephi
      • Fort Nephi is located in Juab County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Fort Nephi
      • From Salem to Fort Nephi
    • Mammoth
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
    • Diamond ‑ Historic
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Diamond. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Diamond
      • Diamond is located in Juab County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Diamond
      • From Salem to Diamond
    • Ironton ‑ Historic
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Ironton. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ironton
      • Ironton is located in Juab County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Ironton
      • From Salem to Ironton
    • Silver City ‑ Historic
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Silver City. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Silver City
      • Silver City is located in Juab County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Silver City
      • From Salem to Silver City
    • Tintic ‑ Historic
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Tintic. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tintic
      • Tintic is located in Juab County
      • Tintic has also been known as:
      • Ely Mills
      • McIntyre
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Tintic
      • From Salem to Tintic
  • Sanpete County
    • Fountain Green
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Fountain Green have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fountain Green
      • Fountain Green is located in Sanpete County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,182 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Fountain Green <2>
  • Tooele County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Salem, with the one closest to Salem listed first.
    • Scranton ‑ Historic
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Scranton. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Scranton
      • Scranton is located in Tooele County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Scranton
      • From Salem to Scranton
    • Topliff ‑ Historic
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
  • Wasatch County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Salem, with the one closest to Salem listed first.
    • Wallsburg
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Charleston
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Charleston have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Charleston
      • Charleston is located in Wasatch County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 496 people

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

Cemeteries Near Salem ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Salem.

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Salem, with the one closest to Salem 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 Salem had a population of 527 people in 1895 with a post office and no railroad service. In 2020, Salem had a population of 8,866 people.

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

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

Newspapers Published in Salem ...

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 60 newspapers that have been published in the area around Salem.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Salem, there are papers which were published within 27 miles [43.5 km]<6>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Salem.

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 Salem:

The official website for Salem: www.pondtown.org/

The official website for Utah County: www.co.utah.ut.us/

The official website for State of Utah: https://www.utah.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>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 Salem, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<6>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 from Point A (ie- Salem) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Salem. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.0530, Longitude: -111.6696    









 

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This page was last modified/updated: 29 Apr 2025