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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 West Valley City (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 West Valley City. 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 West Valley City ...

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.

For example, a typical abbreviation for West Valley City: W. Valley City

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 West Valley City ...

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

  • West Valley City was established in 1849.
  • It was incorporated in 1980.

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 and doctors 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.

West Valley City is located in Salt Lake 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 Salt Lake County: Davis, Morgan, Summit, Tooele, Utah & Wasatch.

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

  • Salt Lake County     (The home county of West Valley City)
    • The following are listed by their distance from West Valley City, with the one closest to West Valley City listed first.
    • Westwood Village
      (Less than 2 miles to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Westwood Village have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Westwood Village
      • Westwood Village is located in Salt Lake County
    • Westlake Village
      (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Westlake Village have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Westlake Village
      • Westlake Village is located in Salt Lake County
    • Hector Village
      (Less than 2 miles to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hector Village have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hector Village
      • Hector Village is located in Salt Lake County
    • Cherrywood Village
      (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cherrywood Village have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cherrywood Village
      • Cherrywood Village is located in Salt Lake County
    • Redwood Village
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Redwood Village have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Redwood Village
      • Redwood Village is located in Salt Lake County
    • Garden City Addition
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Garden City Addition have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Garden City Addition
      • Garden City Addition is located in Salt Lake County
    • Dublin Town
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Dublin Town have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dublin Town
      • Dublin Town is located in Salt Lake County
    • Indian Village
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Indian Village have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian Village
      • Indian Village is located in Salt Lake County
    • Kearns
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Briargate
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Indian Village South
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Indian Village South have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian Village South
      • Indian Village South is located in Salt Lake County
    • Martin Village
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Martin Village have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Martin Village
      • Martin Village is located in Salt Lake County
  • Davis County
    • The following are listed by their distance from West Valley City, with the one closest to West Valley City listed first.
    • North Salt Lake
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for North Salt Lake have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Salt Lake
      • North Salt Lake is located in Davis County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 21,204 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for North Salt Lake <2>
    • Val Verda
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Woods Cross
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
    • Bountiful
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
    • Oakhaven Village
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Oakhaven Village have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oakhaven Village
      • Oakhaven Village is located in Davis County
    • West Bountiful
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for West Bountiful have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Bountiful
      • West Bountiful is located in Davis County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 5,920 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for West Bountiful <2>
    • Bountiful Fort ‑ Historic
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Cottonwood Heights
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cottonwood Heights have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cottonwood Heights
      • Cottonwood Heights is located in Davis County
    • Centerville Fort ‑ Historic
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
    • Centerville
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
    • Benchmark Village
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Benchmark Village have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Benchmark Village
      • Benchmark Village is located in Davis County
    • Center Village
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Center Village have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Center Village
      • Center Village is located in Davis County
  • Morgan County
  • Summit County
  • Tooele County
    • The following are listed by their distance from West Valley City, with the one closest to West Valley City listed first.
    • Lake Point
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
    • Lincoln
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Mills Junction
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
    • Stansbury park
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Stansbury park have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stansbury park
      • Stansbury park is located in Tooele County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Stansbury park <2>
    • Erda
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Erda have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Erda
      • Erda is located in Tooele County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Erda <2>
    • Tooele
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
    • Burmester
      (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
    • Bauer
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Gisborn ‑ Historic
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Gisborn. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gisborn
      • Gisborn is located in Tooele County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Gisborn
      • From West Valley City to Gisborn
    • Jacob City ‑ Historic
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Ophir
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Grantsville
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Grantsville have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grantsville
      • Grantsville is located in Tooele County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 12,409 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Grantsville <2>
  • Utah County
    • The following are listed by their distance from West Valley City, with the one closest to West Valley City listed first.
    • Lincoln
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Lehi
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lehi have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lehi
      • Lehi is located in Utah County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 73,383 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Lehi <2>
    • Alpine
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Highland
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Highland have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Highland
      • Highland is located in Utah County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 19,241 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Highland <2>
    • Cedar Hills
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cedar Hills have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Hills
      • Cedar Hills is located in Utah County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 9,985 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Cedar Hills <2>
    • Silver Lake
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Deer Creek ‑ Historic
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
    • Forest City ‑ Historic
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
    • American Fork
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Cedar Fort
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
    • Eagle Mountain
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Eagle Mountain have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eagle Mountain
      • Eagle Mountain is located in Utah County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 42,013 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Eagle Mountain <2>
    • Mutual Dell
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
  • Wasatch County
    • The following are listed by their distance from West Valley City, with the one closest to West Valley City listed first.
    • Mound City
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
    • Interlaken
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
    • Cranmer
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Cranmer. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cranmer
      • Cranmer is located in Wasatch County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Cranmer
      • From West Valley City to Cranmer
    • Jordanelle
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
    • Keetley ‑ Historic
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Keetley. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Keetley
      • Keetley is located in Wasatch County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Keetley
      • From West Valley City to Keetley
    • Midway
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Midway have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Midway
      • Midway is located in Wasatch County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 5,465 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Midway <2>

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

Cemeteries Near West Valley City ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of West Valley City.

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 West Valley City covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from West Valley City, with the one closest to West Valley City 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>

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

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

  • Granger
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Granger have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Granger
    • Granger is located in Salt Lake County
  • El Dorado
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for El Dorado have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for El Dorado
    • El Dorado is located in Salt Lake County
  • Taylorsville
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Taylorsville have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Taylorsville
    • Taylorsville is located in Salt Lake County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 59,402 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Taylorsville <2>
  • Buena Vista
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Buena Vista have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Buena Vista
    • Buena Vista is located in Salt Lake County
  • Riter
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Riter. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Riter
    • Riter is located in Salt Lake County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Riter
    • From West Valley City to Riter
  • West Jordan
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Murray
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
  • Millcreek
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Millcreek have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Millcreek
    • Millcreek is located in Salt Lake County
  • Franklin
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Franklin have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Franklin
    • Franklin is located in Salt Lake County
  • Sugar House ‑ Historic
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
  • Salt Lake City
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Union
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Union have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Union
    • Union is located in Salt Lake County
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...
    • Cottonwood
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Williams
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Williams have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Williams
      • Williams is located in Salt Lake County
    • Hot Springs
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hot Springs have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hot Springs
      • Hot Springs is located in Salt Lake County

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of West Valley City ...

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 3 newspapers that have been published in the area around West Valley City.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of West Valley City. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of West Valley City and those printed in the larger area surrounding West Valley City.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 2 miles [3.2 km]<6> of West Valley City.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we start with 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 West Valley City:

The official website for West Valley City: www.wvc-ut.gov/

The official website for Salt Lake County: www.slco.org/

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 West Valley City, 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' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- West Valley City) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in West Valley City. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.6899, Longitude: -112.0006       In this case, the coordinates for West Valley City have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 29 Apr 2025