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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 Anacortes (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 Anacortes. 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 doctors and 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.

Anacortes is located in Skagit County.

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

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Skagit County: Chelan, Island, Okanogan, San Juan, Snohomish & Whatcom.

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

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

Cemeteries Near Anacortes ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Anacortes.

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

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

  • Grandview Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Grandview Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Grandview Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Eden Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Eden Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Eden Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Fern Hill Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Fern Hill Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Fern Hill Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Bay View Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Bay View Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Bay View Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Bow Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Bow Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Bow Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Pleasant Ridge Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Pleasant Ridge Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Pleasant Ridge Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Olga - Doe Bay Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Maple Leaf Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
  • Mt. Vernon Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Mt. Vernon Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Mt. Vernon Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Hawthorne Memorial Park
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Hawthorne Memorial Park
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Hawthorne Memorial Park have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Green Hills Memorial Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
  • Lopez Union Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
  • Continue List   (26 more) ...
    • Skagit City Cemetery
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Skagit City Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Skagit City Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Clear Lake Cemetery
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Clear Lake Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Clear Lake Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Union Cemetery
      (18 miles [29 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.<4>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Anacortes had a population of 1,131 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Anacortes had a population of 17,715 people.

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

  • Guemes
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Guemes have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Guemes
    • Guemes is located in Skagit County
  • Gibraltar
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Gibraltar have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gibraltar
    • Gibraltar is located in Skagit County
  • Bay View
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bay View have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bay View
    • Bay View is located in Skagit County
  • Whitney
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Whitney have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Whitney
    • Whitney is located in Skagit County
  • Fredonia
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Fredonia have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fredonia
    • Fredonia is located in Skagit County
  • Decatur Island
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
  • La Conner
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
  • Samish
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Samish have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Samish
    • Samish is located in Skagit County
  • Avon ‑ Historic
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Avon have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Avon
    • Avon is located in Skagit County
  • Doe Bay
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Doe Bay have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Doe Bay
    • Doe Bay is located in San Juan County
  • Chuckanut
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Chuckanut have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chuckanut
    • Chuckanut is located in Whatcom County
  • Olga
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Continue List   (19 more) ...

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Anacortes ...

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 100 newspapers that have been published in the area around Anacortes.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Anacortes. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Anacortes and those printed in the larger area surrounding Anacortes.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 23 miles [37 km]<5> of Anacortes.

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 websites either 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 Anacortes:

The official website for Anacortes: www.cityofanacortes.org/

The official website for Skagit County: www.skagitcounty.net/

The official website for State of Washington: https://wa.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>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 Anacortes, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<5>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 from Point A (ie- Anacortes) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Anacortes. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 48.5126, Longitude: -122.6126    









 

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This page was last modified/updated: 29 Apr 2025