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 Bucoda (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 Bucoda. 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 southwest 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 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 west 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.
Bucoda is located in Thurston County.
To see how the shape of Washington's counties may have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.
The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Thurston County: Grays Harbor, Lewis, Mason & Pierce.
Below are the counties that are near Bucoda. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Bucoda:
- Thurston County (The home county of Bucoda)
- The following are listed by their distance from Bucoda, with the one closest to Bucoda listed first.
- Tenino
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
- McIntosh
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
- Grand Mound
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
- Rochester
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
- Rainier
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
- Littlerock
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
- East Olympia
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
- Bordeaux ‑ Historic
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
- Kellys Korner
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
- Independence
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
- Tumwater
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
- Yelm
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
- Cowlitz County
- The following are listed by their distance from Bucoda, with the one closest to Bucoda listed first.
- Olequa
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
- Ryderwood
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
- Grays Harbor County
- The following are listed by their distance from Bucoda, with the one closest to Bucoda listed first.
- Chehalis Village
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
- Chehalis Village is located in Grays Harbor County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chehalis Village
- Oakville
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
- Cedarville
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
- Porter
(23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
- Malone - Porter
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
- Malone - Porter is located in Grays Harbor County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Malone - Porter
- Malone
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
- Sine
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
- McCleary
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
- McCleary Junction
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
- Garden City
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
- Garden City is located in Grays Harbor County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Garden City
- Elma
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
- Lewis County
- The following are listed by their distance from Bucoda, with the one closest to Bucoda listed first.
- Centralia
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
- Fords Prairie
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
- Fords Prairie is located in Lewis County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fords Prairie
- Galvin
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
- Chehalis
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
- Newaukum
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
- Claquato
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
- Adna
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
- Napavine
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
- Fayette
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
- Onalaska
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
- Curtis
(18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
- Ethel
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
- Mason County
- The following are listed by their distance from Bucoda, with the one closest to Bucoda listed first.
- New Kamilche
(23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
- Shelton
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
- Pierce County
- The following are listed by their distance from Bucoda, with the one closest to Bucoda listed first.
- McKenna
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
- Mock City
(18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
- Mock City is located in Pierce County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mock City
- Roy
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
- DuPont
(23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
- Fort Lewis
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
- La Grande
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
- Anderson Island
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
- South Creek
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
- Tillicum
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
- Alder
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
- Eatonville
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
- Elk Plain
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
- Elk Plain is located in Pierce County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elk Plain
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Bucoda, see our County-by-County Page for Bucoda.
Cemeteries Near Bucoda ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Bucoda.
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 Bucoda - one of the links might be able to help.
If not found below, our Cemetery List for Bucoda covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Bucoda, with the one closest to Bucoda listed first.
- Forest Cemetery
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
- Greenwood Memorial Park
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
- Washington Lawn Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
- Mountain View Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
- Grand Mound Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
- Greenwood Cemetery
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
- Fern Hill Cemetery
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
- Rainier Cemetery
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
- Claquato Cemetery
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
- Mills & Mills Memorial Park
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
- Union Cemetery
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
- Woodlawn Cemetery
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
- Continue List (43 more) ...
- Finnish Cemetery
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
- Alpha Cemetery
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
- Yelm Rainier Cemetery
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
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>
The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Bucoda had a population of 945 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Bucoda had a population of 591 people.
These communities are listed based on their distance from Bucoda, with the one closest to Bucoda listed first.
- Tenino
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
- Centralia
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
- McIntosh
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
- Grand Mound
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
- Plumb
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
- Plumb is located in Thurston County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plumb
- Rochester
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
- Chehalis
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
- Littlerock
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
- Claquato
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
- Newaukum
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
- Belmore
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
- Belmore is located in Thurston County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Belmore
- Tumwater
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
- Continue List (14 more) ...
- Fayette
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
- Napavine
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
- Yelm
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Bucoda. See our List of 1890's Communities around Bucoda.
Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Bucoda ...
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 116 newspapers that have been published in the area around Bucoda.
We have organized these newspapers into two lists:
- A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Bucoda. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Bucoda and those printed in the larger area surrounding Bucoda.
- An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 26 miles [41.8 km]<4> of Bucoda.
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 Bucoda:
- Websites specific to Washington
- Pages specific to Thurston County
- Genealogy information for nearby counties
- Cowlitz County
- Grays Harbor County
- Lewis County
- Mason County
- Pierce County
- Cemetery Information and Directories for Washington
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 Bucoda, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <4> | 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 drawn from Point A (ie- Bucoda) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |