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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 Centralia (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 Centralia. 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 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.

Centralia is located in Lewis 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 Lewis County: Cowlitz, Grays Harbor, Pacific, Pierce, Skamania, Thurston, Wahkiakum & Yakima.

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

  • Lewis County     (The home county of Centralia)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Centralia, with the one closest to Centralia listed first.
    • Fords Prairie
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Fords Prairie have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fords Prairie
      • Fords Prairie is located in Lewis County
    • Galvin
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Chehalis
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Claquato
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Claquato
      • Claquato is located in Lewis County
    • Newaukum
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Newaukum have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Newaukum
      • Newaukum is located in Lewis County
    • Adna
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Fayette
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Fayette have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fayette
      • Fayette is located in Lewis County
    • Napavine
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Curtis
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Saint Urban
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saint Urban
      • Saint Urban is located in Lewis County
    • Onalaska
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Winlock
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
    • Doty
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
  • Cowlitz County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Centralia, with the one closest to Centralia listed first.
    • Olequa
      (23 miles [37 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Olequa have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Olequa
      • Olequa is located in Cowlitz County
    • Ryderwood
      (23 miles [37 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ryderwood
      • Ryderwood is located in Cowlitz County
    • Silver Lake
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
    • Toutle
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
    • Castle Rock
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
  • Grays Harbor County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Centralia, with the one closest to Centralia listed first.
    • Chehalis Village
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Chehalis Village have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chehalis Village
      • Chehalis Village is located in Grays Harbor County
    • Oakville
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Cedarville
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cedarville have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedarville
      • Cedarville is located in Grays Harbor County
    • Porter
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Porter have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Porter
      • Porter is located in Grays Harbor County
    • Malone - Porter
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Malone - Porter
      • Malone - Porter is located in Grays Harbor County
    • Malone
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Sine
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sine
      • Sine is located in Grays Harbor County
    • McCleary
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Garden City
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Garden City have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Garden City
      • Garden City is located in Grays Harbor County
    • McCleary Junction
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for McCleary Junction
      • McCleary Junction is located in Grays Harbor County
    • Elma
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elma
      • Elma is located in Grays Harbor County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,378 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Elma <2>
  • Mason County
    • New Kamilche
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for New Kamilche have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Kamilche
      • New Kamilche is located in Mason County
  • Pacific County
  • Pierce County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Centralia, with the one closest to Centralia listed first.
    • McKenna
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Mock City
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mock City have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mock City
      • Mock City is located in Pierce County
    • Roy
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roy
      • Roy is located in Pierce County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 823 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Roy <2>
    • DuPont
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Fort Lewis
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Fort Lewis. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fort Lewis
      • Fort Lewis is located in Pierce County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Fort Lewis <2>
  • Thurston County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Centralia, with the one closest to Centralia listed first.
    • Bucoda
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Grand Mound
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Rochester
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Tenino
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Independence
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Independence
      • Independence is located in Thurston County
    • Littlerock
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
    • McIntosh
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for McIntosh
      • McIntosh is located in Thurston County
    • Bordeaux ‑ Historic
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bordeaux
      • Bordeaux is located in Thurston County
    • Rainier
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
    • East Olympia
      (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
    • Tumwater
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
    • Kellys Korner
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kellys Korner
      • Kellys Korner is located in Thurston County
    • Olympia
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Centralia ...

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 124 newspapers that have been published in the area around Centralia.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Centralia. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Centralia and those printed in the larger area surrounding Centralia.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 29 miles [46.7 km]<4> of Centralia.

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 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 Centralia:

Cemeteries Near Centralia ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Centralia.

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

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

  • Washington Lawn Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Washington Lawn Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Washington Lawn Cemetery
  • Greenwood Memorial Park
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
  • Mountain View Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
  • Greenwood Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Greenwood Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Greenwood Cemetery
  • Claquato Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
  • Fern Hill Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Fern Hill Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Fern Hill Cemetery
  • Grand Mound Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Grand Mound Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Grand Mound Cemetery
  • Forest Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Forest Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Forest Cemetery
  • Finnish Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Finnish Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Finnish Cemetery
  • Oakville Pioneer Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Oakville Pioneer Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Oakville Pioneer Cemetery
  • Sylvan Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
  • Alpha Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Alpha Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Alpha Cemetery
  • Continue List   (31 more) ...
    • Snow Cemetery
      (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Snow Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Snow Cemetery
    • Shoestring Cemetery
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Shoestring Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Shoestring Cemetery
    • Rainier Cemetery
      (18 miles [29 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.<6>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Centralia had a population of 2,025 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Centralia had a population of 17,995 people.

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

  • Chehalis
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
  • Claquato
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Claquato
    • Claquato is located in Lewis County
  • Newaukum
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Newaukum have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Newaukum
    • Newaukum is located in Lewis County
  • Bucoda
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Grand Mound
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Fayette
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Fayette have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fayette
    • Fayette is located in Lewis County
  • Napavine
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
  • Rochester
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Tenino
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
  • Littlerock
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
  • McIntosh
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for McIntosh
    • McIntosh is located in Thurston County
  • Boistfort
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Boistfort have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Boistfort
    • Boistfort is located in Lewis County
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...
    • Winlock
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
    • Plumb
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Plumb have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plumb
      • Plumb is located in Thurston County
    • Oakville
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)

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

The official website for Centralia: www.cityofcentralia.com/

The official website for Lewis County: www.co.lewis.wa.us/

The official website for State of Washington: https://access.wa.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>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- Centralia) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Centralia. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 46.7165, Longitude: -122.9555    
<5>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.
<6>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 Centralia, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024