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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 Ephrata (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 Ephrata. 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 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.

Ephrata is located in Grant County and is the County Seat.

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 Grant County: Adams, Benton, Douglas, Franklin, Kittitas, Lincoln, Okanogan & Yakima.

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

  • Grant County     (The home county of Ephrata)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Ephrata, with the one closest to Ephrata listed first.
    • Lakeview
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lakeview have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lakeview
      • Lakeview is located in Grant County
    • Soap Lake
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Stratford
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stratford
      • Stratford is located in Grant County
    • Mae
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mae
      • Mae is located in Grant County
    • Quincy
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Cascade Valley
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cascade Valley have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cascade Valley
      • Cascade Valley is located in Grant County
    • Moses Lake
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
    • Wilson Creek
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
    • George
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Coulee City
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
    • Banks Lake South
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Banks Lake South
      • Banks Lake South is located in Grant County
    • Krupp
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Krupp
      • Krupp is located in Grant County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 51 people
  • Chelan County
  • Douglas County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Ephrata, with the one closest to Ephrata listed first.
    • Palisades
      (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Palisades
      • Palisades is located in Douglas County
    • Rock Island
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
    • Withrow
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Withrow
      • Withrow is located in Douglas County
    • Mold ‑ Historic
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mold
      • Mold is located in Douglas County
    • Okanogan City ‑ Historic
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Okanogan City have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Okanogan City
      • Okanogan City is located in Douglas County

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Ephrata ...

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 34 newspapers that have been published in the area around Ephrata.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Ephrata. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Ephrata and those printed in the larger area surrounding Ephrata.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 29 miles [46.7 km]<3> of Ephrata.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we begin 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 Ephrata:

Cemeteries Near Ephrata ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Ephrata.

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

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

  • Highland Cemetery
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Highland Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Highland Cemetery
  • Evangelical Emanuel Cemetery
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Evangelical Emanuel Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Evangelical Emanuel Cemetery
  • Slack Cemetery
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Slack Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Slack Cemetery
  • Happy Home Cemetery
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Happy Home Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Happy Home Cemetery
  • Coulee City Cemetery
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Coulee City Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Coulee City Cemetery
  • Jameson Cemetery
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Jameson Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Jameson Cemetery
  • St. Andrews Cemetery
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Andrews Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Andrews Cemetery
  • Danish Cemetery
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Danish Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Danish Cemetery
  • Schultz Memorial Cemetery
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Schultz Memorial Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Schultz Memorial Cemetery
  • Pleasant Valley Cemetery
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Pleasant Valley Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Pleasant Valley Cemetery
  • Douglas Luthern Cemetery
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Douglas Luthern Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Douglas Luthern Cemetery
  • Kappel Cemetery
    (29 miles [46.7 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>

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

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

  • Saint Andrews
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Saint Andrews have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saint Andrews
    • Saint Andrews is located in Douglas County
  • Douglas
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Douglas have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Douglas
    • Douglas is located in Douglas County

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

The official website for Ephrata: www.ephrata.org/

The official website for Grant County: www.co.grant.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>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Ephrata) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Ephrata. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 47.3177, Longitude: -119.5538    
<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 Ephrata, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024