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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 Four Lakes (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 Four Lakes. 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 Four Lakes ...

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 Four Lakes: Four Lks.

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.

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 doctors and hospitals 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.

Four Lakes is located in Spokane 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 Spokane County: Benewah (ID), Bonner (ID), Kootenai (ID), Lincoln, Pend Oreille, Stevens & Whitman.

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

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

Cemeteries Near Four Lakes ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Four Lakes.

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

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

  • Green Mound Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Green Mound Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Green Mound Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Marshall Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Marshall Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Marshall Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • St. Annes Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Annes Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Annes Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Lakes Memorial Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Lakes Memorial Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Lakes Memorial Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Fairview Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
  • New England Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the New England Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the New England Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Medical Lake Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Medical Lake Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Medical Lake Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Spokane Memorial Gardens Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Spokane Memorial Gardens Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Spokane Memorial Gardens Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Greenwood Memorial Terrace Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Greenwood Memorial Terrace Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Greenwood Memorial Terrace Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Riverside Memorial Park
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Riverside Memorial Park
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Riverside Memorial Park have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Mt. Nebo Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Mt. Nebo Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Mt. Nebo Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Military Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Military Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Military Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (51 more) ...

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 Four Lakes in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Four Lakes.

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

  • Cheney
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
  • Marshall
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
  • Medical Lake
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
  • Deep Creek
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Spokane
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Hite
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hite have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hite
    • Hite is located in Spokane County
  • Tyler
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Tyler. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tyler
    • Tyler is located in Spokane County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Tyler
    • From Four Lakes to Tyler
  • Spangle
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
  • East Spokane
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for East Spokane have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Spokane
    • East Spokane is located in Spokane County
  • Reardan
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
  • Chester
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Chester. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chester
    • Chester is located in Spokane County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Chester
    • From Four Lakes to Chester
  • Mica
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
  • Continue List   (15 more) ...
    • Freeman
      (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Freeman have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Freeman
      • Freeman is located in Spokane County
    • Mead
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
    • Plaza
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Plaza have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plaza
      • Plaza is located in Spokane County

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

Newspapers Published in Four Lakes ...

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 108 newspapers that have been published in the area around Four Lakes.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Four Lakes, there are papers which were published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<6>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Four Lakes.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we first turn to 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 Four Lakes:

Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Four Lakes. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.

The official website for Spokane County: www.spokanecounty.org/

The official website for State of Washington: https://wa.gov/

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 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>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 Four Lakes, 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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Four Lakes) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Four Lakes. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 47.5614, Longitude: -117.5944    









 

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This page was last modified/updated: 29 Apr 2025