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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 Garfield (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 Garfield. 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 northeast corner of their home county. During their lives, most doctors were in the next county to the east. 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 east 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.

Garfield is located in Whitman 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 Whitman County: Benewah (ID), Latah (ID), Nez Perce (ID), Adams, Asotin, Columbia, Franklin, Garfield, Lincoln & Spokane.

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

  • Whitman County     (The home county of Garfield)
  • Garfield County
    • Mayview
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Mayview. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mayview
      • Mayview is located in Garfield County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Mayview
      • From Garfield to Mayview
  • Spokane County
  • Benewah County (ID)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Garfield, with the one closest to Garfield listed first.
    • De Smet
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for De Smet have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for De Smet
      • De Smet is located in Benewah County (ID)
    • Tensed
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Willard
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
    • Plummer
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Emida
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
    • Chatcolet
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Kootenai County (ID)
  • Latah County (ID)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Garfield, with the one closest to Garfield listed first.
    • Cora
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Cora. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cora
      • Cora is located in Latah County (ID)
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Cora
      • From Garfield to Cora
    • Freeze
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
    • Potlatch Junction
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Onaway
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Onaway have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Onaway
      • Onaway is located in Latah County (ID)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 198 people
    • Potlatch
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Viola
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Viola have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Viola
      • Viola is located in Latah County (ID)
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Viola <2>
    • Princeton
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Princeton have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Princeton
      • Princeton is located in Latah County (ID)
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Princeton <2>
    • Harvard
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Harvard have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harvard
      • Harvard is located in Latah County (ID)
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Harvard <2>
    • Moscow
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Moscow have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Moscow
      • Moscow is located in Latah County (ID)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 26,128 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Moscow <2>
    • Howell
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Howell. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Howell
      • Howell is located in Latah County (ID)
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Howell
      • From Garfield to Howell
    • Troy
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Troy have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Troy
      • Troy is located in Latah County (ID)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 913 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Troy <2>
    • Lenville
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Lenville. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lenville
      • Lenville is located in Latah County (ID)
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Lenville
      • From Garfield to Lenville

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

Cemeteries Near Garfield ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Garfield.

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

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

  • Garfield Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Garfield Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Garfield Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Eden Valley Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Eden Valley Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Eden Valley Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Silver Creek Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Silver Creek Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Silver Creek Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Farmington Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Farmington Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Farmington Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Greenwood Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Greenwood Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Greenwood Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Freeze Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
  • Oakesdale Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Oakesdale Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Oakesdale Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Bethel Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
  • Mt. Olivet Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Mt. Olivet Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Mt. Olivet Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Pitts Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Pitts Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Pitts Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Colfax Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Mendenhall Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Mendenhall Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Mendenhall Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (41 more) ...
    • Lone Pine Cemetery
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Lone Pine Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Lone Pine Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Rock Creek Cemetery
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Rock Creek Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Rock Creek Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Goldenrod Cemetery
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Goldenrod Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Goldenrod Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.

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 Garfield had a population of 317 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Garfield had a population of 591 people.

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

  • Eden
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Eden. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eden
    • Eden is located in Whitman County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Eden
    • From Garfield to Eden
  • Elberton
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
  • Belmont
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
  • Palouse
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Farmington
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Glenwood
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Glenwood. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glenwood
    • Glenwood is located in Whitman County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Glenwood
    • From Garfield to Glenwood
  • Oakesdale
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Seltice
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Seltice. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Seltice
    • Seltice is located in Whitman County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Seltice
    • From Garfield to Seltice
  • Steptoe
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
  • Fallon
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Fallon have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fallon
    • Fallon is located in Whitman County
  • Colfax
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
  • Viola
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Viola have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Viola
    • Viola is located in Latah County (ID)
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Viola <2>
  • Continue List   (15 more) ...
    • Thornton
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Thornton have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Thornton
      • Thornton is located in Whitman County
    • Shawnee
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Shawnee. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shawnee
      • Shawnee is located in Whitman County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Shawnee
      • From Garfield to Shawnee
    • Lone Pine
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Lone Pine. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lone Pine
      • Lone Pine is located in Whitman County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Lone Pine
      • From Garfield to Lone Pine

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Garfield ...

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 81 newspapers that have been published in the area around Garfield.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Garfield. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Garfield and those printed in the larger area surrounding Garfield.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<4> of Garfield.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we like to 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 Garfield:

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

The official website for Whitman County: www.whitmancounty.org/

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>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<3>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.
<4>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- Garfield) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Garfield. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 47.0095, Longitude: -117.1423    
<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 Garfield, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 29 Apr 2025