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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 Grinnell (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 Grinnell. 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 hospitals 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.

Grinnell 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 Grinnell. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Grinnell:

  • Whitman County     (The home county of Grinnell)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Grinnell, with the one closest to Grinnell listed first.
    • Palouse
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Garfield
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Eden
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Eden have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eden
      • Eden is located in Whitman County
    • Elberton
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elberton
      • Elberton is located in Whitman County
    • Farmington
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Belmont
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Glenwood
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Glenwood have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glenwood
      • Glenwood is located in Whitman County
    • Oakesdale
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oakesdale
      • Oakesdale is located in Whitman County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 425 people
    • Shawnee
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Shawnee have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shawnee
      • Shawnee is located in Whitman County
    • Steptoe
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
    • Albion
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Colfax
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
  • Garfield County
    • Mayview
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mayview have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mayview
      • Mayview is located in Garfield County
  • Spokane County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Grinnell, with the one closest to Grinnell listed first.
    • Latah
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
    • Spring Valley
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spring Valley
      • Spring Valley is located in Spokane County
    • Waverly
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Waverly have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Waverly
      • Waverly is located in Spokane County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 110 people
    • Fairfield
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
  • Benewah County (ID)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Grinnell, with the one closest to Grinnell 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.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for De Smet
      • De Smet is located in Benewah County (ID)
    • Tensed
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tensed
      • Tensed is located in Benewah County (ID)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 123 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Tensed <1>
    • Willard
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Willard
      • Willard is located in Benewah County (ID)
    • Emida
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Emida
      • Emida is located in Benewah County (ID)
    • Plummer
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plummer
      • Plummer is located in Benewah County (ID)
  • Kootenai County (ID)
    • Worley
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Worley
      • Worley is located in Kootenai County (ID)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 265 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Worley <1>
  • Latah County (ID)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Grinnell, with the one closest to Grinnell listed first.
    • Cora
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cora have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cora
      • Cora is located in Latah County (ID)
    • Freeze
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Freeze
      • Freeze is located in Latah County (ID)
    • Potlatch Junction
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Potlatch Junction
      • Potlatch Junction is located in Latah County (ID)
    • Potlatch
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Onaway
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Onaway have been provided by the GNIS.<2> 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
    • Viola
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Viola have been provided by the GNIS.<2> 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 <1>
    • Princeton
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Princeton have been provided by the GNIS.<2> 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 <1>
    • Harvard
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Harvard have been provided by the GNIS.<2> 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 <1>
    • Moscow
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Moscow have been provided by the GNIS.<2> 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 <1>
    • Howell
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Howell have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Howell
      • Howell is located in Latah County (ID)
    • Troy
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Troy have been provided by the GNIS.<2> 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 <1>
    • Lenville
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lenville have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lenville
      • Lenville is located in Latah County (ID)
  • Nez Perce County (ID)
    • Leon
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Leon have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leon
      • Leon is located in Nez Perce County (ID)

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

Newspapers Published in Grinnell ...

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 82 newspapers that have been published in the area around Grinnell.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Grinnell, there are papers which were published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Grinnell.

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 Grinnell:

Cemeteries Near Grinnell ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Grinnell.

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

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

  • Eden Valley Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Eden Valley Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Eden Valley Cemetery
  • 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.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Greenwood Cemetery
  • Silver Creek Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Silver Creek Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Silver Creek Cemetery
  • Garfield Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Garfield Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Garfield Cemetery
  • Freeze Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
  • Farmington Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Farmington Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Farmington Cemetery
  • Mt. Olivet Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Mt. Olivet Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Mt. Olivet Cemetery
  • Pitts Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Pitts Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Pitts Cemetery
  • Rock Creek Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Rock Creek Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Rock Creek Cemetery
  • Mendenhall Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Mendenhall Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Mendenhall Cemetery
  • Bethel Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
  • Colfax Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Colfax Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located outside and to the northeast of Colfax.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Colfax Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #76743 <4>
  • Continue List   (45 more) ...
    • Guy Cemetery
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Guy Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Guy Cemetery
    • Oakesdale Cemetery
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Oakesdale Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Oakesdale Cemetery
    • Mountain View Cemetery
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Mountain View Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Mountain View Cemetery

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

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

  • Palouse
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
  • Garfield
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
  • Eden
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Eden have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eden
    • Eden is located in Whitman County
  • Elberton
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elberton
    • Elberton is located in Whitman County
  • Farmington
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
  • Fallon
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Fallon have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fallon
    • Fallon is located in Whitman County
  • Viola
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Viola have been provided by the GNIS.<2> 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 <1>
  • Belmont
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Glenwood
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Glenwood have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glenwood
    • Glenwood is located in Whitman County
  • Whelan
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Whelan have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Whelan
    • Whelan is located in Whitman County
  • Shawnee
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Shawnee have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shawnee
    • Shawnee is located in Whitman County
  • Seltice
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Seltice have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Seltice
    • Seltice is located in Whitman County
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...
    • Oakesdale
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oakesdale
      • Oakesdale is located in Whitman County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 425 people
    • Steptoe
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
    • Colfax
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)

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

Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Grinnell. 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://access.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>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 drawn from Point A (ie- Grinnell) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Grinnell. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 46.9651, Longitude: -117.0738    
<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 Grinnell, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024