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A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
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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 Heather (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 Heather. 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 and doctors 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.

Heather is located in Pacific County.

To see how the shape of Washington's counties may have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Pacific County: Clatsop (OR), Grays Harbor, Lewis & Wahkiakum.

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

  • Pacific County     (The home county of Heather)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Heather, with the one closest to Heather listed first.
    • Tokeland
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Bay Center
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Oysterville
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
    • South Bend
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Raymond
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
    • Nahcotta
      (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
    • Ocean Park
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
    • Menlo
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Menlo is located in Pacific County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Menlo
    • Breakers
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
      • Breakers is located in Pacific County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Breakers
    • Long Beach
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
    • Lebam
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Naselle
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Grays Harbor County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Heather, with the one closest to Heather listed first.
    • Grayland
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Bay City
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
      • Bay City is located in Grays Harbor County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bay City
    • Cohassett Beach
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
      • Cohassett Beach is located in Grays Harbor County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cohassett Beach
    • Laidlow
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
      • Laidlow is located in Grays Harbor County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Laidlow
    • Ocosta
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
      • Ocosta is located in Grays Harbor County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ocosta
    • Westport
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Markham
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Markham is located in Grays Harbor County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Markham
    • Ocean Shores
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
    • Grays Harbor City
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
      • Grays Harbor City is located in Grays Harbor County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grays Harbor City
    • Gray Gables
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
      • Gray Gables is located in Grays Harbor County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gray Gables
    • Oyehut
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
      • Oyehut is located in Grays Harbor County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oyehut
    • Hoquiam
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Hoquiam is located in Grays Harbor County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hoquiam
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 8,699 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Hoquiam <1>

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

Cemeteries Near Heather ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Heather.

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.

Although we don't have the information ourselves, if you need information about a burial or interment, photos, transcripts, how to contact the cemetery or local authorities, please visit our list of websites on our Genealogy Helper Page for Heather - one of the links might be able to help.

If not found below, our Cemetery List for Heather covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.

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

  • Washington Cemetery
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
  • Sunset Memorial Park
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
  • Forest Hill Cemetery
    (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
  • Fern Hill Cemetery
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
  • Giesy Family Cemetery
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Giesy Family Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Giesy Family Cemetery is located less than 2 miles<3> to the northwest of Menlo.
    • The Giesy Family Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Kiel Colony Cemetery
    • Willie Keil Gravesite
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #641574 <2>
  • Fern Hill Cemetery
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
  • Wynooche Cemetery
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
  • Lone Fir Cemetery
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)

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

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

  • North Cove
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • North Cove is located in Pacific County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Cove
  • Ocosta
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Ocosta is located in Grays Harbor County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ocosta
  • Markham
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Markham is located in Grays Harbor County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Markham
  • Bay Center
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Oysterville
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
  • South Bend
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
  • Hoquiam
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Hoquiam is located in Grays Harbor County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hoquiam
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 8,699 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Hoquiam <1>
  • South Aberdeen
    (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
    • South Aberdeen is located in Grays Harbor County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Aberdeen
  • Aberdeen
    (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
    • Aberdeen is located in Grays Harbor County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Aberdeen
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 16,827 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Aberdeen <1>
  • Artic
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Artic is located in Grays Harbor County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Artic
  • Cosmopolis
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
  • Willapa
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
    • Willapa is located in Pacific County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Willapa
  • Continue List   (5 more) ...
    • Aberdeen Junction
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Aberdeen Junction is located in Grays Harbor County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Aberdeen Junction
    • Melbourne
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
      • Melbourne is located in Grays Harbor County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Melbourne
    • Montesano
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)

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

Newspapers Published in Heather ...

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 77 newspapers that have been published in the area around Heather.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Heather, there are papers which were published within 26 miles [41.8 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Heather.

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 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 Heather:

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 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.
<3>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Heather) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Heather, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.