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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 Lancaster (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 Lancaster. 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.

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

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

  • Whitman County     (The home county of Lancaster)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Lancaster, with the one closest to Lancaster listed first.
    • Saint John
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Juno
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Juno is located in Whitman County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Juno
    • Endicott
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Pine City ‑ Historic
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
      • Pine City is located in Whitman County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine City
    • Steptoe
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
    • Malden
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Lamont
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Colfax
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
    • LaCrosse
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
    • Glenwood
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
      • Glenwood is located in Whitman County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glenwood
    • Rosalia
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Oakesdale
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
      • Oakesdale is located in Whitman County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oakesdale
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 425 people
    • Elberton
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
      • Elberton is located in Whitman County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elberton
  • Garfield County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Lancaster, with the one closest to Lancaster listed first.
    • Mayview
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
      • Mayview is located in Garfield County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mayview
    • Gould City
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
      • Gould City is located in Garfield County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gould City
  • Lincoln County
    • Sprague
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
  • Spokane County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Lancaster, with the one closest to Lancaster listed first.
    • Spring Valley
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
      • Spring Valley is located in Spokane County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spring Valley
    • Tyler
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
      • Tyler is located in Spokane County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tyler
    • Latah
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Waverly
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Waverly is located in Spokane County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Waverly
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 110 people
    • Spangle
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)

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

Cemeteries Near Lancaster ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Lancaster.

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 Lancaster - one of the links might be able to help.

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

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

  • Pleasant Valley Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Winona Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
  • Stipe Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
  • Caylor Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Pine City Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
  • Grisham Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Bethel Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
  • Colfax Cemetery
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Colfax Cemetery
    • 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 Find-A-Grave: FG ID #76743 <2>
  • Onecho Cemetery
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
  • Oakesdale Cemetery
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
  • Riggs Cemetery
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
  • Rosalia IOOF Evergreen Cemetery
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rosalia IOOF Evergreen Cemetery
    • The Rosalia IOOF Evergreen Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Evergreen Cemetery
    • IOOF Cemetery
    • IOOF Cemetery
    • Rosalia Cemetery
    • Rosalia IOOF Evergreen Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #172058 <2>
  • Continue List   (22 more) ...
    • Moys Cemetery
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
    • Davis Cemetery
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
    • Mt. Olivet Cemetery
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)

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.<3>

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

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

  • Saint John
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
  • Endicott
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
  • Juno
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Juno is located in Whitman County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Juno
  • Winona
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Winona is located in Whitman County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Winona
  • Sunset
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Sunset is located in Whitman County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunset
  • Diamond
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Diamond is located in Whitman County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Diamond
  • Sutton
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Sutton is located in Whitman County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sutton
  • Pine City ‑ Historic
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Pine City is located in Whitman County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine City
  • Mockonema
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Mockonema is located in Whitman County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mockonema
  • Steptoe
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
  • Thornton
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Thornton is located in Whitman County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Thornton
  • Colfax
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
  • Continue List   (13 more) ...
    • Glenwood
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
      • Glenwood is located in Whitman County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glenwood
    • Rosalia
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Oakesdale
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
      • Oakesdale is located in Whitman County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oakesdale
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 425 people

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

Newspapers Published in Lancaster ...

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 51 newspapers that have been published in the area around Lancaster.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Lancaster, there are papers which were published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Lancaster.

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 Lancaster:

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>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 Lancaster, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Lancaster) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.