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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 Lavista (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 Lavista. 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 northwest 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 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 west 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.

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

  • Whitman County     (The home county of Lavista)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Lavista, with the one closest to Lavista listed first.
    • Juno
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
      • Juno is located in Whitman County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Juno
    • Saint John
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Pine City ‑ Historic
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Pine City is located in Whitman County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine City
    • Lamont
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Malden
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Endicott
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
    • Rosalia
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Steptoe
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
    • Oakesdale
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
      • Oakesdale is located in Whitman County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oakesdale
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 425 people
    • LaCrosse
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
    • Colfax
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Glenwood
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
      • Glenwood is located in Whitman County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glenwood
  • Lincoln County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Lavista, with the one closest to Lavista listed first.
    • Sprague
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Edwall
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Spokane County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Lavista, with the one closest to Lavista listed first.
    • Tyler
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
      • Tyler is located in Spokane County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tyler
    • Spring Valley
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Spring Valley is located in Spokane County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spring Valley
    • Cheney
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
    • Spangle
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Waverly
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Waverly is located in Spokane County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Waverly
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 110 people
    • Latah
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
    • Lakeland Village
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
      • Lakeland Village is located in Spokane County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lakeland Village
    • Silver Lake
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
      • Silver Lake is located in Spokane County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Silver Lake
    • Four Lakes
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
    • Medical Lake
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
    • Marshall
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
      • Marshall is located in Spokane County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marshall
    • Fairfield
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)

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

Cemeteries Near Lavista ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Lavista.

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

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

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

  • Caylor Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
  • Grisham Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
  • Pleasant Valley Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
  • Pine City Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
  • Winona Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
  • Stipe Cemetery
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
  • Rosalia IOOF Evergreen Cemetery
    (17 miles [27.4 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>
  • Lance Hill Cemetery
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
  • Lake View Cemetery
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
  • Macabee Cemetery
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
  • Riggs Cemetery
    (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
  • Bethel Cemetery
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
  • Continue List   (22 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.<3>

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

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

  • Saint John
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Juno
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Juno is located in Whitman County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Juno
  • Pine City ‑ Historic
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Pine City is located in Whitman County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine City
  • Sunset
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
    • Sunset is located in Whitman County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunset
  • Winona
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
    • Winona is located in Whitman County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Winona
  • Endicott
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
  • Thornton
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
    • Thornton is located in Whitman County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Thornton
  • Sprague
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Sutton
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
    • Sutton is located in Whitman County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sutton
  • Rosalia
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
  • Diamond
    (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
    • Diamond is located in Whitman County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Diamond
  • Steptoe
    (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
  • Continue List   (13 more) ...
    • Plaza
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
      • Plaza is located in Spokane County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plaza
    • Tyler
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
      • Tyler is located in Spokane County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tyler
    • Oakesdale
      (21 miles [33.8 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 Lavista. See our List of 1890's Communities around Lavista.

Newspapers Published in Lavista ...

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 46 newspapers that have been published in the area around Lavista.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Lavista, 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 Lavista.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we start with the websites from Cyndi's List, FamilySearch and Genealogy Trails. These professional and volunteer 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 Lavista:

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