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 Lawrence (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 Lawrence. 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.
Lawrence is located in Whatcom 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 Whatcom County: Okanogan, San Juan & Skagit.
Below are the counties that are near Lawrence. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Lawrence:
- Whatcom County (The home county of Lawrence)
- The following are listed by their distance from Lawrence, with the one closest to Lawrence listed first.
- Everson
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
- Deming
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
- Nooksack
(5 miles [8 km] to the north)
- Nooksack is located in Whatcom County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nooksack
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,659 people
- Welcome
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
- Welcome is located in Whatcom County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Welcome
- Clipper
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
- Clipper is located in Whatcom County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clipper
- Clearbrook
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
- Clearbrook is located in Whatcom County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clearbrook
- Kendall
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
- Kendall is located in Whatcom County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kendall
- Peaceful Valley
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
- Peaceful Valley is located in Whatcom County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Peaceful Valley
- Silver Beach
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
- Silver Beach is located in Whatcom County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Silver Beach
- Sumas
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
- Lynden
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
- Sudden Valley
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
- Sudden Valley is located in Whatcom County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sudden Valley
- Geneva
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
- Geneva is located in Whatcom County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Geneva
- San Juan County
- The following are listed by their distance from Lawrence, with the one closest to Lawrence listed first.
- Olga
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
- Eastsound
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
- Skagit County
- The following are listed by their distance from Lawrence, with the one closest to Lawrence listed first.
- Alger
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
- Alger is located in Skagit County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alger
- Bow
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
- Edison
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
- Edison is located in Skagit County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Edison
- Sedro - Woolley
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
- Urban
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
- Urban is located in Skagit County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Urban
- Lyman
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
- Indian Village
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
- Indian Village is located in Skagit County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian Village
- Burlington
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
- Hamilton
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
- Bay View
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
- Bay View is located in Skagit County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bay View
- Clear Lake
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
- Clear Lake is located in Skagit County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clear Lake
- Anacortes
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
- Mount Vernon
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Lawrence, see our County-by-County Page for Lawrence.
Cemeteries Near Lawrence ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Lawrence.
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 Lawrence - one of the links might be able to help.
If not found below, our Cemetery List for Lawrence covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Lawrence, with the one closest to Lawrence listed first.
- Mt. Hope Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
- Nooksack Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
- Van Zandt Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
- Kendall Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
- Indian Joe Cemetery
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
- Greenwood Cemetery
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
- Sunnyland Memorial Park
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
- Bayview Cemetery
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bayview Cemetery
- To give a relative sense of its location, the Bayview Cemetery is a very large cemetery that is located in Bellingham.
- The Bayview Cemetery has also been known as:
- Bay View Cemetery
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #76707 <2>
- St. Peters Cemetery
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
- Monumenta Cemetery
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
- Lynden Cemetery
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
- South Poplar Mennonite Cemetery
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
- Continue List (46 more) ...
- Woodlawn Cemetery
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodlawn Cemetery
- To give a relative sense of its location, the Woodlawn Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located outside and to the east of Ferndale.
- The Woodlawn Cemetery has also been known as:
- Paradise Cemetery
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #77126 <2>
- Greenacres Memorial Park
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
- Saxon Cemetery
(12 miles [19.3 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 Lawrence in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Lawrence.
These communities are listed based on their distance from Lawrence, with the one closest to Lawrence listed first.
- Goshen
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
- Goshen is located in Whatcom County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Goshen
- Wahl
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
- Wahl is located in Whatcom County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wahl
- Deming
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
- Everson
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
- Nooksack
(5 miles [8 km] to the north)
- Nooksack is located in Whatcom County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nooksack
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,659 people
- Van Wyck
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
- Van Wyck is located in Whatcom County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Van Wyck
- Hampton
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
- Hampton is located in Whatcom County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hampton
- Welcome
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
- Welcome is located in Whatcom County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Welcome
- Silver Beach
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
- Silver Beach is located in Whatcom County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Silver Beach
- Laurel
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
- Laurel is located in Whatcom County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Laurel
- Clearbrook
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
- Clearbrook is located in Whatcom County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clearbrook
- Geneva
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
- Geneva is located in Whatcom County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Geneva
- Continue List (14 more) ...
- Sumas
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
- Lynden
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
- Bellingham
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Lawrence. See our List of 1890's Communities around Lawrence.
Newspapers Published in Lawrence ...
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 86 newspapers that have been published in the area around Lawrence.
Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Lawrence, there are papers which were published within 24 miles [38.6 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Lawrence.
Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...
When we do our genealogical research, we begin with the websites from Cyndi's List, FamilySearch and Genealogy Trails. These websites either 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 Lawrence:
- Websites specific to Washington
- Pages specific to Whatcom County
- Genealogy information for nearby counties
- San Juan County
- Skagit County
- Cemetery Information and Directories for Washington
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 Lawrence, 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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Lawrence) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |