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 Mirror Lake (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 Mirror Lake. 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.
Name Variations for Mirror Lake ...
When searching records, keep in mind that names and their spelling can change over time. Our sources include documents like maps, railroad schedules, Travel, Express and Shipping Guides. Many of these documents date from the 1800's and it's common to find spelling differences.
Although we can't give a definitive list, hopefully the following will give you a feel for the variations that might occur.
For example, a typical abbreviation for Mirror Lake: Mirror Lk.
You might be interested in other communities that are also named Mirror Lake. More information can be found on our Tidbits & Trivia Page for Mirror Lake.
If you have information about these names (such as the reason for the change, date of change, the origin of the name), please Contact Us.
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 southwest corner of their home county. During their lives, most doctors were in the next county to the west. 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 west 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.
Mirror Lake 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 Mirror Lake. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Mirror Lake:
- Whatcom County (The home county of Mirror Lake)
- The following are listed by their distance from Mirror Lake, with the one closest to Mirror Lake listed first.
- Wickersham
(Less than 2 miles to the south)
- Wickersham is located in Whatcom County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wickersham
- Saxon
(Less than 2 miles to the north)
- Saxon is located in Whatcom County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saxon
- Acme
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
- Clipper
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
- Clipper is located in Whatcom County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clipper
- Sudden Valley
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
- Sudden Valley is located in Whatcom County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sudden Valley
- Geneva
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
- Geneva is located in Whatcom County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Geneva
- Deming
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
- Silver Beach
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
- Silver Beach is located in Whatcom County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Silver Beach
- Welcome
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
- Welcome is located in Whatcom County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Welcome
- Bellingham
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
- Chuckanut Village
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
- Chuckanut Village is located in Whatcom County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chuckanut Village
- Everson
(18 miles [29 km] to the north)
- San Juan County
- The following are listed by their distance from Mirror Lake, with the one closest to Mirror Lake listed first.
- Olga
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
- Decatur Island
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
- Skagit County
- The following are listed by their distance from Mirror Lake, with the one closest to Mirror Lake listed first.
- Alger
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
- Alger is located in Skagit County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alger
- Sedro - Woolley
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
- Bow
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
- Lyman
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
- Edison
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
- Edison is located in Skagit County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Edison
- Burlington
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
- Clear Lake
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
- Clear Lake is located in Skagit County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clear Lake
- Hamilton
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
- Big Lake
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
- Big Lake is located in Skagit County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Big Lake
- Mount Vernon
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
- Bay View
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
- Bay View is located in Skagit County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bay View
- Montborne
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
- Montborne is located in Skagit County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Montborne
- Snohomish County
- The following are listed by their distance from Mirror Lake, with the one closest to Mirror Lake listed first.
- Lake Ketchum
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
- Lake Ketchum is located in Snohomish County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Ketchum
- North Stanwood
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
- North Stanwood is located in Snohomish County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Stanwood
- Bryant
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
- Bryant is located in Snohomish County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bryant
- Stanwood
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
- Oso
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
- Oso is located in Snohomish County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oso
- Florence
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
- Florence is located in Snohomish County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Florence
- Utsalady
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
- Utsalady is located in Snohomish County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Utsalady
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Mirror Lake, see our County-by-County Page for Mirror Lake.
Cemeteries Near Mirror Lake ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Mirror Lake.
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 Mirror Lake - one of the links might be able to help.
If not found below, our Cemetery List for Mirror Lake covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Mirror Lake, with the one closest to Mirror Lake listed first.
- Saxon Cemetery
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
- Van Zandt Cemetery
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
- Union Cemetery
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
- Bow Cemetery
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
- Lyman Cemetery
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
- Mt. Hope Cemetery
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
- Green Hills Memorial Cemetery
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
- Hamilton Cemetery
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
- Bayview Cemetery
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
- 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>
- Clear Lake Cemetery
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
- Sunnyland Memorial Park
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
- Bay View Cemetery
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
- Continue List (33 more) ...
- Mt. Vernon Cemetery
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
- Hawthorne Memorial Park
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
- Kendall Cemetery
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
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 Mirror Lake in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Mirror Lake.
These communities are listed based on their distance from Mirror Lake, with the one closest to Mirror Lake listed first.
- Wickersham
(Less than 2 miles to the south)
- Wickersham is located in Whatcom County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wickersham
- Saxon
(Less than 2 miles to the north)
- Saxon is located in Whatcom County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saxon
- Acme
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
- Prairie
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
- Prairie is located in Skagit County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prairie
- Alger
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
- Alger is located in Skagit County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alger
- Samish
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
- Samish is located in Skagit County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Samish
- Geneva
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
- Geneva is located in Whatcom County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Geneva
- Deming
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
- Lyman
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
- Silver Beach
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
- Silver Beach is located in Whatcom County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Silver Beach
- Welcome
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
- Welcome is located in Whatcom County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Welcome
- Chuckanut
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
- Chuckanut is located in Whatcom County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chuckanut
- Continue List (18 more) ...
- Burlington
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
- Clear Lake
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
- Clear Lake is located in Skagit County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clear Lake
- Hamilton
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Mirror Lake. See our List of 1890's Communities around Mirror Lake.
Newspapers Published in Mirror Lake ...
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 121 newspapers that have been published in the area around Mirror Lake.
Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Mirror Lake, there are papers which were published within 23 miles [37 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Mirror Lake.
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 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 Mirror Lake:
- Websites specific to Washington
- Pages specific to Whatcom County
- Genealogy information for nearby counties
- San Juan County
- Skagit County
- Snohomish 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 Mirror Lake, 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' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Mirror Lake) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |