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The Commemorative Quarter for Washington





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 Montesano (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 Montesano. 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 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.

Montesano is located in Grays Harbor County and is the County Seat.

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

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Grays Harbor County: Jefferson, Lewis, Mason, Pacific & Thurston.

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

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

Cemeteries Near Montesano ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Montesano.

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.

If you need information about a burial or interment, photos, transcripts, how to contact the cemetery or local authorities, please visit our selection of Genealogy Websites (see below).

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

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

  • Wynooche Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Wynooche Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Wynooche Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Elma Catholic Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Elma Catholic Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Elma Catholic Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Masonic Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Masonic Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Masonic Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Forest Hill Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Forest Hill Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Forest Hill Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Fern Hill Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
  • Oddfellow Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Oddfellow Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Oddfellow Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Turnow Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Turnow Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Turnow Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Sharon Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Sharon Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Sharon Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Sunset Memorial Park
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Sunset Memorial Park
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Sunset Memorial Park have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • McCleary Pythian Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the McCleary Pythian Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the McCleary Pythian Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Washington Cemetery
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Washington Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Washington Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Oakville Pioneer Cemetery
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Oakville Pioneer Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Oakville Pioneer Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (9 more) ...
    • Giesy Family Cemetery
      (23 miles [37 km] to the south)
    • Fern Hill Cemetery
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Fern Hill Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Fern Hill Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Finnish Cemetery
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Finnish Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Finnish Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.

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.<6>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Montesano had a population of 1,632 people in 1895 with railroad service and no post office. In 2020, Montesano had a population of 4,074 people.

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

  • Melbourne
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
  • Satsop
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Satsop have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Satsop
    • Satsop is located in Grays Harbor County
  • Aberdeen Junction
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Aberdeen Junction have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Aberdeen Junction
    • Aberdeen Junction is located in Grays Harbor County
  • Cosmopolis
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
  • Artic
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Artic have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Artic
    • Artic is located in Grays Harbor County
  • Elma
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
  • South Aberdeen
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
  • Aberdeen
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
  • Porter
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Porter. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Porter
    • Porter is located in Grays Harbor County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Porter
    • From Montesano to Porter
  • Hoquiam
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
  • Cedarville
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Cedarville. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedarville
    • Cedarville is located in Grays Harbor County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Cedarville
    • From Montesano to Cedarville
  • Markham
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Markham have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Markham
    • Markham is located in Grays Harbor County
  • Continue List   (15 more) ...

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Montesano ...

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 103 newspapers that have been published in the area around Montesano.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Montesano. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Montesano and those printed in the larger area surrounding Montesano.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 28 miles [45.1 km]<5> of Montesano.

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 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 Montesano:

The official website for Montesano: www.montesano.us/

The official website for Grays Harbor County: www.co.grays-harbor.wa.us/

The official website for State of Washington: https://wa.gov/

Footnotes ...

<1>The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required.
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<3>An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace.
<4>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.
<5>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 from Point A (ie- Montesano) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Montesano. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 46.9815, Longitude: -123.6008    
<6>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 Montesano, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 29 Apr 2025