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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 Oak Harbor (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 Oak Harbor. 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 Oak Harbor ...

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 have occurred.

For example, a typical abbreviation for Oak Harbor: Oak Hbr. (or less commonly used: Oak Harb. or Oak Hrbr.)

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 northwest 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 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.

Oak Harbor is located in Island County.

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 Island County: Jefferson, Kitsap, San Juan, Skagit & Snohomish.

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

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

Cemeteries Near Oak Harbor ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Oak Harbor.

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 Oak Harbor covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.

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

  • Maple Leaf Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
  • Sunnyside Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Camano Lutheran Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
  • Camano Island Pioneer Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Camano Island Pioneer Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Camano Island Pioneer Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Pleasant Ridge Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Pleasant Ridge Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Pleasant Ridge Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Fern Hill Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
    • 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.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Skagit City Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Skagit City Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Skagit City Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Grandview Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Grandview Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Grandview Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Laurel Grove Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Laurel Grove Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Laurel Grove Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Our Saviours Lutheran Church Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
  • Scandinavian Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
  • Bay View Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Bay View Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Bay View Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (22 more) ...
    • Sound View Cemetery
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Sound View Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Sound View Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Mt. Vernon Cemetery
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Mt. Vernon Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Mt. Vernon Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Hawthorne Memorial Park
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Hawthorne Memorial Park
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Hawthorne Memorial Park have been provided by the GNIS.<3> 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.<5>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Oak Harbor had a population of 21 people in 1895 with a post office and no railroad service. In 2020, Oak Harbor had a population of 23,643 people.

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

  • San de Fuca
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
  • Coupeville
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
  • La Conner
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
  • Gibraltar
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Gibraltar have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gibraltar
    • Gibraltar is located in Skagit County
  • Port Townsend
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
  • Stanwood
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
  • Fredonia
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Fredonia have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fredonia
    • Fredonia is located in Skagit County
  • Whitney
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Whitney have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Whitney
    • Whitney is located in Skagit County
  • Skagit City
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
  • Bay View
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bay View have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bay View
    • Bay View is located in Skagit County
  • Anacortes
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
  • Florence
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Florence. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Florence
    • Florence is located in Snohomish County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Florence
    • From Oak Harbor to Florence
  • Continue List   (16 more) ...
    • Avon ‑ Historic
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Avon have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Avon
      • Avon is located in Skagit County
    • Richardson
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Richardson have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Richardson
      • Richardson is located in San Juan County
    • Decatur Island
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Oak Harbor ...

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 118 newspapers that have been published in the area around Oak Harbor.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Oak Harbor. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Oak Harbor and those printed in the larger area surrounding Oak Harbor.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 23 miles [37 km]<6> of Oak Harbor.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we first visit 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 Oak Harbor:

The official website for Oak Harbor: www.oakharbor.org/

The official website for Island County: www.islandcounty.net/

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

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>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.
<3>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.
<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>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 Oak Harbor, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<6>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or 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- Oak Harbor) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Oak Harbor. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 48.2982, Longitude: -122.6436    









 

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In closing, please keep in mind that we can not guarantee the accuracy or timeliness of the information on this website, so use with care. We encourage you to double-check the information that is critical to you.

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This page was last modified/updated: 29 Apr 2025