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 Old Town (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 Old Town. 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.
Old Town is located in Clallam County.
To see how the shape of Washington's counties may have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.
Below are the counties that are near Old Town. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Old Town:
- Clallam County (The home county of Old Town)
- The following are listed by their distance from Old Town, with the one closest to Old Town listed first.
- Carlsborg
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
- River Road
(5 miles [8 km] to the south)
- River Road is located in Clallam County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for River Road
- Sequim
(5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
- Port Williams
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
- Port Williams is located in Clallam County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Port Williams
- Bell Hill
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
- Bell Hill is located in Clallam County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bell Hill
- Little Oklahoma
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
- Little Oklahoma is located in Clallam County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Little Oklahoma
- Blyn
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
- Blyn is located in Clallam County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blyn
- Port Angeles
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
- Elwha
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
- Elwha is located in Clallam County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elwha
- Joyce
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
- Port Crescent ‑ Historic
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
- Port Crescent is located in Clallam County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Port Crescent
- Island County
- The following are listed by their distance from Old Town, with the one closest to Old Town listed first.
- San de Fuca
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
- San de Fuca is located in Island County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for San de Fuca
- Coupeville
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
- Oak Harbor
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
- Greenbank
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
- Camano
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
- Freeland
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
- Jefferson County
- The following are listed by their distance from Old Town, with the one closest to Old Town listed first.
- Gardiner
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
- Adelma Beach
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
- Adelma Beach is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Adelma Beach
- Port Townsend
(18 miles [29 km] to the east)
- Irondale ‑ Historic
(18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
- Irondale is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Irondale
- Port Hadlock - Irondale
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
- Port Hadlock
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
- Chimacum
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
- Leland
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
- Leland is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leland
- Marrowstone
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
- Nordland
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
- Beaver Valley
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
- Beaver Valley is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beaver Valley
- Quilcene
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
- San Juan County
- The following are listed by their distance from Old Town, with the one closest to Old Town listed first.
- False Bay
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
- Argyle
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
- Argyle is located in San Juan County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Argyle
- Friday Harbor
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
- Lopez Island
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
- Lopez Island is located in San Juan County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lopez Island
- Lopez
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
- Lopez is located in San Juan County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lopez
- Decatur Island
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
- Shaw Island
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
- Shaw Island is located in San Juan County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shaw Island
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Old Town, see our County-by-County Page for Old Town.
Cemeteries Near Old Town ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Old Town.
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 Old Town - one of the links might be able to help.
If not found below, our Cemetery List for Old Town covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Old Town, with the one closest to Old Town listed first.
- Sequim View Cemetery
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
- Jamestown Cemetery
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
- Mt. Angeles Cemetery
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
- Ocean View Cemetery
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
- Laurel Grove Cemetery
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
- Harling Point Chinese Cemetery
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
- Ross Bay Cemetery
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
- Sunnyside Cemetery
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
- Congregation Emanu-El Cemetery
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
- Quadra Street Cemetery
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
- Sound View Cemetery
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
- Veteran's Cemetery
(23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
- Continue List (13 more) ...
- St. Mary's Cemetery
(23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for St. Mary's Cemetery
- To give a relative sense of its location, the St. Mary's Cemetery is located in the vicinity of Metchosin (BC)
- The St. Mary's Cemetery has also been known as:
- Metchosin Pioneer Cemetery
- St. Mary the Virgin Anglican Church Cemetery
- St. Mary The Virgin Church Yard Cemetery
- St. Mary The Virgin Churchyard Cemetery
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2459848 <2>
- Lopez Union Cemetery
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
- Quilcene Cemetery
(25 miles [40.2 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 Old Town in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Old Town.
These communities are listed based on their distance from Old Town, with the one closest to Old Town listed first.
- Rena
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
- Rena is located in Clallam County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rena
- Port Williams
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
- Port Williams is located in Clallam County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Port Williams
- Blyn
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
- Blyn is located in Clallam County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blyn
- Port Angeles
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
- Port Discovery ‑ Historic
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
- Port Discovery is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Port Discovery
- Irondale ‑ Historic
(18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
- Irondale is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Irondale
- Port Townsend
(18 miles [29 km] to the east)
- Chimacum
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
- San de Fuca
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
- San de Fuca is located in Island County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for San de Fuca
- Leland
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
- Leland is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leland
- Coupeville
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
- Richardson
(23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
- Richardson is located in San Juan County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Richardson
- Continue List (8 more) ...
- Quilcene
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
- Oak Harbor
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
- Argyle
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
- Argyle is located in San Juan County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Argyle
We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Old Town. See our List of 1890's Communities around Old Town.
Newspapers Published in Old Town ...
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 67 newspapers that have been published in the area around Old Town.
Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Old Town, there are papers which were published within 28 miles [45.1 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Old Town.
Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...
When we do our genealogical research, we like to start 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 Old Town:
- Websites specific to Washington
- Pages specific to Clallam County
- Genealogy information for nearby counties
- Island County
- Jefferson County
- San Juan 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 Old Town, 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- Old Town) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |