RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Washington >> Spokane County >> Orchard Prairie >> Genealogy HelperIndex...

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 Orchard Prairie (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 Orchard Prairie. 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 Orchard Prairie ...

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 Orchard Prairie: Orchard Pr.

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 hospitals 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.

Orchard Prairie is located in Spokane 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 Spokane County: Benewah (ID), Bonner (ID), Kootenai (ID), Lincoln, Pend Oreille, Stevens & Whitman.

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

  • Spokane County     (The home county of Orchard Prairie)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Orchard Prairie, with the one closest to Orchard Prairie listed first.
    • Hillyard
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Hillyard is located in Spokane County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hillyard
    • Mead
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Millwood
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Millwood is located in Spokane County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Millwood
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,801 people
    • Irwin
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Irwin is located in Spokane County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Irwin
    • Country Homes
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
      • Country Homes is located in Spokane County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Country Homes
    • Town and Country
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
      • Town and Country is located in Spokane County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Town and Country
    • Fairwood
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
      • Fairwood is located in Spokane County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fairwood
    • Dishman
      (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
      • Dishman is located in Spokane County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dishman
    • Spokane Valley
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Trentwood
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
      • Trentwood is located in Spokane County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Trentwood
    • Colbert
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Dartford
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Dartford is located in Spokane County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dartford
  • Lincoln County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Orchard Prairie, with the one closest to Orchard Prairie listed first.
    • Long Lake
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
      • Long Lake is located in Lincoln County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Long Lake
    • Reardan
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
  • Pend Oreille County
    • Camden
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
      • Camden is located in Pend Oreille County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Camden
  • Stevens County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Orchard Prairie, with the one closest to Orchard Prairie listed first.
    • Tumtum
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Tumtum is located in Stevens County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tumtum
    • Clavton
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Clayton
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Ford
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Loon Lake
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Springdale
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Bonner County (ID)
  • Kootenai County (ID)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Orchard Prairie, with the one closest to Orchard Prairie listed first.
    • State Line Village
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
      • State Line Village is located in Kootenai County (ID)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for State Line Village
    • State Line
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
      • State Line is located in Kootenai County (ID)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for State Line
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 49 people
    • Hauser
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
      • Hauser is located in Kootenai County (ID)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hauser
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 726 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Hauser <1>
    • Post Falls
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
    • Coeur d'Alene Junction
      (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
      • Coeur d'Alene Junction is located in Kootenai County (ID)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coeur d'Alene Junction
    • Rathdrum
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
      • Rathdrum is located in Kootenai County (ID)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rathdrum
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 9,419 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Rathdrum <1>
    • Huetter
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
      • Huetter is located in Kootenai County (ID)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Huetter
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 114 people
    • Sturgeon
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
      • Sturgeon is located in Kootenai County (ID)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sturgeon
    • Echo Beach
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Echo Beach is located in Kootenai County (ID)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Echo Beach
    • Bellgrove
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
      • Bellgrove is located in Kootenai County (ID)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bellgrove
    • Coeur d'Alene
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
    • Hayden
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
      • Hayden is located in Kootenai County (ID)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hayden
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 15,713 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Hayden <1>

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

Cemeteries Near Orchard Prairie ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Orchard Prairie.

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 Orchard Prairie - one of the links might be able to help.

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

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

  • Orchard Prairie Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
  • Pleasant Prairie Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
  • Mt. St. Michael Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
  • Spokane Evergreen Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
  • Peone Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
  • Holy Cross Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
  • Englewood Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
  • The Pines Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
  • St. Josephs Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
  • Fairmount Memorial Park
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fairmount Memorial Park
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Fairmount Memorial Park is a very large cemetery that is located outside and to the northwest of Spokane.
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #76786 <2>
  • Military Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
  • Mt. Nebo Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
  • Continue List   (49 more) ...

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 Orchard Prairie in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Orchard Prairie.

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

  • Mead
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
  • East Spokane
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • East Spokane is located in Spokane County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Spokane
  • Spokane
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Peone
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Peone is located in Spokane County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Peone
  • Chester
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Chester is located in Spokane County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chester
  • Buckeye
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Buckeye is located in Spokane County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Buckeye
  • Chattaroy
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
  • Mica
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
    • Mica is located in Spokane County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mica
  • Hazard
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Hazard is located in Spokane County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hazard
  • Marshall
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Marshall is located in Spokane County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marshall
  • Hauser
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
    • Hauser is located in Kootenai County (ID)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hauser
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 726 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Hauser <1>
  • Freeman
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
    • Freeman is located in Spokane County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Freeman
  • Continue List   (13 more) ...
    • Post Falls
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
    • Deer Park
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Deep Creek
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
      • Deep Creek is located in Spokane County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Deep Creek

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

Newspapers Published in Orchard Prairie ...

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 120 newspapers that have been published in the area around Orchard Prairie.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Orchard Prairie, 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 Orchard Prairie.

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 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 Orchard Prairie:

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 Orchard Prairie, 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' (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- Orchard Prairie) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.