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Our Genealogy Helper

Introduction ...

So far, we found very little information about Ralston. The little that we've found leads us believe that the community is historic.<1>

We've added Ralston to our Gazetteer with the hope that we can develop more information. If you can help us with Ralston, please Contact Us.

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 Ralston (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 Ralston. 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 hospitals and 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.

Although our information shows that the community of Ralston is historic, it would have been located within present day Adams 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 Adams County: Franklin, Grant, Lincoln & Whitman.

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

  • Adams County     (The home county of Ralston)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Ralston, with the one closest to Ralston listed first.
    • Ritzville
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Lind
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
    • Washtucna
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
    • Cunningham
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Hatton
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
  • Columbia County
    • Grange City ‑ Historic
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Grange City have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grange City
      • Grange City is located in Columbia County
  • Franklin County
    • Kahlotus
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
  • Lincoln County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Ralston, with the one closest to Ralston listed first.
    • Sprague
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Mohler
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mohler
      • Mohler is located in Lincoln County
    • Odessa
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Walla Walla County
    • Magallon
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Magallon have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Magallon
      • Magallon is located in Walla Walla County
  • Whitman County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Ralston, with the one closest to Ralston listed first.
    • Hooper
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
    • LaCrosse
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Lamont
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)

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

Newspapers Published in Ralston ...

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 32 newspapers that have been published in the area around Ralston.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Ralston, there are papers which were published within 29 miles [46.7 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Ralston.

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 Ralston:

Cemeteries Near Ralston ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Ralston.

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

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

  • Bemis Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Bemis Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Bemis Cemetery
  • Paha Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Paha Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Paha Cemetery
  • Memorial Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Memorial Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Memorial Cemetery
  • Ritzville Memorial Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
  • Lind Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Lind Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Lind Cemetery
  • Washtucna Pioneer Memorial Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
  • Delight Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Kansas Prairie Cemetery
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Kansas Prairie Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Kansas Prairie Cemetery
  • Michigan Prairie Cemetery
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
  • Winona Cemetery
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Winona Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Winona Cemetery
  • Lakeview Cemetery
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
    • The Lakeview Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Kahlotus Cemetery
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Lakeview Cemetery
  • Grisham Cemetery
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Grisham Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Grisham Cemetery
  • Continue List   (7 more) ...
    • Old Bones Cemetery
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Old Bones Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Old Bones Cemetery
    • Caylor Cemetery
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Caylor Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Caylor Cemetery
    • Hatton Cemetery
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)

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.

While we didn't find Ralston in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Ralston.

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

  • Bemis
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bemis have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bemis
    • Bemis is located in Adams County
  • Paha ‑ Historic
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Paha have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Paha
    • Paha is located in Adams County
  • Fletcher
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Fletcher have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fletcher
    • Fletcher is located in Adams County
  • Ritzville
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
  • Lind
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
  • Washtucna
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
  • Hooper
    (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
  • Providence
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Providence have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Providence
    • Providence is located in Adams County
  • Pampa
    (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Pampa have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pampa
    • Pampa is located in Whitman County
  • Sutton
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sutton have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sutton
    • Sutton is located in Whitman County
  • Kahlotus
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
  • Winona
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Winona have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Winona
    • Winona is located in Whitman County
  • Continue List   (4 more) ...
    • Hatton
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Sprague
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Sulphur
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sulphur have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sulphur
      • Sulphur is located in Franklin County

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

The official website for Adams County: www.co.adams.wa.us/

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

Footnotes ...

<1>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 Ralston, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Ralston) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Ralston. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 46.9838, Longitude: -118.3427       In this case, the coordinates for Ralston have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>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.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024