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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 Saint John (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 Saint John. 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 Saint John ...

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 Saint John: St. John

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 hospitals and 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.

Saint John is located in Whitman 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 Whitman County: Benewah (ID), Latah (ID), Nez Perce (ID), Adams, Asotin, Columbia, Franklin, Garfield, Lincoln & Spokane.

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

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

Cemeteries Near Saint John ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Saint John.

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

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

  • Pleasant Valley Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Pleasant Valley Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Pleasant Valley Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Pine City Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Pine City Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Pine City Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Stipe Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
  • Bethel Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Caylor Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Caylor Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Caylor Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Grisham Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Grisham Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Grisham Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Winona Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Winona Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Winona Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Riggs Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Riggs Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Riggs Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Rosalia IOOF Evergreen Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
  • Oakesdale Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Oakesdale Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Oakesdale Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Colfax Cemetery
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
  • Garfield Cemetery
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Garfield Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Garfield Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (26 more) ...
    • Lance Hill Cemetery
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Lance Hill Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Lance Hill Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Mt. Olivet Cemetery
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Mt. Olivet Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Mt. Olivet Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Eden Valley Cemetery
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Eden Valley Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Eden Valley Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> 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 in 1895, Saint John had a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Saint John had a population of 547 people.

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

  • Juno
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Juno. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Juno
    • Juno is located in Whitman County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Juno
    • From Saint John to Juno
  • Sunset
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sunset have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunset
    • Sunset is located in Whitman County
  • Pine City ‑ Historic
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Pine City have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine City
    • Pine City is located in Whitman County
  • Thornton
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Thornton have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Thornton
    • Thornton is located in Whitman County
  • Endicott
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Diamond
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Diamond have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Diamond
    • Diamond is located in Whitman County
  • Steptoe
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Winona
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Winona have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Winona
    • Winona is located in Whitman County
  • Rosalia
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
  • Mockonema
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mockonema have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mockonema
    • Mockonema is located in Whitman County
  • Oakesdale
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
  • Sutton
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sutton have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sutton
    • Sutton is located in Whitman County
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...

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

Newspapers Published in Saint John ...

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 54 newspapers that have been published in the area around Saint John.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Saint John, there are papers which were published within 28 miles [45.1 km]<6>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Saint John.

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 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 Saint John:

Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Saint John. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.

The official website for Whitman County: www.whitmancounty.org/

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

Footnotes ...

<1>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.
<2>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.
<3>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 Saint John, 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 from Point A (ie- Saint John) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Saint John. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 47.0900, Longitude: -117.5814    









 

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This page was last modified/updated: 29 Apr 2025