RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Washington >> Whatcom County >> South Beach >> Genealogy HelperIndex...










Learn About
The Commemorative
Quarter for
Washington

The Commemorative Quarter for Washington





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 South Beach (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 South Beach. 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 South Beach ...

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 South Beach: S. Beach

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 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.

South Beach is located in Whatcom 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 Whatcom County: Okanogan, San Juan & Skagit.

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

  • Whatcom County     (The home county of South Beach)
    • The following are listed by their distance from South Beach, with the one closest to South Beach listed first.
    • Point Roberts
      (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Blaine
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
    • Birch Bay
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
    • Kickerville
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kickerville
      • Kickerville is located in Whatcom County
    • Custer
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
    • Ferndale
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
    • Lummi
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lummi
      • Lummi is located in Whatcom County
    • Lummi Island
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Lynden
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
    • Bellingham
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
  • San Juan County
    • The following are listed by their distance from South Beach, with the one closest to South Beach listed first.
    • Waldron
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Waldron
      • Waldron is located in San Juan County
    • Eastsound
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
    • Deer Harbor
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
    • Roche Harbor
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
    • Olga
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
    • Orcas
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
    • Shaw Island
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shaw Island
      • Shaw Island is located in San Juan County
    • Friday Harbor
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
  • Skagit County
    • Urban
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Urban
      • Urban is located in Skagit County

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

Newspapers Published in South Beach ...

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 7 newspapers that have been published in the area around South Beach.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of South Beach, there are papers which were published within 13 miles [20.9 km]<2>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for South Beach.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we 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 South Beach:

Cemeteries Near South Beach ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of South Beach.

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

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

  • Boundary Bay Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
  • Beth Tikvah Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Beth Tikvah Cemetery is located 6 miles [9.7 km]<2> to the north of Surrey (BC).
    • The Beth Tikvah Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Beth Tikvah Jewish Cemetery
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Beth Tikvah Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2443242 <3>
  • Sunnyside Lawn Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Temple Sholom Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Temple Sholom Cemetery is located 6 miles [9.7 km]<2> to the north of Surrey (BC).
    • The Temple Sholom Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Temple Shalom Cemetery
    • Temple Shalom Jewish Cemetery
    • Temple Sholom Jewish Cemetery
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Temple Sholom Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2388552 <3>
  • Victory Memorial Park
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Victory Memorial Park is a very large cemetery that is located 5 miles [8 km]<2> to the north of Surrey (BC).
    • The Victory Memorial Park has also been known as:
    • Veterans Memorial Park
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Victory Memorial Park
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2226367 <3>
  • Gardens of Gethsemani Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
  • Hillsdale Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
  • Valley View Memorial Gardens
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
  • Galiano Island Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for the Galiano Island Cemetery. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<4>
    • The Galiano Island Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Galiano Cemetery
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Galiano Island Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2491107 <3>
  • Kulshan Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Kulshan Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<5> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Kulshan Cemetery
  • Blaine Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Blaine Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located outside and to the east of Blaine.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Blaine Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #76716 <3>
  • Surrey Centre Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Surrey Centre Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located in Cloverdale (BC).
    • The Surrey Centre Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Christ Church Cemetery
    • Surrey City Cemetery
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Surrey Centre Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2098350 <3>
  • Continue List   (35 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.<6>

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

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

  • Semiahmoo ‑ Historic
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Semiahmoo have been provided by the GNIS.<5> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Semiahmoo
    • Semiahmoo is located in Whatcom County
  • Blaine
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
  • Birch Bay
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
  • Hillsdale
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hillsdale have been provided by the GNIS.<5> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hillsdale
    • Hillsdale is located in Whatcom County
  • Haynie
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Haynie have been provided by the GNIS.<5> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Haynie
    • Haynie is located in Whatcom County
  • Waldron
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Waldron
    • Waldron is located in San Juan County
  • Mountain View
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mountain View have been provided by the GNIS.<5> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mountain View
    • Mountain View is located in Whatcom County
  • Custer
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
  • Eastsound
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
  • Lummi
    (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lummi
    • Lummi is located in Whatcom County
  • Delta
    (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Delta have been provided by the GNIS.<5> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Delta
    • Delta is located in Whatcom County
  • Beach
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Beach have been provided by the GNIS.<5> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beach
    • Beach is located in Whatcom County
  • Continue List   (8 more) ...
    • Brennan
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Brennan have been provided by the GNIS.<5> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brennan
      • Brennan is located in Whatcom County
    • Roche Harbor
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
    • Marietta
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Marietta have been provided by the GNIS.<5> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marietta
      • Marietta is located in Whatcom County

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

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

The official website for Whatcom County: www.co.whatcom.wa.us/

The official website for State of Washington: https://access.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>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- South Beach) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in South Beach. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 48.9773, Longitude: -123.0505       In this case, the coordinates for South Beach have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<3>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.
<4>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.
<5>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.
<6>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 South Beach, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

Copyright 2024
All Rights Reserved

Thank you for visiting our website.

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.

If you've found an error or have additional information that you would like to share, please don't hesitate to write: Click here to contact us.

This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024