RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Washington >> Franklin County >> Sperry >> 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 Sperry (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 Sperry. 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 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.

Sperry is located in Franklin 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 Franklin County: Adams, Benton, Columbia, Grant, Walla Walla & Whitman.

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

  • Franklin County     (The home county of Sperry)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Sperry, with the one closest to Sperry listed first.
    • Kahlotus
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Windust
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
      • Windust is located in Franklin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Windust
    • Connell
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
    • Mesa
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
      • Mesa is located in Franklin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mesa
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 514 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Mesa <1>
  • Adams County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Sperry, with the one closest to Sperry listed first.
    • Washtucna
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Cunningham
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Hatton
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
    • Lind
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Providence
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Providence is located in Adams County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Providence
    • Paha ‑ Historic
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
      • Paha is located in Adams County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Paha
    • Ritzville
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
  • Columbia County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Sperry, with the one closest to Sperry listed first.
    • Grange City ‑ Historic
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Grange City is located in Columbia County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grange City
    • Starbuck
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
    • Relief
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Relief is located in Columbia County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Relief
    • Delaney
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
      • Delaney is located in Columbia County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Delaney
    • Menoken
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Menoken is located in Columbia County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Menoken
  • Walla Walla County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Sperry, with the one closest to Sperry listed first.
    • Magallon
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
      • Magallon is located in Walla Walla County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Magallon
    • Tompkins
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
      • Tompkins is located in Walla Walla County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tompkins
    • Clyde
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
      • Clyde is located in Walla Walla County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clyde
    • Prescott
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
      • Prescott is located in Walla Walla County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prescott
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 310 people
    • Eureka
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
      • Eureka is located in Walla Walla County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eureka
    • Paddock
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
      • Paddock is located in Walla Walla County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Paddock
  • Whitman County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Sperry, with the one closest to Sperry listed first.
    • Hooper
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
    • LaCrosse
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)

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

Cemeteries Near Sperry ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Sperry.

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 Sperry - one of the links might be able to help.

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

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

  • Washtucna Pioneer Memorial Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Lakeview Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lakeview Cemetery
    • The Lakeview Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Kahlotus Cemetery
  • Delight Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Old Bones Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Michigan Prairie Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
  • Bemis Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
  • Hatton Cemetery
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
  • Lind Cemetery
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
  • Connell Cemetery
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
  • Continue List   (6 more) ...
    • Paha Cemetery
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
    • Kansas Prairie Cemetery
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
    • Paradise Flats Cemetery
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
    • Ivy Cemetery
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
    • Memorial Cemetery
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
    • Ritzville Memorial Cemetery
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)

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.<4>

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

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

  • Washtucna
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Kahlotus
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Fletcher
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
    • Fletcher is located in Adams County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fletcher
  • Hooper
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
  • Sulphur
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
    • Sulphur is located in Franklin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sulphur
  • Grange City ‑ Historic
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Grange City is located in Columbia County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grange City
  • Bemis
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
    • Bemis is located in Adams County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bemis
  • Starbuck
    (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
  • Clyde
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
    • Clyde is located in Walla Walla County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clyde
  • Hatton
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
  • Lind
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
  • Providence
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Providence is located in Adams County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Providence
  • Continue List   (12 more) ...
    • Connell
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
    • Relief
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Relief is located in Columbia County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Relief
    • Pampa
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
      • Pampa is located in Whitman County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pampa

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

Newspapers Published in Sperry ...

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 35 newspapers that have been published in the area around Sperry.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Sperry, there are papers which were published within 29 miles [46.7 km]<2>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Sperry.

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 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 Sperry:

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- Sperry) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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>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 Sperry, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.