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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 Spokane Valley (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 Spokane Valley. 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 Spokane Valley ...

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 Spokane Valley: Spokane Vly. (or less commonly used: Spokane Vally. or Spokane Vlly.)

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 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.

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

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

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

Cemeteries Near Spokane Valley ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Spokane Valley.

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

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

  • The Pines Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for The Pines Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for The Pines Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Englewood Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Englewood Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Englewood Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Saltese Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Saltese Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Saltese Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Pleasant Prairie Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Pleasant Prairie Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Pleasant Prairie Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • St. Josephs Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Josephs Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Josephs Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Orchard Prairie Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Orchard Prairie Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Orchard Prairie Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Mt. St. Michael Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Mt. St. Michael Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Mt. St. Michael Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Peone Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Spokane Evergreen Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Spokane Evergreen Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Spokane Evergreen Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Moran Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
  • Mica Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Mica Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Mica Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Holy Cross Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Continue List   (55 more) ...
    • Spokane Memorial Gardens Cemetery
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Spokane Memorial Gardens Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Spokane Memorial Gardens Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Evergreen Cemetery
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Evergreen Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Evergreen Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Mt. Nebo Cemetery
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Mt. Nebo Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Mt. Nebo Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> 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>

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

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

  • East Spokane
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for East Spokane have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Spokane
    • East Spokane is located in Spokane County
  • Chester
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Chester. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chester
    • Chester is located in Spokane County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Chester
    • From Spokane Valley to Chester
  • Spokane
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
  • Mica
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
  • Mead
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
  • Peone
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
  • Freeman
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Freeman have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Freeman
    • Freeman is located in Spokane County
  • Hauser
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hauser have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hauser
    • Hauser is located in Kootenai County (ID)
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 726 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Hauser <2>
  • Buckeye
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Buckeye. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Buckeye
    • Buckeye is located in Spokane County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Buckeye
    • From Spokane Valley to Buckeye
  • Marshall
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
  • Post Falls
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Post Falls have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Post Falls
    • Post Falls is located in Kootenai County (ID)
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 38,933 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Post Falls <2>
  • Rockford
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
  • 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 Spokane Valley. See our List of 1890's Communities around Spokane Valley.

Newspapers Published in Spokane Valley ...

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 124 newspapers that have been published in the area around Spokane Valley.

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

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we like to 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 Spokane Valley:

The official website for Spokane Valley: www.spokanevalley.org/

The official website for Spokane County: www.spokanecounty.org/

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

Footnotes ...

<1>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.
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<3>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.
<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 Spokane Valley, 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- Spokane Valley) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Spokane Valley. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 47.6717, Longitude: -117.2400    









 

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This page was last modified/updated: 29 Apr 2025