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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 Sudden 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 Sudden 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 Sudden 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.

For example, a typical abbreviation for Sudden Valley: Sudden Vly. (or less commonly used: Sudden Vally. or Sudden 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 northeast corner of their home county. During their lives, most doctors and hospitals were in the next county to the east. 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 east 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.

Sudden Valley is located in Whatcom 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 Whatcom County: Okanogan, San Juan & Skagit.

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

  • Whatcom County     (The home county of Sudden Valley)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Sudden Valley, with the one closest to Sudden Valley listed first.
    • Geneva
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Geneva is located in Whatcom County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Geneva
    • Silver Beach
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Silver Beach is located in Whatcom County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Silver Beach
    • Acme
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Bellingham
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Chuckanut Village
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
      • Chuckanut Village is located in Whatcom County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chuckanut Village
    • Clipper
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
      • Clipper is located in Whatcom County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clipper
    • Saxon
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
      • Saxon is located in Whatcom County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saxon
    • Wickersham
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Wickersham is located in Whatcom County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wickersham
    • Deming
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Welcome
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Welcome is located in Whatcom County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Welcome
    • Marietta
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
      • Marietta is located in Whatcom County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marietta
    • Everson
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
  • San Juan County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Sudden Valley, with the one closest to Sudden Valley listed first.
    • Olga
      (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
    • Decatur Island
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Eastsound
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
    • Orcas
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
    • Lopez Island
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Lopez Island is located in San Juan County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lopez Island
    • Lopez
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Lopez is located in San Juan County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lopez
    • Shaw Island
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
      • Shaw Island is located in San Juan County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shaw Island
    • Deer Harbor
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
    • Waldron
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
      • Waldron is located in San Juan County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Waldron
  • Skagit County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Sudden Valley, with the one closest to Sudden Valley listed first.
    • Alger
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
      • Alger is located in Skagit County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alger
    • Bow
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
    • Edison
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
      • Edison is located in Skagit County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Edison
    • Sedro - Woolley
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
    • Bay View
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
      • Bay View is located in Skagit County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bay View
    • Burlington
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
    • Indian Village
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Indian Village is located in Skagit County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian Village
    • Urban
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Urban is located in Skagit County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Urban
    • Clear Lake
      (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
      • Clear Lake is located in Skagit County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clear Lake
    • Lyman
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
    • Anacortes
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
    • Mount Vernon
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
  • Snohomish County
    • Lake Ketchum
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
      • Lake Ketchum is located in Snohomish County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Ketchum

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

Cemeteries Near Sudden Valley ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Sudden 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.

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 Sudden Valley - one of the links might be able to help.

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

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

  • Bayview Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bayview Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Bayview Cemetery is a very large cemetery that is located in Bellingham.
    • The Bayview Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Bay View Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #76707 <2>
  • Sunnyland Memorial Park
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Saxon Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
  • Van Zandt Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Mt. Hope Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
  • Bow Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
  • Woodlawn Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodlawn Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Woodlawn Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located outside and to the east of Ferndale.
    • The Woodlawn Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Paradise Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #77126 <2>
  • Greenacres Memorial Park
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Lummi Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
  • Greenwood Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
  • Kendall Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
  • Nooksack Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
  • Continue List   (42 more) ...
    • Union Cemetery
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Bay View Cemetery
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
    • Green Hills Memorial Cemetery
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)

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.<3>

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

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

  • Geneva
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Geneva is located in Whatcom County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Geneva
  • Silver Beach
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Silver Beach is located in Whatcom County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Silver Beach
  • Acme
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
  • Van Wyck
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Van Wyck is located in Whatcom County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Van Wyck
  • Bellingham
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
  • Chuckanut
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Chuckanut is located in Whatcom County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chuckanut
  • Alger
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Alger is located in Skagit County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alger
  • Wickersham
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Wickersham is located in Whatcom County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wickersham
  • Saxon
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Saxon is located in Whatcom County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saxon
  • Wahl
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Wahl is located in Whatcom County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wahl
  • Fairhaven
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Fairhaven is located in Whatcom County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fairhaven
  • Samish
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Samish is located in Skagit County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Samish
  • Continue List   (13 more) ...
    • Prairie
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Prairie is located in Skagit County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prairie
    • Deming
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Goshen
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
      • Goshen is located in Whatcom County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Goshen

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

Newspapers Published in Sudden 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 134 newspapers that have been published in the area around Sudden Valley.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Sudden Valley, there are papers which were published within 23 miles [37 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Sudden 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 helpful 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 Sudden Valley:

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>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.
<3>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 Sudden Valley, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>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- Sudden Valley) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.