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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 Surprise 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 Surprise 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 Surprise 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 Surprise Valley: Surprise Vly. (or less commonly used: Surprise Vally. or Surprise 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 southwest corner of their home county. During their lives, most hospitals were in the next county to the west. 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 west 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.

Surprise Valley is located in Pierce 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 Pierce County: King, Kitsap, Kittitas, Lewis, Mason, Thurston & Yakima.

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

  • Pierce County     (The home county of Surprise Valley)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Surprise Valley, with the one closest to Surprise Valley listed first.
    • Clay City
      (Less than 2 miles to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Clay City have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clay City
      • Clay City is located in Pierce County
    • Kapowsin
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Eatonville
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • La Grande
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • South Creek
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for South Creek. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Creek
      • South Creek is located in Pierce County
    • Graham
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Alder
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Alder have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alder
      • Alder is located in Pierce County
    • Orting
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
    • Melmont ‑ Historic
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Melmont. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Melmont
      • Melmont is located in Pierce County
    • Elk Plain
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Elk Plain have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elk Plain
      • Elk Plain is located in Pierce County
    • Elbe
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
    • Frederickson
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Frederickson have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Frederickson
      • Frederickson is located in Pierce County
    • Carbonado
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
  • King County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Surprise Valley, with the one closest to Surprise Valley listed first.
    • Osceola
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Osceola
      • Osceola is located in King County
    • Milton
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
    • Enumclaw
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Pacific
      (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
    • Algona
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
    • Krain
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Krain
      • Krain is located in King County
    • Auburn
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
    • Green River
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Green River have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green River
      • Green River is located in King County
    • Federal Way
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
    • Lea Hill
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lea Hill have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lea Hill
      • Lea Hill is located in King County
    • One Hundred One Pines
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
    • Black Diamond
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
    • Buenna
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Buenna have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Buenna
      • Buenna is located in King County
  • Lewis County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Surprise Valley, with the one closest to Surprise Valley listed first.
    • Mineral
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
    • Morton
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
    • Cinebar
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Glenoma
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
    • Mossyrock
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Ajlune
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ajlune have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ajlune
      • Ajlune is located in Lewis County
    • Randle
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Thurston County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Surprise Valley, with the one closest to Surprise Valley listed first.
    • North Yelm
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for North Yelm have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Yelm
      • North Yelm is located in Thurston County
    • Yelm
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Yelm
      • Yelm is located in Thurston County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 9,591 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Yelm <2>
    • Rainier
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
    • Nisqually Indian Community
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Nisqually Indian Community. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nisqually Indian Community
      • Nisqually Indian Community is located in Thurston County
    • Kellys Korner
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kellys Korner
      • Kellys Korner is located in Thurston County
    • McIntosh
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for McIntosh
      • McIntosh is located in Thurston County
    • Tanglewilde
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tanglewilde
      • Tanglewilde is located in Thurston County
    • East Olympia
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
    • Lacey
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lacey
      • Lacey is located in Thurston County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 54,178 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Lacey <2>
    • Tenino
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
    • Puget
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Puget
      • Puget is located in Thurston County

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

Newspapers Published in Surprise 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 182 newspapers that have been published in the area around Surprise Valley.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Surprise Valley, there are papers which were published within 27 miles [43.5 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Surprise Valley.

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 professional and volunteer 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 Surprise Valley:

Cemeteries Near Surprise Valley ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Surprise 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 Surprise Valley covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.

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

  • Eatonville Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • The Eatonville Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Glacier Park Cemetery
    • Glacier View Cemetery
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Eatonville Cemetery
  • Rainier Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • The Rainier Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Old Indian Cemetery
    • Old Pioneer Cemetery
    • Rainer Free Cemetery
    • Stringtown Cemetery
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Rainier Cemetery
  • Jensen Pioneer Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
  • Mashel Prairie Indian Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
  • Bethany Lutheran Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
  • Alder Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
  • Soldiers Home Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • The Soldiers Home Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Old Soldiers Home Cemetery
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Soldiers Home Cemetery
  • Orting Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • The Orting Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Orting IOOF Cemetery
    • Orting IOOF Cemetery
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Orting Cemetery
  • Jeschke Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Smith Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • The Smith Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Henry Smith Cemetery
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Smith Cemetery
  • Wren Family Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for the Wren Family Cemetery. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Wren Family Cemetery
  • Carbonado Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
  • Continue List   (52 more) ...
    • Fir Lane Memorial Park
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Spanaway Cemetery
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Wilkeson Catholic Cemetery
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
      • The Wilkeson Catholic Cemetery has also been known as:
      • Lady of the Lourdes Catholic Church Cemetery
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Wilkeson Catholic Cemetery

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 Surprise Valley in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Surprise Valley.

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

  • Kapowsin
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
  • Eatonville
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
  • Leber
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Leber have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leber
    • Leber is located in Pierce County
  • Orting
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
  • Carbonado
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
  • McMillin
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for McMillin
    • McMillin is located in Pierce County
  • Wilkeson
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
  • South Prairie
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
  • Roy
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roy
    • Roy is located in Pierce County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 823 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Roy <2>
  • Burnett
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Burnett have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Burnett
    • Burnett is located in Pierce County
  • Cascade Junction
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cascade Junction have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cascade Junction
    • Cascade Junction is located in Pierce County
  • Alderton
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alderton
    • Alderton is located in Pierce County
  • Continue List   (15 more) ...
    • Hillhurst
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hillhurst have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hillhurst
      • Hillhurst is located in Pierce County
    • Meeker
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Meeker have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meeker
      • Meeker is located in Pierce County
    • Yelm
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Yelm
      • Yelm is located in Thurston County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 9,591 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Yelm <2>

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

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

The official website for Pierce County: www.co.pierce.wa.us/

The official website for State of Washington: https://access.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>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Surprise Valley) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Surprise Valley. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 46.9304, Longitude: -122.2329       In this case, the coordinates for Surprise Valley have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<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 Surprise Valley, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024