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A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
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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 Van Horn (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 Van Horn. 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 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.

Van Horn is located in Skagit 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 Skagit County: Chelan, Island, Okanogan, San Juan, Snohomish & Whatcom.

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

  • Skagit County     (The home county of Van Horn)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Van Horn, with the one closest to Van Horn listed first.
    • Concrete
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Rockport
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Marblemount
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
    • Hamilton
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
    • Lyman
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
    • Mansford
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Mansford is located in Skagit County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mansford
    • Lake Cavanaugh
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
      • Lake Cavanaugh is located in Skagit County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Cavanaugh
    • Clear Lake
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
      • Clear Lake is located in Skagit County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clear Lake
    • Sedro - Woolley
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
    • Big Lake
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
      • Big Lake is located in Skagit County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Big Lake
    • Montborne
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
      • Montborne is located in Skagit County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Montborne
    • Lake McMurray
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Lake McMurray is located in Skagit County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake McMurray
  • Snohomish County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Van Horn, with the one closest to Van Horn listed first.
    • Swede Heaven
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
      • Swede Heaven is located in Snohomish County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Swede Heaven
    • Fortson
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
      • Fortson is located in Snohomish County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fortson
    • Darrington
      (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
    • Oso
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
      • Oso is located in Snohomish County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oso
    • Arlington Heights
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Arlington Heights is located in Snohomish County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Arlington Heights
    • Bryant
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Bryant is located in Snohomish County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bryant
    • Verlot
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
      • Verlot is located in Snohomish County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Verlot
    • Arlington
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Silverton
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
      • Silverton is located in Snohomish County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Silverton
  • Whatcom County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Van Horn, with the one closest to Van Horn listed first.
    • Saxon
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Saxon is located in Whatcom County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saxon
    • Wickersham
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
      • Wickersham is located in Whatcom County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wickersham
    • Acme
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Glacier
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Clipper
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Clipper is located in Whatcom County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clipper
    • Welcome
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Welcome is located in Whatcom County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Welcome

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

Cemeteries Near Van Horn ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Van Horn.

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 Van Horn - one of the links might be able to help.

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

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

  • Forest Park Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
  • Hamilton Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
  • Indian Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Lyman Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
  • Suiattle Cemetery
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
  • Union Cemetery
    (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
  • Saxon Cemetery
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
  • Clear Lake Cemetery
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
  • Green Hills Memorial Cemetery
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
  • Hawthorne Memorial Park
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
  • Mt. Vernon Cemetery
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
  • Van Zandt Cemetery
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)

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.<2>

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

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

  • Sauk
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Sauk is located in Skagit County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sauk
  • Birdsview
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Birdsview is located in Skagit County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Birdsview
  • Marblemount
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
  • Hamilton
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
  • Lyman
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
  • Mansford
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Mansford is located in Skagit County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mansford
  • Oso
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Oso is located in Snohomish County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oso
  • Prairie
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
    • Prairie is located in Skagit County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prairie
  • Clear Lake
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
    • Clear Lake is located in Skagit County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clear Lake
  • Big Lake
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
    • Big Lake is located in Skagit County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Big Lake
  • Montborne
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
    • Montborne is located in Skagit County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Montborne
  • Trafton
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Trafton is located in Snohomish County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Trafton
  • Continue List   (9 more) ...
    • Saxon
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Saxon is located in Whatcom County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saxon
    • Wickersham
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
      • Wickersham is located in Whatcom County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wickersham
    • Acme
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)

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

Newspapers Published in Van Horn ...

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 34 newspapers that have been published in the area around Van Horn.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Van Horn, there are papers which were published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Van Horn.

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 Van Horn:

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