RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Washington >> Whatcom County >> Van Zandt >> 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 Van Zandt (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 Zandt. 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 southwest 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 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.

Van Zandt 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 Van Zandt. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Van Zandt:

  • Whatcom County     (The home county of Van Zandt)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Van Zandt, with the one closest to Van Zandt listed first.
    • Deming
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Clipper
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
      • Clipper is located in Whatcom County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clipper
    • Welcome
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Welcome is located in Whatcom County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Welcome
    • Acme
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Saxon
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
      • Saxon is located in Whatcom County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saxon
    • Sudden Valley
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
      • Sudden Valley is located in Whatcom County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sudden Valley
    • Kendall
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
      • Kendall is located in Whatcom County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kendall
    • Wickersham
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
      • Wickersham is located in Whatcom County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wickersham
    • Geneva
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
      • Geneva is located in Whatcom County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Geneva
    • Peaceful Valley
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
      • Peaceful Valley is located in Whatcom County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Peaceful Valley
    • Maple Falls
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Silver Beach
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
      • Silver Beach is located in Whatcom County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Silver Beach
  • Skagit County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Van Zandt, with the one closest to Van Zandt listed first.
    • Alger
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
      • Alger is located in Skagit County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alger
    • Bow
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
    • Lyman
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
    • Sedro - Woolley
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
    • Edison
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
      • Edison is located in Skagit County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Edison
    • Hamilton
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Burlington
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
    • Clear Lake
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
      • Clear Lake is located in Skagit County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clear Lake
    • Bay View
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
      • Bay View is located in Skagit County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bay View
    • Indian Village
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Indian Village is located in Skagit County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian Village
    • Urban
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Urban is located in Skagit County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Urban
    • Big Lake
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
      • Big Lake is located in Skagit County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Big Lake

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

Cemeteries Near Van Zandt ...

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

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

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

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

  • Van Zandt Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
  • Mt. Hope Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
  • Saxon Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
  • Kendall Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
  • Nooksack Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
  • Bayview Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 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
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
  • St. Peters Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
  • Greenwood Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Indian Joe Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
  • South Poplar Mennonite Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
  • Monumenta Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Continue List   (39 more) ...
    • Lynden Cemetery
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Woodlawn Cemetery
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
      • 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
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)

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

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

  • Deming
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
  • Welcome
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Welcome is located in Whatcom County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Welcome
  • Acme
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
  • Saxon
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Saxon is located in Whatcom County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saxon
  • Goshen
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Goshen is located in Whatcom County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Goshen
  • Wahl
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Wahl is located in Whatcom County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wahl
  • Geneva
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Geneva is located in Whatcom County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Geneva
  • Wickersham
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Wickersham is located in Whatcom County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wickersham
  • Van Wyck
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Van Wyck is located in Whatcom County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Van Wyck
  • Silver Beach
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Silver Beach is located in Whatcom County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Silver Beach
  • Nooksack
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Nooksack is located in Whatcom County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nooksack
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,659 people
  • Everson
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Continue List   (13 more) ...
    • Hampton
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Hampton is located in Whatcom County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hampton
    • Alger
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
      • Alger is located in Skagit County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alger
    • Prairie
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
      • Prairie is located in Skagit County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prairie

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

Newspapers Published in Van Zandt ...

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 110 newspapers that have been published in the area around Van Zandt.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Van Zandt, there are papers which were published within 26 miles [41.8 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Van Zandt.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we begin 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 Van Zandt:

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 Van Zandt, 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- Van Zandt) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.