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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 Wahl (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 Wahl. 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.

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

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

  • Whatcom County     (The home county of Wahl)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Wahl, with the one closest to Wahl listed first.
    • Everson
      (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Silver Beach
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Silver Beach. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Silver Beach
      • Silver Beach is located in Whatcom County
    • Deming
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Nooksack
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Nooksack have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nooksack
      • Nooksack is located in Whatcom County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,659 people
    • Geneva
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Geneva. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Geneva
      • Geneva is located in Whatcom County
    • Sudden Valley
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sudden Valley have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sudden Valley
      • Sudden Valley is located in Whatcom County
    • Bellingham
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Lynden
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Welcome
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Welcome. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Welcome
      • Welcome is located in Whatcom County
    • Clipper
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clipper
      • Clipper is located in Whatcom County
    • Clearbrook
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clearbrook
      • Clearbrook is located in Whatcom County
    • Acme
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Ferndale
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
  • San Juan County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Wahl, with the one closest to Wahl listed first.
    • Olga
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Eastsound
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
    • Decatur Island
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Skagit County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Wahl, with the one closest to Wahl listed first.
    • Alger
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Alger have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alger
      • Alger is located in Skagit County
    • Bow
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
    • Edison
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Edison have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Edison
      • Edison is located in Skagit County
    • Urban
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Urban
      • Urban is located in Skagit County
    • Indian Village
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Indian Village have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian Village
      • Indian Village is located in Skagit County
    • Sedro - Woolley
      (23 miles [37 km] to the south)
    • Bay View
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bay View have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bay View
      • Bay View is located in Skagit County
    • Burlington
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
    • Lyman
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Anacortes
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Clear Lake
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clear Lake
      • Clear Lake is located in Skagit County
    • Hamilton
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Alexander Beach
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Alexander Beach. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alexander Beach
      • Alexander Beach is located in Skagit County

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

Cemeteries Near Wahl ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Wahl.

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

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

  • Sunnyland Memorial Park
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Sunnyland Memorial Park
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Sunnyland Memorial Park have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Bayview Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the 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 <4>
  • Nooksack Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Nooksack Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Nooksack Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Greenwood Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Greenwood Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Greenwood Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Van Zandt Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Van Zandt Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Van Zandt Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Mt. Hope Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Mt. Hope Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Mt. Hope Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Greenacres Memorial Park
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
  • Indian Joe Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Indian Joe Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Indian Joe Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Lynden Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
  • Monumenta Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
  • Woodlawn Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the 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 <4>
  • Kendall Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Kendall Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Kendall Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (47 more) ...
    • Berthusen Memorial Park
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Berthusen Memorial Park
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Berthusen Memorial Park have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Lummi Cemetery
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Lummi Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Lummi Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • South Poplar Mennonite Cemetery
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)

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>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that in 1895, Wahl had a post office and railroad service.

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

  • Goshen
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Goshen have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Goshen
    • Goshen is located in Whatcom County
  • Van Wyck
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Van Wyck have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Van Wyck
    • Van Wyck is located in Whatcom County
  • Silver Beach
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Silver Beach. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Silver Beach
    • Silver Beach is located in Whatcom County
  • Everson
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
  • Laurel
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Laurel have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Laurel
    • Laurel is located in Whatcom County
  • Geneva
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Geneva. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Geneva
    • Geneva is located in Whatcom County
  • Deming
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
  • Nooksack
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Nooksack have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nooksack
    • Nooksack is located in Whatcom County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,659 people
  • Bellingham
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Hampton
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hampton have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hampton
    • Hampton is located in Whatcom County
  • Lynden
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
  • Welcome
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Welcome. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Welcome
    • Welcome is located in Whatcom County
  • Continue List   (15 more) ...
    • Brennan
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Brennan have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brennan
      • Brennan is located in Whatcom County
    • Marietta
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Marietta. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marietta
      • Marietta is located in Whatcom County
    • Fairhaven
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Fairhaven have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fairhaven
      • Fairhaven is located in Whatcom County

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

Newspapers Published in Wahl ...

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 104 newspapers that have been published in the area around Wahl.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Wahl, there are papers which were published within 24 miles [38.6 km]<6>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Wahl.

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 Wahl:

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

The official website for Whatcom County: www.co.whatcom.wa.us/

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

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>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.
<3>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.
<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 Wahl, 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- Wahl) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Wahl. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 48.8362, Longitude: -122.3643       In this case, the coordinates for Wahl have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).









 

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This page was last modified/updated: 29 Apr 2025