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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 German 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 German 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 German 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 German Valley: German Vly. (or less commonly used: German Vally. or German Vlly.)

You might be interested in other communities that are also named German Valley. More information can be found on our Tidbits & Trivia Page for German Valley.

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.

German Valley is located in Kossuth County.

To see how the shape of Iowa's counties may have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Kossuth County: Emmet, Hancock, Humboldt, Palo Alto, Winnebago, Faribault (MN) & Martin (MN).

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

  • Kossuth County     (The home county of German Valley)
    • The following are listed by their distance from German Valley, with the one closest to German Valley listed first.
    • Titonka
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
      • Titonka is located in Kossuth County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Titonka
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 433 people
    • Lakota
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
      • Lakota is located in Kossuth County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lakota
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 275 people
    • Bancroft
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Burt
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Burt is located in Kossuth County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Burt
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 493 people
    • Gerled
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Ledyard
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Wesley
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
      • Wesley is located in Kossuth County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wesley
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 364 people
    • Sexton
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
    • Lone Rock
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
    • Swea City
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Algona
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Seneca
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
  • Cerro Gordo County
    • Ventura
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
  • Emmet County
  • Hancock County
  • Humboldt County
    • The following are listed by their distance from German Valley, with the one closest to German Valley listed first.
    • Livermore
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
      • Livermore is located in Humboldt County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Livermore
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 361 people
    • Renwick
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
    • Bode
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Palo Alto County
    • The following are listed by their distance from German Valley, with the one closest to German Valley listed first.
    • Cylinder
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Cylinder is located in Palo Alto County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cylinder
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 84 people
    • West Bend
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Rodman
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Winnebago County
    • The following are listed by their distance from German Valley, with the one closest to German Valley listed first.
    • Buffalo Center
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Thompson
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Rake
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
      • Rake is located in Winnebago County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rake
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 206 people
    • Forest City
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
    • Leland
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
    • Vinje
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Scarville
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Lake Mills
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
  • Worth County
    • The following are listed by their distance from German Valley, with the one closest to German Valley listed first.
    • Bristol
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
    • Joice
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
      • Joice is located in Worth County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Joice
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 209 people
    • Fertile
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
  • Faribault County (MN)
    • The following are listed by their distance from German Valley, with the one closest to German Valley listed first.
    • Elmore
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
      • Elmore is located in Faribault County (MN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elmore
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 613 people
    • Frost
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
      • Frost is located in Faribault County (MN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Frost
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 181 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Frost <1>
    • Bricelyn
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Bricelyn is located in Faribault County (MN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bricelyn
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 334 people
    • Kiester
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
      • Kiester is located in Faribault County (MN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kiester
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 456 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Kiester <1>
    • Blue Earth
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
    • Dell
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
    • Walters
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Walters is located in Faribault County (MN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Walters
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 67 people

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

Cemeteries Near German Valley ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of German 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 German Valley - one of the links might be able to help.

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

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

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>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that in 1895, German Valley had a post office and no railroad service.

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

  • Buffalo Center
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
  • Bancroft
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
  • Burt
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Burt is located in Kossuth County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Burt
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 493 people
  • Wesley
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
    • Wesley is located in Kossuth County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wesley
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 364 people
  • Crystal Lake
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
    • Crystal Lake is located in Hancock County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crystal Lake
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 228 people
  • Ledyard
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Sexton
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
  • Hutchins
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
  • Thompson
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
  • Rake
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
    • Rake is located in Winnebago County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rake
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 206 people
  • Elmore
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
    • Elmore is located in Faribault County (MN)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elmore
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 613 people
  • Britt
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...

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

Newspapers Published in German 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 88 newspapers that have been published in the area around German Valley.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of German Valley, there are papers which were published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for German Valley.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we first turn to 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 German 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 German Valley, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a '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- German Valley) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.