RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Iowa >> Cherokee County >> Mary Hill >> 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 Mary Hill (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 Mary Hill. 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 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.

Mary Hill is located in Cherokee 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 Cherokee County: Buena Vista, Clay, Ida, O'Brien, Plymouth, Sac, Sioux & Woodbury.

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

  • Cherokee County     (The home county of Mary Hill)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Mary Hill, with the one closest to Mary Hill listed first.
    • Meriden
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Cleghorn
      (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
      • Cleghorn is located in Cherokee County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cleghorn
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 214 people
    • Cherokee
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Quimby
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Fielding
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Marcus
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Larrabee
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Washta
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
    • Aurelia
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
  • Buena Vista County
  • Clay County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Mary Hill, with the one closest to Mary Hill listed first.
    • Peterson
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Royal
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Ida County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Mary Hill, with the one closest to Mary Hill listed first.
    • Holstein
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
    • Galva
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Battle Creek
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
    • Ida Grove
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
  • O'Brien County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Mary Hill, with the one closest to Mary Hill listed first.
    • Germantown
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
    • Calumet
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Calumet is located in O'Brien County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Calumet
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 155 people
    • Paullina
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
      • Paullina is located in O'Brien County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Paullina
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 965 people
    • Sutherland
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
    • Primghar
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
    • Archer
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
    • Sanborn
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
    • Moneta
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Moneta is located in O'Brien County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Moneta
  • Plymouth County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Mary Hill, with the one closest to Mary Hill listed first.
    • Remsen
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
    • Kingsley
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
    • O'Leary
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
    • Oyens
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
      • Oyens is located in Plymouth County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oyens
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 102 people
    • Le Mars
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
    • Struble
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Struble is located in Plymouth County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Struble
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 77 people
    • Merrill
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
    • Brunsville
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
      • Brunsville is located in Plymouth County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brunsville
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 152 people
  • Sac County
  • Sioux County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Mary Hill, with the one closest to Mary Hill listed first.
    • Granville
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
      • Granville is located in Sioux County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Granville
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 303 people
    • Alton
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Hospers
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Orange City
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Maurice
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Maurice is located in Sioux County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maurice
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 270 people
  • Woodbury County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Mary Hill, with the one closest to Mary Hill listed first.
    • Pierson
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Pierson is located in Woodbury County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pierson
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 349 people
    • Correctionville
      (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
    • Cushing
      (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
      • Cushing is located in Woodbury County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cushing
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 215 people
    • Anthon
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
    • Moville
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)

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

Cemeteries Near Mary Hill ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Mary Hill.

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 Mary Hill - one of the links might be able to help.

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Mary Hill, with the one closest to Mary Hill 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>

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

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

  • Meriden
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
  • Cleghorn
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Cleghorn is located in Cherokee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cleghorn
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 214 people
  • Cherokee
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
  • Fielding
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Quimby
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
  • Marcus
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
  • Washta
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
  • Larrabee
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Aurelia
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
  • Calumet
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Calumet is located in O'Brien County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Calumet
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 155 people
  • Remsen
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
  • Paullina
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
    • Paullina is located in O'Brien County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Paullina
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 965 people
  • Continue List   (13 more) ...
    • Pierson
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Pierson is located in Woodbury County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pierson
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 349 people
    • Elkton
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
    • Kingsley
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)

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

Newspapers Published in Mary Hill ...

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 124 newspapers that have been published in the area around Mary Hill.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Mary Hill, 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 Mary Hill.

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 helpful 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 Mary Hill:

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 Mary Hill, 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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Mary Hill) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.