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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 Spirit Lake (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 Spirit Lake. 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 Spirit Lake ...

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.

Although we can't give a definitive list, hopefully the following will give you a feel for the variations that might occur.

For example, a typical abbreviation for Spirit Lake: Spirit Lk.

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

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 southeast corner of their home county. During their lives, most hospitals were in the next county to the east. 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 east 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.

Spirit Lake is located in Dickinson County and is the County Seat.

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 Dickinson County: Clay, Emmet, Osceola & Jackson (MN).

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

  • Dickinson County     (The home county of Spirit Lake)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Spirit Lake, with the one closest to Spirit Lake listed first.
    • Orleans
      (Less than 2 miles to the north)
      • Orleans is located in Dickinson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Orleans
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 591 people
    • Arnolds Park
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Okoboji
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Wahpeton
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Wahpeton is located in Dickinson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wahpeton
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 353 people
    • West Okoboji
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
      • West Okoboji is located in Dickinson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Okoboji
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 303 people
    • Superior
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Milford
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Old Town
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
      • Old Town is located in Dickinson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Old Town
    • Terril
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Lake Park
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
  • Clay County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Spirit Lake, with the one closest to Spirit Lake listed first.
    • Fostoria
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
    • Langdon
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
    • Spencer
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
    • Dickens
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
    • Everly
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Everly is located in Clay County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Everly
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 541 people
    • Royal
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
    • Gillett Grove
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
    • Greenville
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
    • Rossie
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
      • Rossie is located in Clay County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rossie
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 67 people
  • Emmet County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Spirit Lake, with the one closest to Spirit Lake listed first.
    • Estherville
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
    • Wallingford
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Gruver
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
      • Gruver is located in Emmet County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gruver
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 82 people
    • Dolliver
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
    • Hoprig
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
  • O'Brien County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Spirit Lake, with the one closest to Spirit Lake listed first.
    • Moneta
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
      • Moneta is located in O'Brien County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Moneta
    • Hartley
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
  • Osceola County
  • Palo Alto County
  • Jackson County (MN)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Spirit Lake, with the one closest to Spirit Lake listed first.
    • Petersburg
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Sioux Valley
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Jackson
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
    • Lakefield
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
    • Alpha
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
      • Alpha is located in Jackson County (MN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alpha
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 119 people
    • Okabena
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Wilder
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
    • Heron Lake
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Heron Lake is located in Jackson County (MN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Heron Lake
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 643 people
  • Martin County (MN)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Spirit Lake, with the one closest to Spirit Lake listed first.
    • Dunnell
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
      • Dunnell is located in Martin County (MN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dunnell
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 145 people
    • Ceylon
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
      • Ceylon is located in Martin County (MN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ceylon
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 337 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Ceylon <1>
    • Sherburn
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Welcome
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Trimont
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Nobles County (MN)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Spirit Lake, with the one closest to Spirit Lake listed first.
    • Round Lake
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Brewster
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Worthington
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Bigelow
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
      • Bigelow is located in Nobles County (MN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bigelow
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 226 people
    • Org
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)

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

Cemeteries Near Spirit Lake ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Spirit Lake.

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 Spirit Lake - one of the links might be able to help.

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

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

  • Lake View Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
  • Rose Hill Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
  • St. Margaret Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
  • Lakeland Memory Gardens Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
  • Loon Lake Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
  • St. Joseph Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Richland Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Superior Twp. Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
  • Milford Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
  • Excelsior Twp. Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
  • Holy Trinity Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
  • Union State Line Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
  • Continue List   (112 more) ...
    • Silver Lake Cemetery
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Little Sioux Lutheran Cemetery
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Petersburg Cemetery
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)

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>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Spirit Lake had a population of 782 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Spirit Lake had a population of 5,251 people.

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

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Spirit Lake ...

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 122 newspapers that have been published in the area around Spirit Lake.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Spirit Lake. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Spirit Lake and those printed in the larger area surrounding Spirit Lake.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<3> of Spirit Lake.

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 Spirit Lake:

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 Spirit Lake, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<3>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 from Point A (ie- Spirit Lake) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.