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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 Aurora (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 Aurora. 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 hospitals and 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.

Aurora is located in Saint Louis County.

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

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Saint Louis County: Aitkin, Carlton, Itasca, Koochiching, Lake & Douglas (WI).

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

  • Saint Louis County     (The home county of Aurora)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Aurora, with the one closest to Aurora listed first.
    • Pineville
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pineville
      • Pineville is located in Saint Louis County
    • Biwabik
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Allen
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Allen
      • Allen is located in Saint Louis County
      • Allen has also been known as:
      • Allen Junction
    • Hoyt Lakes
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hoyt Lakes have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hoyt Lakes
      • Hoyt Lakes is located in Saint Louis County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,927 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Hoyt Lakes <1>
    • Belgrade
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Belgrade have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Belgrade
      • Belgrade is located in Saint Louis County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Belgrade <1>
    • McKinley
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for McKinley have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for McKinley
      • McKinley is located in Saint Louis County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 122 people
    • Embarrass
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Gilbert
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Gilbert have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gilbert
      • Gilbert is located in Saint Louis County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,761 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Gilbert <1>
    • Makinen
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Makinen
      • Makinen is located in Saint Louis County
    • Franklin
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Franklin have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Franklin
      • Franklin is located in Saint Louis County
    • Genoa
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Genoa
      • Genoa is located in Saint Louis County
    • Eveleth
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eveleth
      • Eveleth is located in Saint Louis County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,536 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Eveleth <1>
    • Virginia
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
  • Lake County
    • Jordan
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Jordan have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jordan
      • Jordan is located in Lake County

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

Newspapers Published in Aurora ...

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 50 newspapers that have been published in the area around Aurora.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Aurora, there are papers which were published within 29 miles [46.7 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Aurora.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we first visit the websites from Cyndi's List, FamilySearch and Genealogy Trails. These 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 Aurora:

Cemeteries Near Aurora ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Aurora.

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

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

  • Forest Hill Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Forest Hill Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Forest Hill Cemetery
  • Czechoslovakian National Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Czechoslovakian National Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Czechoslovakian National Cemetery
  • Rauha Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Rauha Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Rauha Cemetery
  • Embarrass Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Embarrass Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Embarrass Cemetery
  • Pike River Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Pike River Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Pike River Cemetery
  • Gilbert Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Gilbert Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Gilbert Cemetery
  • Armanda Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Armanda Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Armanda Cemetery
  • West Pike Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the West Pike Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the West Pike Cemetery
  • Florenton Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Florenton Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Florenton Cemetery
  • Eveleth Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
  • Old Vermilion Lake Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Old Vermilion Lake Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Old Vermilion Lake Cemetery
  • Argo Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Argo Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Argo Cemetery
  • Continue List   (20 more) ...
    • Greenwood Cemetery
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Greenwood Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Greenwood Cemetery
    • Vermilion Lake Cemetery
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Sandy Cemetery
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Sandy Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Sandy Cemetery

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>

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

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

  • Hinsdale
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hinsdale have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hinsdale
    • Hinsdale is located in Saint Louis County
  • Midway
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Midway have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Midway
    • Midway is located in Saint Louis County
  • Tower Junction
    (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Tower Junction have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tower Junction
    • Tower Junction is located in Saint Louis County
  • Tower
    (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tower
    • Tower is located in Saint Louis County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 477 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Tower <1>
  • Soudan
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Soudan have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Soudan
    • Soudan is located in Saint Louis County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Soudan <1>

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

The official website for Aurora: www.ci.aurora.mn.us/

The official website for Saint Louis County: www.co.st-louis.mn.us/

The official website for State of Minnesota: https://mn.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>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.
<3>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Aurora) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Aurora. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 47.5311, Longitude: -92.2402       In this case, the coordinates for Aurora have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<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 Aurora, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024