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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 Basswood (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 Basswood. 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 hospitals 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.

Basswood is located in Otter Tail County.

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

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Otter Tail County: Becker, Clay, Douglas, Grant, Todd, Wadena & Wilkin.

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

  • Otter Tail County     (The home county of Basswood)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Basswood, with the one closest to Basswood listed first.
    • Amor
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Amor is located in Otter Tail County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Amor
    • Richville
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Ottertail
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Dent
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
      • Dent is located in Otter Tail County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dent
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 185 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Dent <1>
    • Maine
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Maine is located in Otter Tail County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maine
    • Leaf City
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
      • Leaf City is located in Otter Tail County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leaf City
    • Perham
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Perham is located in Otter Tail County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Perham
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,638 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Perham <1>
    • Battle Lake
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
    • Clitherall
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
    • Nirvana
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
      • Nirvana is located in Otter Tail County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nirvana
    • Underwood
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Edwards
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
      • Edwards is located in Otter Tail County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Edwards
  • Becker County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Basswood, with the one closest to Basswood listed first.
    • Frazee
      (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
    • Bucks Mill
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Bucks Mill is located in Becker County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bucks Mill
    • Evergreen
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
      • Evergreen is located in Becker County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Evergreen
    • Detroit Lakes
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
    • Cormorant
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Cormorant is located in Becker County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cormorant
    • Rochert
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
    • Wolf Lake
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Wolf Lake is located in Becker County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wolf Lake
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 55 people
  • Douglas County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Basswood, with the one closest to Basswood listed first.
    • Melby
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
      • Melby is located in Douglas County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Melby
    • Millerville
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
      • Millerville is located in Douglas County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Millerville
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 103 people
    • Evansville
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
  • Grant County
    • Ashby
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
  • Todd County
    • Hewitt
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
      • Hewitt is located in Todd County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hewitt
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 260 people

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

Cemeteries Near Basswood ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Basswood.

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 Basswood - one of the links might be able to help.

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

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

  • Oakwood Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
  • Zion Lutheran Church Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
  • Richville Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
  • Otter Tail County Sanitorium Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
  • Zion Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
  • St. James Catholic Church Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Silent Vale Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Otter Tail Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Pleasant Hill Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
  • St. Joseph Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Pleasant Hill Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
  • Immanuel Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
  • Continue List   (211 more) ...

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>

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

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

  • Amor
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Amor is located in Otter Tail County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Amor
  • Maine
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Maine is located in Otter Tail County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maine
  • Ottertail
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
  • Phelps
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Phelps is located in Otter Tail County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Phelps
  • Battle Lake
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
  • Perham
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Perham is located in Otter Tail County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Perham
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,638 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Perham <1>
  • Clitherall
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
  • Underwood
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
  • Luce
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
    • Luce is located in Otter Tail County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Luce
  • Edwards
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
    • Edwards is located in Otter Tail County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Edwards
  • Vining
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
  • Henning
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
  • Continue List   (13 more) ...
    • New York Mills
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
    • Wall Lake
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Wall Lake is located in Otter Tail County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wall Lake
    • Frazee
      (18 miles [29 km] to the north)

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

Newspapers Published in Basswood ...

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 42 newspapers that have been published in the area around Basswood.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Basswood, there are papers which were published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Basswood.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we like to start 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 Basswood:

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 Basswood, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<3>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or 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- Basswood) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.