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A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
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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 Birch (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 Birch. 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 doctors 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.

Birch is located in Saint Louis 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 Saint Louis County: Aitkin, Carlton, Itasca, Koochiching, Lake & Douglas (WI).

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

  • Saint Louis County     (The home county of Birch)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Birch, with the one closest to Birch listed first.
    • Alborn
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
      • Alborn is located in Saint Louis County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alborn
    • Canyon
      (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Meadowlands
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
      • Meadowlands is located in Saint Louis County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadowlands
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 128 people
    • Cotton
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Brookston
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
    • Saginaw
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
      • Saginaw is located in Saint Louis County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saginaw
    • Twig
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Twig is located in Saint Louis County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Twig
    • Melrude
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Melrude is located in Saint Louis County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Melrude
    • Floodwood
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Island
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
      • Island is located in Saint Louis County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Island
    • Adolph
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Hermantown
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
  • Carlton County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Birch, with the one closest to Birch listed first.
    • Cloquet
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
    • Scanlon
      (23 miles [37 km] to the south)
      • Scanlon is located in Carlton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Scanlon
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 945 people
    • Sawyer
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
      • Sawyer is located in Carlton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sawyer
    • Esko
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Carlton
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
    • Thomson
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
      • Thomson is located in Carlton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Thomson
      • Estimated population in 2014: 158 people
    • Otter Creek
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
      • Otter Creek is located in Carlton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Otter Creek
    • Cromwell
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Wrenshall
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
  • Itasca County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Birch, with the one closest to Birch listed first.
    • Wawina
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
      • Wawina is located in Itasca County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wawina
    • Goodland
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
      • Goodland is located in Itasca County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Goodland
    • Swan River
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)

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

Cemeteries Near Birch ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Birch.

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

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

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

  • Spruce Hill Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
  • Independence Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Meadowlands Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Riverside Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
  • Indian Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
  • Industrial Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
  • Culver Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
  • St. Joseph Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
  • Lakeview Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
  • St. Johns Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Rose Hill Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
  • Arrowhead Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Continue List   (62 more) ...
    • Forest Hill Cemetery
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
    • Grand Lake Cemetery
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Toivola Cemetery
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)

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 Birch in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Birch.

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

  • Independence
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Independence is located in Saint Louis County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Independence
  • Floodwood
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Island
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
    • Island is located in Saint Louis County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Island
  • Cloquet
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
  • Wawina
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
    • Wawina is located in Itasca County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wawina
  • Sawyer
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
    • Sawyer is located in Carlton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sawyer
  • Corona
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
    • Corona is located in Carlton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Corona
  • Carlton
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
  • Thomson
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
    • Thomson is located in Carlton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Thomson
    • Estimated population in 2014: 158 people
  • Cromwell
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
  • Otter Creek
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
    • Otter Creek is located in Carlton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Otter Creek
  • Smithville
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Smithville is located in Saint Louis County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Smithville
  • Continue List   (5 more) ...
    • West Duluth
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
      • West Duluth is located in Saint Louis County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Duluth
    • Oneota
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Oneota is located in Saint Louis County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oneota
    • Duluth
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Duluth is located in Saint Louis County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Duluth
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 85,773 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Duluth <1>

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

Newspapers Published in Birch ...

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 118 newspapers that have been published in the area around Birch.

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

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 Birch:

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