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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 Castle Rock (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 Castle Rock. 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.

Castle Rock is located in Dakota 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 Dakota County: Goodhue, Hennepin, Ramsey, Rice, Scott, Washington & Pierce (WI).

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

  • Dakota County     (The home county of Castle Rock)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Castle Rock, with the one closest to Castle Rock listed first.
    • Eureka Center
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Eureka Center is located in Dakota County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eureka Center
    • Waterford
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
      • Waterford is located in Dakota County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Waterford
    • Randolph
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
      • Randolph is located in Dakota County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Randolph
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 444 people
    • Farmington
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Hampton
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Lakeville
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • New Trier
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
      • New Trier is located in Dakota County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Trier
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 106 people
    • Vermillion
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Coates
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
      • Coates is located in Dakota County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coates
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 155 people
    • Apple Valley
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
    • Rosemount
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
    • Miesville
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
    • Burnsville
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Carver County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Castle Rock, with the one closest to Castle Rock listed first.
    • Carver
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Chaska
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Chanhassen
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Hazeltine
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Hazeltine is located in Carver County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hazeltine
    • Dahlgren
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Dahlgren is located in Carver County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dahlgren
  • Dodge County
    • West Concord
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Goodhue County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Castle Rock, with the one closest to Castle Rock listed first.
    • Stanton
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
      • Stanton is located in Goodhue County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stanton
    • Dennison
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Cannon Falls
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
    • Wangs
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Wangs is located in Goodhue County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wangs
    • White Rock
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
      • White Rock is located in Goodhue County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for White Rock
    • Belle Creek
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
      • Belle Creek is located in Goodhue County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Belle Creek
    • Welch
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
    • Kenyon
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Hader
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Hader is located in Goodhue County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hader
    • Wanamingo
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Goodhue
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
    • Roscoe
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Roscoe is located in Goodhue County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roscoe
    • Red Wing
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
  • Hennepin County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Castle Rock, with the one closest to Castle Rock listed first.
    • Bloomington
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
    • Richfield
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
    • Edina
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Edina is located in Hennepin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Edina
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 52,477 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Edina <1>
    • Eden Prairie
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Hopkins
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Minneapolis
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
    • Saint Louis Park
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
    • Minnetonka Mills
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Minnetonka Mills is located in Hennepin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Minnetonka Mills
    • Minnetonka
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Le Sueur County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Castle Rock, with the one closest to Castle Rock listed first.
    • Montgomery
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
    • Heidelberg
      (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
      • Heidelberg is located in Le Sueur County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Heidelberg
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 122 people
    • Kilkenny
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Lexington
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
      • Lexington is located in Le Sueur County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lexington
    • Cordova
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Cordova is located in Le Sueur County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cordova
    • Waterville
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Le Center
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
    • Saint Thomas
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
      • Saint Thomas is located in Le Sueur County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saint Thomas
  • Ramsey County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Castle Rock, with the one closest to Castle Rock listed first.
    • Highwood
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
      • Highwood is located in Ramsey County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Highwood
    • Saint Paul
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
    • Falcon Heights
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
  • Rice County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Castle Rock, with the one closest to Castle Rock listed first.
    • Northfield
      (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Dundas
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Webster
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Millersburg
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Millersburg is located in Rice County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Millersburg
    • Trondjem
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
      • Trondjem is located in Rice County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Trondjem
    • Nerstrand
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
    • Lonsdale
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
    • Cannon City
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
      • Cannon City is located in Rice County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cannon City
    • Wheatland
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
      • Wheatland is located in Rice County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wheatland
    • Faribault
      (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
    • Walcott
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
      • Walcott is located in Rice County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Walcott
    • Warsaw
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
      • Warsaw is located in Rice County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Warsaw
    • Moland
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
      • Moland is located in Rice County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Moland
  • Scott County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Castle Rock, with the one closest to Castle Rock listed first.
    • Elko
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Elko New Market
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
      • Elko New Market is located in Scott County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elko New Market
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 4,733 people
    • New Market
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Credit River
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Credit River is located in Scott County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Credit River
    • Cedar Lake
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
      • Cedar Lake is located in Scott County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Lake
    • Prior Lake
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Savage
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Saint Patrick
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
      • Saint Patrick is located in Scott County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saint Patrick
    • New Prague
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
    • Marystown
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Marystown is located in Scott County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marystown
    • Shakopee
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Jordan
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
    • Union Hill
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
      • Union Hill is located in Scott County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Union Hill
  • Steele County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Castle Rock, with the one closest to Castle Rock listed first.
    • Medford
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
      • Medford is located in Steele County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Medford
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,255 people
    • Rice Lake
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
      • Rice Lake is located in Steele County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rice Lake
  • Washington County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Castle Rock, with the one closest to Castle Rock listed first.
    • Saint Paul Park
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
    • Cottage Grove
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Newport
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
    • Woodbury
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Landfall
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
      • Landfall is located in Washington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Landfall
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 733 people
    • Afton
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Afton is located in Washington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Afton
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,036 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Afton <1>
  • Pierce County (WI)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Castle Rock, with the one closest to Castle Rock listed first.
    • Prescott
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Prescott is located in Pierce County (WI)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prescott
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 4,279 people
    • Hager City
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
      • Hager City is located in Pierce County (WI)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hager City
    • Trimbelle
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Trimbelle is located in Pierce County (WI)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Trimbelle

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

Cemeteries Near Castle Rock ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Castle Rock.

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 Castle Rock - one of the links might be able to help.

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

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

  • Greenvale Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
  • Redrose Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Redrose Cemetery
    • Former name for Redrose Cemetery:
    • Rose Leaf Cemetery
  • Farmington Luteran Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Farmington Luteran Cemetery
    • The Farmington Luteran Cemetery has also been known as:
    • St. Johns Danish Luthern Cemetery
  • Castle Rock Valley Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Castle Rock Valley Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Castle Rock Valley Cemetery is located 5 miles [8 km]<2> to the southwest of Hampton.
  • Solar Lutheran Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
  • Kibbe Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
  • Highview Christiana Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
  • East Christiania Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
  • Oak Lawn Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
  • McNutt Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
  • Calvary Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
  • Greenwood Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenwood Cemetery
    • The Greenwood Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Greenwood Presbyterian Cemetery
  • Continue List   (261 more) ...
    • Lakeside Cemetery
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lakeside Cemetery
      • To give a relative sense of its location, the Lakeside Cemetery is located outside and to the east of Randolph.
    • Hillcrest Cemetery
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Emmanuel Cemetery
      (7 miles [11.3 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.<4>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Castle Rock had a population of 40 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service.

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

  • Waterford
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Waterford is located in Dakota County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Waterford
  • Northfield
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
  • Hazelwood
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Hazelwood is located in Rice County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hazelwood
  • Randolph
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Randolph is located in Dakota County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Randolph
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 444 people
  • Farmington
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
  • Dundas
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
  • Stanton
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Stanton is located in Goodhue County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stanton
  • Hampton
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
  • Lakeville
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
  • Webster
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
  • New Market
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
  • Millersburg
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Millersburg is located in Rice County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Millersburg
  • Continue List   (18 more) ...
    • Dennison
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
    • New Trier
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
      • New Trier is located in Dakota County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Trier
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 106 people
    • Trondjem
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
      • Trondjem is located in Rice County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Trondjem

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

Newspapers Published in Castle Rock ...

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 46 newspapers that have been published in the area around Castle Rock.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Castle Rock, there are papers which were published within 29 miles [46.7 km]<2>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Castle Rock.

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 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 Castle Rock:

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>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 from Point A (ie- Castle Rock) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>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.
<4>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 Castle Rock, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.