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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 Cedar (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 Cedar. 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.

Cedar is located in Anoka 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 Anoka County: Chisago, Hennepin, Isanti, Ramsey, Sherburne & Washington.

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

  • Anoka County     (The home county of Cedar)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Cedar, with the one closest to Cedar listed first.
    • Oak Grove
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • East Bethel
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Andover
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Bethel
      (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Coopers Corner
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Coopers Corner is located in Anoka County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coopers Corner
    • Saint Francis
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Ham Lake
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Linwood
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
      • Linwood is located in Anoka County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Linwood
    • Ramsey
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Anoka
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Nowthen
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
      • Nowthen is located in Anoka County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nowthen
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 4,732 people
    • City of Columbus
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
      • City of Columbus is located in Anoka County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for City of Columbus
      • Estimated population in 2015: 4,007 people
    • Coon Rapids
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
  • Chisago County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Cedar, with the one closest to Cedar listed first.
    • Wyoming
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
    • Stacy
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
      • Stacy is located in Chisago County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stacy
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,525 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Stacy <1>
    • Chisago City
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
    • Branch
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
      • Branch is located in Chisago County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Branch
    • North Branch
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Lindstrom
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
    • Center City
      (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
    • Harris
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Shafer
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
    • Almelund
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Franconia
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
      • Franconia is located in Chisago County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Franconia
    • Rush City
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Taylors Falls
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
  • Dakota County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Cedar, with the one closest to Cedar listed first.
    • Lilydale
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
      • Lilydale is located in Dakota County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lilydale
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 838 people
    • West Saint Paul
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
    • Mendota
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
  • Hennepin County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Cedar, with the one closest to Cedar listed first.
    • Champlin
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Dayton
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Brooklyn Park
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
    • Osseo
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
      • Osseo is located in Hennepin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Osseo
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,703 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Osseo <1>
    • Rogers
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Rogers is located in Hennepin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rogers
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 13,623 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Rogers <1>
    • Brooklyn Center
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
    • Maple Grove
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Crystal
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
    • New Hope
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
    • Robbinsdale
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
    • Saint Anthony
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
    • Corcoran
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Hamel
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
  • Isanti County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Cedar, with the one closest to Cedar listed first.
    • Isanti
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
    • Crown
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Crown is located in Isanti County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crown
    • Weber
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
      • Weber is located in Isanti County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Weber
    • Bradford
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
      • Bradford is located in Isanti County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bradford
    • Cambridge
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
    • Minnesota Boys Town
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
      • Minnesota Boys Town is located in Isanti County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Minnesota Boys Town
    • Grandy
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
    • Dalbo
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
    • Elm Park
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
      • Elm Park is located in Isanti County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elm Park
    • Stanchfield
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
    • Braham
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
  • Kanabec County
    • Coin
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
      • Coin is located in Kanabec County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coin
  • Mille Lacs County
    • Princeton
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
  • Ramsey County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Cedar, with the one closest to Cedar listed first.
    • Mounds View
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
    • Shoreview
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Arden Hills
      (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
    • New Brighton
      (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
    • North Oaks
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
    • Cardigan Junction
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Cardigan Junction is located in Ramsey County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cardigan Junction
    • Vadnais Heights
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
    • White Bear Beach
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
      • White Bear Beach is located in Ramsey County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for White Bear Beach
    • Roseville
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
    • Gem Lake
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Gem Lake is located in Ramsey County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gem Lake
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 536 people
    • White Bear Lake
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Lauderdale
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
      • Lauderdale is located in Ramsey County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lauderdale
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,484 people
    • Little Canada
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
  • Sherburne County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Cedar, with the one closest to Cedar listed first.
    • Elk River
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
    • Zimmerman
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Zimmerman is located in Sherburne County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Zimmerman
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 6,135 people
      • Zimmerman has also been known as:
      • Lake Fremont
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Zimmerman <1>
    • Big Lake
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
    • Orrock
      (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
      • Orrock is located in Sherburne County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Orrock
    • Salida
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
      • Salida is located in Sherburne County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Salida
    • Becker
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
      • Becker is located in Sherburne County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Becker
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 5,033 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Becker <1>
    • Santiago
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Santiago is located in Sherburne County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Santiago
  • Washington County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Cedar, with the one closest to Cedar listed first.
    • Forest Lake
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
    • Hugo
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Hugo is located in Washington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hugo
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 15,452 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Hugo <1>
    • Dellwood
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Dellwood is located in Washington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dellwood
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,120 people
    • Scandia
      (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
    • Birchwood Village
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
      • Birchwood Village is located in Washington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Birchwood Village
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 880 people
    • Mahtomedi
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
    • Withrow
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
      • Withrow is located in Washington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Withrow
    • Grant
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
      • Grant is located in Washington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grant
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 4,107 people
    • Willernie
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Otisville
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
      • Otisville is located in Washington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Otisville
    • Duluth Junction
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Duluth Junction is located in Washington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Duluth Junction
    • Pine Springs
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Pine Springs is located in Washington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine Springs
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 390 people
    • Marine-on-Saint-Croix
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
  • Wright County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Cedar, with the one closest to Cedar listed first.
    • Otsego
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
    • Albertville
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
    • Hanover
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Saint Michael
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Monticello
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
    • Rockford
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Buffalo
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
  • Polk County (WI)
    • Osceola
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
      • Osceola is located in Polk County (WI)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Osceola
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,580 people

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

Cemeteries Near Cedar ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Cedar.

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

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

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

  • Cedar Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
  • Constance Evangelical Free Church Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
  • Soderville Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
  • Our Saviour's Lutheran Church Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
  • Pierce Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
  • East Bethel Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
  • West Oak Grove Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Oak Grove Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the West Oak Grove Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located 10 miles [16.1 km]<2> to the north of Anoka.
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #83812 <3>
  • Staples Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
  • Oak Hill Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
  • Oak Leaf Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
  • Trott Brook Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
  • Victor Hill Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
  • Continue List   (251 more) ...
    • Old Bethel Cemetery
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Oak View Cemetery
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Stanford Cemetery
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)

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>

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

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

  • Oak Grove
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
  • Bethel
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
  • Saint Francis
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Linwood
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Linwood is located in Anoka County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Linwood
  • Anoka
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
  • Champlin
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
  • Coon Creek
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
    • Coon Creek is located in Anoka County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coon Creek
  • Isanti
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
  • Dayton
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Crown
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Crown is located in Isanti County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crown
  • Elk River
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
  • Osseo
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
    • Osseo is located in Hennepin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Osseo
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,703 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Osseo <1>
  • Continue List   (13 more) ...
    • Bradford
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
      • Bradford is located in Isanti County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bradford
    • Wyoming
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
    • Blomford
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Blomford is located in Isanti County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blomford

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

Newspapers Published in Cedar ...

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 345 newspapers that have been published in the area around Cedar.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Cedar, there are papers which were published within 24 miles [38.6 km]<2>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Cedar.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we start with 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 Cedar:

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 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Cedar) 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 Cedar, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.