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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 Clarks Grove (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 Clarks Grove. 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.

Name Variations for Clarks Grove ...

When searching records, keep in mind that names and their spelling can change over time. Our sources include documents like maps, railroad schedules, Travel, Express and Shipping Guides. Many of these documents date from the 1800's and it's common to find spelling differences.

Although we can't give a definitive list, hopefully the following will give you a feel for the variations that might occur.

  • A typical abbreviation for Clarks Grove: Clarks Grv.
  • While the name of this city is Clarks Grove, be aware that it's the common practice of mapmakers to remove the apostrophe from possessive names<1>. So Clarks Grove may originally have been Clark's Grove.

    Sometimes the trailing 's' might be dropped altogether, in which case Clarks Grove might be written as Clark Grove.

If you have information about these names (such as the reason for the change, date of change, the origin of the name), please Contact Us.

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 southeast 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 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 east 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.

Clarks Grove is located in Freeborn 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 Freeborn County: Winnebago (IA), Worth (IA), Faribault, Mower, Steele & Waseca.

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

  • Freeborn County     (The home county of Clarks Grove)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Clarks Grove, with the one closest to Clarks Grove listed first.
    • Geneva
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Bath
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Hollandale
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Manchester
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Manchester is located in Freeborn County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Manchester
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 55 people
    • Albert Lea
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Hayward
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Hartland
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
      • Hartland is located in Freeborn County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hartland
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 307 people
    • Freeborn
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Glenville
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
    • Oakland
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
      • Oakland is located in Freeborn County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oakland
    • Alden
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Twin Lakes
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
    • Conger
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Conger is located in Freeborn County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Conger
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 144 people
  • Blue Earth County
    • Pemberton
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Pemberton is located in Blue Earth County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pemberton
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 241 people
  • Dodge County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Clarks Grove, with the one closest to Clarks Grove listed first.
    • Westfield Center ‑ Historic
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Westfield Center is located in Dodge County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Westfield Center
    • Hayfield
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
    • Claremont
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Dodge Center
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Faribault County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Clarks Grove, with the one closest to Clarks Grove listed first.
    • Walters
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Walters is located in Faribault County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Walters
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 67 people
    • Wells
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
      • Wells is located in Faribault County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wells
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,157 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Wells <2>
    • Kiester
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Minnesota Lake
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
    • Bricelyn
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Bricelyn is located in Faribault County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bricelyn
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 334 people
    • Easton
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
      • Easton is located in Faribault County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Easton
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 183 people
    • Dell
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
  • Mower County
  • Steele County
  • Waseca County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Clarks Grove, with the one closest to Clarks Grove listed first.
    • New Richland
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Vista
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Wilton
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Wilton is located in Waseca County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wilton
    • Waldorf
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Waldorf is located in Waseca County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Waldorf
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 224 people
    • Waseca
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
    • Alma City
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Palmer
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Mitchell County (IA)
    • Carpenter
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Carpenter is located in Mitchell County (IA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carpenter
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 108 people
  • Winnebago County (IA)
  • Worth County (IA)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Clarks Grove, with the one closest to Clarks Grove listed first.
    • Silver Lake
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
    • Northwood
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
    • Bristol
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
    • Joice
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
      • Joice is located in Worth County (IA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Joice
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 209 people
    • Kensett
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
      • Kensett is located in Worth County (IA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kensett
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 249 people
    • Bolan
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)

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

Cemeteries Near Clarks Grove ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Clarks Grove.

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 Clarks Grove - one of the links might be able to help.

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

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

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 in 1895, Clarks Grove had a post office and no railroad service. In 2020, Clarks Grove had a population of 694 people.

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

  • Geneva
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
  • Bath
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
  • Manchester
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Manchester is located in Freeborn County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Manchester
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 55 people
  • Albert Lea
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
  • Hayward
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
  • Hartland
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Hartland is located in Freeborn County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hartland
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 307 people
  • Armstrong
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Armstrong is located in Freeborn County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Armstrong
  • Freeborn
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
  • Moscow
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
    • Moscow is located in Freeborn County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Moscow
  • River Point
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
  • New Richland
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Alden
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...
    • Glenville
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
    • Oakland
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
      • Oakland is located in Freeborn County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oakland
    • Twin Lakes
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)

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

Newspapers Published in Clarks Grove ...

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 125 newspapers that have been published in the area around Clarks Grove.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Clarks Grove, there are papers which were published within 29 miles [46.7 km]<5>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Clarks Grove.

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 Clarks Grove:

Footnotes ...

<1>It's generally believed that possessive apostrophes are removed to prevent confusion on maps where the apostrophe may be confused with a cartographic symbol. While this is generally true, it's not uncommon to find possessive apostrophes in administrative names (such as towns or counties).
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 Clarks Grove, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<5>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- Clarks Grove) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.