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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 Clifton (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 Clifton. 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 and 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.

Clifton 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 Clifton. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Clifton:

  • Saint Louis County     (The home county of Clifton)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Clifton, with the one closest to Clifton listed first.
    • Arnold
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
      • Arnold is located in Saint Louis County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Arnold
    • Duluth
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Oneota
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Oneota is located in Saint Louis County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oneota
    • Hermantown
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
    • Proctor
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Proctor is located in Saint Louis County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Proctor
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,006 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Proctor <1>
    • Adolph
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
    • Gary
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Gary is located in Saint Louis County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gary
    • Twig
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
      • Twig is located in Saint Louis County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Twig
    • New Duluth
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Saginaw
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
      • Saginaw is located in Saint Louis County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saginaw
    • Brimson
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
    • Canyon
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
    • Breda
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
  • Carlton County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Clifton, with the one closest to Clifton listed first.
    • Esko
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Scanlon
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Scanlon is located in Carlton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Scanlon
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 945 people
    • Thomson
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Thomson is located in Carlton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Thomson
      • Estimated population in 2014: 158 people
    • Cloquet
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Carlton
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Wrenshall
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
  • Lake County
  • Douglas County (WI)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Clifton, with the one closest to Clifton listed first.
    • Superior
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Cloverland
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
      • Cloverland is located in Douglas County (WI)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cloverland
    • Superior Village
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
      • Superior Village is located in Douglas County (WI)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Superior Village
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 713 people
    • South Range
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
    • Saunders
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Oliver
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Oliver is located in Douglas County (WI)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oliver
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 416 people
    • Poplar
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
    • Hawthorne
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
    • Dedham
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Lake Nebagamon
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Lake Nebagamon is located in Douglas County (WI)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Nebagamon
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,064 people
    • Bennett
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
      • Bennett is located in Douglas County (WI)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bennett

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

Cemeteries Near Clifton ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Clifton.

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

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Clifton, with the one closest to Clifton 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, Clifton had railroad service and no post office.

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

  • Lester Park
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Lester Park is located in Saint Louis County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lester Park
  • Duluth
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
  • Oneota
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Oneota is located in Saint Louis County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oneota
  • Superior
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
  • Itasca
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
    • Itasca is located in Douglas County (WI)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Itasca
  • Two Harbors
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
  • West Duluth
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
    • West Duluth is located in Saint Louis County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Duluth
  • South Superior
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
    • South Superior is located in Douglas County (WI)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Superior
  • Cutter
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
    • Cutter is located in Douglas County (WI)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cutter
  • Smithville
    (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
    • Smithville is located in Saint Louis County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Smithville
  • Pokegama
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Pokegama is located in Douglas County (WI)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pokegama
  • South Range
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...
    • New Duluth
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Poplar
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
    • Fond du Lac
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Fond du Lac is located in Saint Louis County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fond du Lac

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

Newspapers Published in Clifton ...

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 62 newspapers that have been published in the area around Clifton.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Clifton, there are papers which were published within 28 miles [45.1 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Clifton.

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 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 Clifton:

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