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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 Cosmos (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 Cosmos. 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 and hospitals 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.

Cosmos is located in Meeker 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 Meeker County: Kandiyohi, McLeod, Renville, Stearns & Wright.

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

  • Meeker County     (The home county of Cosmos)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Cosmos, with the one closest to Cosmos listed first.
    • Rosendale
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
      • Rosendale is located in Meeker County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rosendale
    • Cedar Mills
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
      • Cedar Mills is located in Meeker County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Mills
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 51 people
    • Grove City
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
    • Litchfield
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Darwin
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
    • Dassel
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Forest City
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Forest City is located in Meeker County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Forest City
    • Manannah
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
      • Manannah is located in Meeker County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Manannah
    • Kingston
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Kingston is located in Meeker County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kingston
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 162 people
    • Eden Valley
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
    • Watkins
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Kandiyohi County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Cosmos, with the one closest to Cosmos listed first.
    • Lake Lillian
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Atwater
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
    • Blomkest
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
      • Blomkest is located in Kandiyohi County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blomkest
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 157 people
    • Svea
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
      • Svea is located in Kandiyohi County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Svea
    • Kandiyohi
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Kandiyohi is located in Kandiyohi County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kandiyohi
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 477 people
    • Willmar
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Wilmar
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Wilmar is located in Kandiyohi County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wilmar
    • Roseland
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
      • Roseland is located in Kandiyohi County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roseland
    • Spicer
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
      • Spicer is located in Kandiyohi County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spicer
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,224 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Spicer <1>
    • Prinsburg
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
      • Prinsburg is located in Kandiyohi County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prinsburg
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 497 people
    • Pennock
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Pennock is located in Kandiyohi County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pennock
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 509 people
    • Raymond
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
  • McLeod County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Cosmos, with the one closest to Cosmos listed first.
    • Hutchinson
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
    • Stewart
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Stewart is located in McLeod County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stewart
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 533 people
    • Biscay
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
      • Biscay is located in McLeod County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Biscay
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 109 people
    • Brownton
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Fernando
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Fernando is located in McLeod County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fernando
    • Silver Lake
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
    • Sumter
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Sumter is located in McLeod County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sumter
    • Glencoe
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
  • Renville County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Cosmos, with the one closest to Cosmos listed first.
    • Hector
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
    • Buffalo Lake
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
    • Bird Island
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Olivia
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
    • Danube
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Renville
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
    • Fairfax
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
    • Franklin
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
    • Morton
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Sibley County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Cosmos, with the one closest to Cosmos listed first.
    • Gibbon
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
    • New Auburn
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Stearns County
    • Paynesville
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
  • Wright County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Cosmos, with the one closest to Cosmos listed first.
    • Cokato
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
    • Smith Lake
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
      • Smith Lake is located in Wright County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Smith Lake

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

Cemeteries Near Cosmos ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Cosmos.

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

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

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

  • Peace Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
  • Cosmos Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
  • Immanuel Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
  • Spring Grove Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
  • Lake Lillian Baptist Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
  • Brookfield Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
  • Friends Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
  • Rosendale Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
  • St. John's Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
  • Early Lake Lillian Community Burial Ground
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Lake Lillian United Methodist Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
  • United Church of Hope Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
  • Continue List   (203 more) ...
    • Methodist Episcopal Cemetery
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Evergreen Cemetery
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • St. Columban Cemetery
      (8 miles [12.9 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.<2>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that in 1895, Cosmos had a post office and no railroad service. In 2020, Cosmos had a population of 448 people.

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

  • Rosendale
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Rosendale is located in Meeker County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rosendale
  • Cedar Mills
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Cedar Mills is located in Meeker County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Mills
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 51 people
  • Lakeside
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Lakeside is located in Renville County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lakeside
  • Lake Lillian
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
  • Greenleaf
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Greenleaf is located in Meeker County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenleaf
  • Hector
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
  • Atwater
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
  • Buffalo Lake
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
  • Grove City
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
  • Bird Island
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
  • Litchfield
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
  • Hutchinson
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...
    • Svea
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
      • Svea is located in Kandiyohi County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Svea
    • Stewart
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Stewart is located in McLeod County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stewart
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 533 people
    • Olivia
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Cosmos ...

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 115 newspapers that have been published in the area around Cosmos.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Cosmos. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Cosmos and those printed in the larger area surrounding Cosmos.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<3> of Cosmos.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we like to 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 Cosmos:

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>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 Cosmos, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<3>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Cosmos) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.