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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 Crookston (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 Crookston. 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 hospitals and 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.

Crookston is located in Polk County and is the County Seat.

To see how the shape of Minnesota's counties have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Polk County: Clearwater, Mahnomen, Marshall, Norman, Pennington, Red Lake, Grand Forks (ND) & Traill (ND).

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

  • Polk County     (The home county of Crookston)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Crookston, with the one closest to Crookston listed first.
    • Shirley
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Shirley. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shirley
      • Shirley is located in Polk County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Shirley
      • From Crookston to Shirley
    • Gentilly
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Fisher
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Fisher have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fisher
      • Fisher is located in Polk County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 410 people
    • Euclid
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
    • Melvin
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Climax
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Climax have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Climax
      • Climax is located in Polk County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 261 people
    • Mallory
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Mallory. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mallory
      • Mallory is located in Polk County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Mallory
      • From Crookston to Mallory
    • Dugdale
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
    • Beltrami
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Beltrami have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beltrami
      • Beltrami is located in Polk County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 99 people
    • Nielsville
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Nielsville have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nielsville
      • Nielsville is located in Polk County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 82 people
    • East Grand Forks
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Fertile
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
  • Marshall County
  • Norman County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Crookston, with the one closest to Crookston listed first.
    • Shelly
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Shelly have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shelly
      • Shelly is located in Norman County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 178 people
    • Flaming
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Flaming. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flaming
      • Flaming is located in Norman County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Flaming
      • From Crookston to Flaming
    • Rindal
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Rindal. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rindal
      • Rindal is located in Norman County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Rindal
      • From Crookston to Rindal
    • Halstad
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Halstad have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Halstad
      • Halstad is located in Norman County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 548 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Halstad <3>
  • Pennington County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Crookston, with the one closest to Crookston listed first.
    • Saint Hilaire
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Saint Hilaire have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saint Hilaire
      • Saint Hilaire is located in Pennington County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 258 people
    • Thief River Falls
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Thief River Falls have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Thief River Falls
      • Thief River Falls is located in Pennington County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 8,688 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Thief River Falls <3>
  • Red Lake County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Crookston, with the one closest to Crookston listed first.
    • Dorothy
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Dorothy. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dorothy
      • Dorothy is located in Red Lake County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Dorothy
      • From Crookston to Dorothy
    • Red Lake Falls
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Red Lake Falls have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Red Lake Falls
      • Red Lake Falls is located in Red Lake County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,409 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Red Lake Falls <3>
    • Plummer
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Plummer have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plummer
      • Plummer is located in Red Lake County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 289 people
    • Brooks
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Brooks have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brooks
      • Brooks is located in Red Lake County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 136 people
  • Grand Forks County (ND)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Crookston, with the one closest to Crookston listed first.
    • Grand Forks
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
    • Thompson
      (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Thompson have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Thompson
      • Thompson is located in Grand Forks County (ND)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,027 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Thompson <3>
    • Reynolds
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Reynolds have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Reynolds
      • Reynolds is located in Grand Forks County (ND)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 299 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Reynolds <3>
  • Traill County (ND)

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

Cemeteries Near Crookston ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Crookston.

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.

If you need information about a burial or interment, photos, transcripts, how to contact the cemetery or local authorities, please visit our selection of Genealogy Websites (see below).

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

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

  • Oakdale Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Oakdale Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Oakdale Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Calvary Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Calvary Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Calvary Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Union Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Union Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Union Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Andover Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Andover Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Andover Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Bardo Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Bardo Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Bardo Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Hafslo Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Hafslo Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Hafslo Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • St. Peters Catholic Church Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
  • St. Peters Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Peters Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Peters Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Hanna Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Hanna Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Hanna Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Greenwood Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Greenwood Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Greenwood Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Erickson Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Erickson Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Erickson Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Fisher Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Fisher Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Fisher Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (120 more) ...
    • Fisher Lutheran Cemetery
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Fisher Lutheran Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Fisher Lutheran Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Huot Cemetery
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Huot Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Huot Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Zion Cemetery
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Zion Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Zion Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.

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 Crookston had a population of 3,457 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Crookston had a population of 7,631 people.

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

  • Hixon
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hixon have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hixon
    • Hixon is located in Polk County
  • Burwell
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Burwell have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Burwell
    • Burwell is located in Polk County
  • Shirley
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Shirley. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shirley
    • Shirley is located in Polk County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Shirley
    • From Crookston to Shirley
  • Gentilly
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
  • Freeman
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Freeman have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Freeman
    • Freeman is located in Polk County
  • Fisher
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Fisher have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fisher
    • Fisher is located in Polk County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 410 people
  • Benoit
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Benoit have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Benoit
    • Benoit is located in Polk County
  • Euclid
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
  • Melvin
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
  • Mallory
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Mallory. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mallory
    • Mallory is located in Polk County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Mallory
    • From Crookston to Mallory
  • Beltrami
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Beltrami have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beltrami
    • Beltrami is located in Polk County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 99 people
  • Dugdale
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
  • Continue List   (15 more) ...
    • Nielsville
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Nielsville have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nielsville
      • Nielsville is located in Polk County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 82 people
    • Maple Bay
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Maple Bay have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maple Bay
      • Maple Bay is located in Polk County
    • Angus
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Angus have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Angus
      • Angus is located in Polk County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Angus <3>

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Crookston ...

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 78 newspapers that have been published in the area around Crookston.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Crookston. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Crookston and those printed in the larger area surrounding Crookston.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<5> of Crookston.

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 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 Crookston:

The official website for Crookston: www.crookston.mn.us/

The official website for Polk County: www.co.polk.mn.us/

The official website for State of Minnesota: https://mn.gov/

Footnotes ...

<1>An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace.
<2>The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required.
<3>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 Crookston, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<5>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- Crookston) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Crookston. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 47.7738, Longitude: -96.6068    









 

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This page was last modified/updated: 28 Apr 2025