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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 Gentilly (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 Gentilly. 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 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.

Gentilly is located in Polk County.

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

  • Polk County     (The home county of Gentilly)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Gentilly, with the one closest to Gentilly listed first.
    • Crookston
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Shirley
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
      • 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.<2>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shirley
      • Shirley is located in Polk County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Shirley
      • From Gentilly to Shirley
    • Dugdale
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Melvin
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
    • Euclid
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Mentor
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mentor have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mentor
      • Mentor is located in Polk County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 147 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Mentor <1>
    • Fisher
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Fisher have been provided by the GNIS.<3> 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
    • Beltrami
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Beltrami have been provided by the GNIS.<3> 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
    • Fertile
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Erskine
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Climax
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Climax have been provided by the GNIS.<3> 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
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
      • 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.<2>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mallory
      • Mallory is located in Polk County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Mallory
      • From Gentilly to Mallory
    • Nielsville
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Nielsville have been provided by the GNIS.<3> 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
  • Marshall County
    • Viking
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
  • Norman County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Gentilly, with the one closest to Gentilly listed first.
    • Flaming
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
      • 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.<2>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flaming
      • Flaming is located in Norman County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Flaming
      • From Gentilly to Flaming
    • Rindal
      (24 miles [38.6 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.<2>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rindal
      • Rindal is located in Norman County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Rindal
      • From Gentilly to Rindal
    • Shelly
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Shelly have been provided by the GNIS.<3> 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
    • Gary
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Gary have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gary
      • Gary is located in Norman County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 201 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Gary <1>
  • Pennington County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Gentilly, with the one closest to Gentilly listed first.
    • Saint Hilaire
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Saint Hilaire have been provided by the GNIS.<3> 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
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Thief River Falls have been provided by the GNIS.<3> 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 <1>
  • Red Lake County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Gentilly, with the one closest to Gentilly listed first.
    • Dorothy
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
      • 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.<2>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dorothy
      • Dorothy is located in Red Lake County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Dorothy
      • From Gentilly to Dorothy
    • Red Lake Falls
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Red Lake Falls have been provided by the GNIS.<3> 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 <1>
    • Brooks
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Brooks have been provided by the GNIS.<3> 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
    • Plummer
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Plummer have been provided by the GNIS.<3> 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
    • Oklee
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Oklee have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oklee
      • Oklee is located in Red Lake County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 428 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Oklee <1>
  • Grand Forks County (ND)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Gentilly, with the one closest to Gentilly listed first.
    • Grand Forks
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
    • Thompson
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Thompson have been provided by the GNIS.<3> 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 <1>
  • Traill County (ND)

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

Cemeteries Near Gentilly ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Gentilly.

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 Gentilly covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.

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

  • St. Peters Catholic Church Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
  • St. Peters Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • 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.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Huot Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • 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.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Hafslo Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • 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.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Cyr Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Cyr Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Cyr Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Calvary Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • 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.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Oakdale Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • 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.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • St. Dorothy Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Dorothy Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Dorothy Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Evergreen Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Evergreen Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Evergreen Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Andover Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
    • 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.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Oak Grove Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Oak Grove Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Oak Grove Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • St. Josephs Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Josephs Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Josephs Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (129 more) ...
    • Immanuel Cemetery
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Immanuel Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Immanuel Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Union Cemetery
      (11 miles [17.7 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.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Our Saviors Cemetery
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Our Saviors Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Our Saviors Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> 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 in 1895, Gentilly had a post office and no railroad service.

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

  • Burwell
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Burwell have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Burwell
    • Burwell is located in Polk County
  • Benoit
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Benoit have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Benoit
    • Benoit is located in Polk County
  • Crookston
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
  • Shirley
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
    • 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.<2>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shirley
    • Shirley is located in Polk County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Shirley
    • From Gentilly to Shirley
  • Dugdale
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
  • Hixon
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hixon have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hixon
    • Hixon is located in Polk County
  • Melvin
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
  • Maple Bay
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Maple Bay have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maple Bay
    • Maple Bay is located in Polk County
  • Freeman
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Freeman have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Freeman
    • Freeman is located in Polk County
  • Mentor
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mentor have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mentor
    • Mentor is located in Polk County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 147 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Mentor <1>
  • Euclid
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
  • Fisher
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Fisher have been provided by the GNIS.<3> 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
  • Continue List   (15 more) ...
    • Beltrami
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Beltrami have been provided by the GNIS.<3> 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
    • Fertile
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Erskine
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)

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

Newspapers Published in Gentilly ...

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 43 newspapers that have been published in the area around Gentilly.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Gentilly, there are papers which were published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<5>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Gentilly.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we first visit 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 Gentilly:

Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Gentilly. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.

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

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

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>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.
<3>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.
<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 Gentilly, 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- Gentilly) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Gentilly. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 47.7895, Longitude: -96.4450    









 

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This page was last modified/updated: 28 Apr 2025