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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 Goldenrod (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 Goldenrod. 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 Goldenrod ...

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.

Another variation: Golden Rod.

You might be interested in other communities that are also named Goldenrod. More information can be found on our Tidbits & Trivia Page for Goldenrod.

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 southwest corner of their home county. During their lives, most 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.

Goldenrod is located in Becker 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 Becker County: Clay, Clearwater, Hubbard, Mahnomen, Norman, Otter Tail & Wadena.

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

  • Becker County     (The home county of Goldenrod)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Goldenrod, with the one closest to Goldenrod listed first.
    • Two Inlets
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
      • Two Inlets is located in Becker County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Two Inlets
    • Pine Point
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Pine Point is located in Becker County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine Point
    • Ponsford
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Osage
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
    • Elbow Lake
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
      • Elbow Lake is located in Becker County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elbow Lake
    • Wolf Lake
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
      • Wolf Lake is located in Becker County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wolf Lake
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 55 people
    • Evergreen
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Evergreen is located in Becker County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Evergreen
    • Rochert
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Richwood
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
      • Richwood is located in Becker County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Richwood
    • White Earth
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
  • Beltrami County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Goldenrod, with the one closest to Goldenrod listed first.
    • Solway
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
    • Rosby
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Rosby is located in Beltrami County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rosby
    • Wilton
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
      • Wilton is located in Beltrami County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wilton
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 295 people
  • Cass County
    • Walker
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
  • Clearwater County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Goldenrod, with the one closest to Goldenrod listed first.
    • Long Lost Lake
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Long Lost Lake is located in Clearwater County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Long Lost Lake
      • Estimated population in 2015: 44 people
    • Minerva
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
      • Minerva is located in Clearwater County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Minerva
    • Rice Lake
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
      • Rice Lake is located in Clearwater County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rice Lake
    • Bagley
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
      • Bagley is located in Clearwater County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bagley
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,439 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Bagley <1>
    • Shevlin
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
  • Hubbard County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Goldenrod, with the one closest to Goldenrod listed first.
    • Lake George
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Park Rapids
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Dorset
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Dorset is located in Hubbard County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dorset
    • Nevis
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Laporte
      (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
    • Akeley
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
    • Benedict
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
      • Benedict is located in Hubbard County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Benedict
  • Mahnomen County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Goldenrod, with the one closest to Goldenrod listed first.
    • Naytahwaush
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Roy Lake
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Roy Lake is located in Mahnomen County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roy Lake
  • Wadena County
    • Menahga
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)

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

Cemeteries Near Goldenrod ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Goldenrod.

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

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

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

  • Lakeside Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
  • St. Mary's Catholic Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
  • Evergreen Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
  • Mt. Calvary Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
  • St. Paul's Lutheran Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
  • Pioneer Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
  • Grand Medicine Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
  • Breck Memorial Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
  • Breck Memorial Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
  • Linnel Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
  • Lake Alice Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
  • St. Theodores Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Continue List   (88 more) ...
    • Osage Cemetery
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
    • Stevens Cemetery
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
    • Crandall Cemetery
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)

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>

While we didn't find Goldenrod in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Goldenrod.

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

  • Osage
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
  • Park Rapids
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
  • Hubbard
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Hubbard is located in Hubbard County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hubbard
  • Menahga
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
  • Richwood
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
    • Richwood is located in Becker County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Richwood
  • White Earth
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)

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

Newspapers Published in Goldenrod ...

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 41 newspapers that have been published in the area around Goldenrod.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Goldenrod, there are papers which were published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Goldenrod.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we first turn to the websites from Cyndi's List, FamilySearch and Genealogy Trails. These 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 Goldenrod:

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 Goldenrod, 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- Goldenrod) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.