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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 Granite Falls (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 Granite Falls. 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.

Granite Falls is primarily located in Yellow Medicine County and is the County Seat. A portion of Granite Falls extends into Chippewa 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 Yellow Medicine County: Chippewa, Lac qui Parle, Lincoln, Lyon, Redwood, Renville & Deuel (SD).

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

  • Yellow Medicine County     (The home county of Granite Falls)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Granite Falls, with the one closest to Granite Falls listed first.
    • Hanley Falls
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Hazel Run
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hazel Run have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hazel Run
      • Hazel Run is located in Yellow Medicine County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 56 people
    • Wood Lake
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Wood Lake have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wood Lake
      • Wood Lake is located in Yellow Medicine County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 395 people
    • Clarkfield
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Clarkfield have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clarkfield
      • Clarkfield is located in Yellow Medicine County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 775 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Clarkfield <2>
    • Echo
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Echo have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Echo
      • Echo is located in Yellow Medicine County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 247 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Echo <2>
    • Saint Leo
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Saint Leo have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saint Leo
      • Saint Leo is located in Yellow Medicine County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 90 people
  • Chippewa County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Granite Falls, with the one closest to Granite Falls listed first.
    • Maynard
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Maynard have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maynard
      • Maynard is located in Chippewa County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 344 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Maynard <2>
    • Montevideo
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Clara City
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Clara City have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clara City
      • Clara City is located in Chippewa County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,273 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Clara City <2>
    • Watson
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Watson have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Watson
      • Watson is located in Chippewa County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 192 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Watson <2>
    • Big Bend City
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Big Bend City have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Big Bend City
      • Big Bend City is located in Chippewa County
    • Milan
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Kandiyohi County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Granite Falls, with the one closest to Granite Falls listed first.
    • Prinsburg
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Raymond
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Raymond have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Raymond
      • Raymond is located in Kandiyohi County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 759 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Raymond <2>
    • Roseland
      (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
    • Blomkest
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Blomkest have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blomkest
      • Blomkest is located in Kandiyohi County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 157 people
    • Svea
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Pennock
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Pennock have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pennock
      • Pennock is located in Kandiyohi County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 509 people
  • Lac qui Parle County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Granite Falls, with the one closest to Granite Falls listed first.
    • Boyd
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Boyd have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Boyd
      • Boyd is located in Lac qui Parle County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 154 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Boyd <2>
    • Dawson
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Dawson have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dawson
      • Dawson is located in Lac qui Parle County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,378 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Dawson <2>
    • Providence
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
  • Lyon County
  • Redwood County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Granite Falls, with the one closest to Granite Falls listed first.
    • Belview
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Belview have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Belview
      • Belview is located in Redwood County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 352 people
    • Vesta
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Vesta have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vesta
      • Vesta is located in Redwood County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 295 people
    • Delhi
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Seaforth
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Seaforth have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Seaforth
      • Seaforth is located in Redwood County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 82 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Seaforth <2>
    • Milroy
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
    • Lucan
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lucan have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lucan
      • Lucan is located in Redwood County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 174 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Lucan <2>
    • North Redwood
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Redwood Falls
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Redwood Falls have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Redwood Falls
      • Redwood Falls is located in Redwood County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 4,946 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Redwood Falls <2>
  • Renville County
  • Swift County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Granite Falls, with the one closest to Granite Falls listed first.
    • Kerkhoven
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Kerkhoven have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kerkhoven
      • Kerkhoven is located in Swift County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 696 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Kerkhoven <2>
    • Murdock
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)

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

Cemeteries Near Granite Falls ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Granite Falls.

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

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

  • St. Pauls Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
  • St. Andrews Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Andrews Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Andrews Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Hillcrest Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Hillcrest Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Hillcrest Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Granite Falls City Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Granite Falls City Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Granite Falls City Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Union Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • 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.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • First Twp. Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the First Twp. Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the First Twp. Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Dueland Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Dueland Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Dueland Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Stony Run Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
  • Swensson Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Swensson Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Swensson Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Saron Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Saron Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Saron Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Hawk Creek Lutheran Church Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Hawk Creek Lutheran Church Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Hawk Creek Lutheran Church Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Vestre Sogn Lutheran Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Vestre Sogn Lutheran Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Vestre Sogn Lutheran Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (163 more) ...

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.<5>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Granite Falls had a population of 800 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Granite Falls had a population of 2,670 people.

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

  • Maynard
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Maynard have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maynard
    • Maynard is located in Chippewa County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 344 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Maynard <2>
  • Wegdahl
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Wegdahl have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wegdahl
    • Wegdahl is located in Chippewa County
  • Hanley Falls
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
  • Hazel Run
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hazel Run have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hazel Run
    • Hazel Run is located in Yellow Medicine County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 56 people
  • Sacred Heart
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
  • Wood Lake
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Wood Lake have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wood Lake
    • Wood Lake is located in Yellow Medicine County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 395 people
  • Montevideo
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Clarkfield
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Clarkfield have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clarkfield
    • Clarkfield is located in Yellow Medicine County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 775 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Clarkfield <2>
  • Clara City
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Clara City have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clara City
    • Clara City is located in Chippewa County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,273 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Clara City <2>
  • Echo
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Echo have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Echo
    • Echo is located in Yellow Medicine County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 247 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Echo <2>
  • Cottonwood
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cottonwood have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cottonwood
    • Cottonwood is located in Lyon County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,223 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Cottonwood <2>
  • Renville
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
  • Continue List   (16 more) ...
    • Belview
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Belview have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Belview
      • Belview is located in Redwood County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 352 people
    • Boyd
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Boyd have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Boyd
      • Boyd is located in Lac qui Parle County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 154 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Boyd <2>
    • Watson
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Watson have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Watson
      • Watson is located in Chippewa County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 192 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Watson <2>

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Granite Falls ...

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 111 newspapers that have been published in the area around Granite Falls.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Granite Falls. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Granite Falls and those printed in the larger area surrounding Granite Falls.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 29 miles [46.7 km]<6> of Granite Falls.

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 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 Granite Falls:

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

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

Footnotes ...

<1>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.
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<3>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.
<4>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.
<5>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 Granite Falls, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<6>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Granite Falls) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Granite Falls. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 44.8100, Longitude: -95.5486    









 

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This page was last modified/updated: 28 Apr 2025