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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 Grayling (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 Grayling. 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 northwest 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 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 west 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.

Grayling is located in Aitkin 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 Aitkin County: Carlton, Cass, Crow Wing, Itasca, Kanabec, Mille Lacs, Pine & Saint Louis.

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

  • Aitkin County     (The home county of Grayling)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Grayling, with the one closest to Grayling listed first.
    • Tamarack
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Tamarack is located in Aitkin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tamarack
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 94 people
    • McGregor
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Minnewawa
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
      • Minnewawa is located in Aitkin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Minnewawa
    • Libby
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Libby is located in Aitkin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Libby
    • Kimberly
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
      • Kimberly is located in Aitkin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kimberly
    • Palisade
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Hassman
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
      • Hassman is located in Aitkin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hassman
    • Aitkin
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
    • Jacobson
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
    • Malmo
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Malmo is located in Aitkin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Malmo
    • Haypoint
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Haypoint is located in Aitkin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Haypoint
    • McGrath
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
    • Wealthwood
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Wealthwood is located in Aitkin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wealthwood
  • Carlton County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Grayling, with the one closest to Grayling listed first.
    • Wright
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
    • Automba
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Automba is located in Carlton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Automba
    • Cromwell
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
    • Kettle River
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
    • Moose Lake
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Barnum
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
    • Mahtowa
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
      • Mahtowa is located in Carlton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mahtowa
    • Sawyer
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
      • Sawyer is located in Carlton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sawyer
  • Itasca County
    • Wawina
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
      • Wawina is located in Itasca County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wawina
  • Pine County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Grayling, with the one closest to Grayling listed first.
    • Denham
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Denham is located in Pine County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Denham
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 34 people
    • Sturgeon Lake
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Willow River
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Rutledge
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Rutledge is located in Pine County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rutledge
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 221 people
  • Saint Louis County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Grayling, with the one closest to Grayling listed first.
    • Floodwood
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Island
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
      • Island is located in Saint Louis County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Island

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

Cemeteries Near Grayling ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Grayling.

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

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

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

  • Grayling Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
  • Fairview Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
  • Sheriff Lake Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
  • Finnish Apostolic Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
  • Salo Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Salo Cemetery
    • The Salo Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Church Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #83542 <2>
  • Union Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
  • Carr Memorial Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
  • Round Lake Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
  • Shamrock Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Lakeside Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
  • Lakeview Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
  • Lansford Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
  • Continue List   (80 more) ...
    • Rice River Cemetery
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Wright Catholic Cemetery
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Lakeview Cemetery
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)

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.<3>

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

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

  • McGregor
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
  • Tamarack
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Tamarack is located in Aitkin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tamarack
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 94 people
  • Wright
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
  • Libby
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Libby is located in Aitkin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Libby
  • Kimberly
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
    • Kimberly is located in Aitkin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kimberly
  • Cromwell
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
  • Rossburg
    (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
    • Rossburg is located in Aitkin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rossburg
  • Corona
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
    • Corona is located in Carlton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Corona
  • Aitkin
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
  • Moose Lake
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
  • Malmo
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Malmo is located in Aitkin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Malmo
  • Sturgeon Lake
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
  • Continue List   (8 more) ...
    • Floodwood
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Barnum
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
    • Island
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
      • Island is located in Saint Louis County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Island

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

Newspapers Published in Grayling ...

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 23 newspapers that have been published in the area around Grayling.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Grayling, there are papers which were published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Grayling.

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 Grayling:

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>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.
<3>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 Grayling, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>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- Grayling) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.