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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 Grogan (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 Grogan. 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 southeast 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 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 east 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.

Grogan is located in Watonwan 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 Watonwan County: Blue Earth, Brown, Cottonwood, Jackson & Martin.

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

  • Watonwan County     (The home county of Grogan)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Grogan, with the one closest to Grogan listed first.
    • La Salle
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
      • La Salle is located in Watonwan County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for La Salle
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 86 people
    • Saint James
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Madelia
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Godahl
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
      • Godahl is located in Watonwan County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Godahl
    • Lewisville
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
      • Lewisville is located in Watonwan County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lewisville
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 244 people
    • Butterfield
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
      • Butterfield is located in Watonwan County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Butterfield
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 582 people
    • Odin
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Darfur
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
      • Darfur is located in Watonwan County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Darfur
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 102 people
  • Blue Earth County
  • Brown County
  • Cottonwood County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Grogan, with the one closest to Grogan listed first.
    • Mountain Lake
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
    • Bingham Lake
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
    • Windom
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
      • Windom is located in Cottonwood County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Windom
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 4,403 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Windom <1>
  • Faribault County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Grogan, with the one closest to Grogan listed first.
    • Huntley
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Winnebago
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Delavan
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Delavan is located in Faribault County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Delavan
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 166 people
  • Jackson County
    • Alpha
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Alpha is located in Jackson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alpha
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 119 people
  • Martin County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Grogan, with the one closest to Grogan listed first.
    • Truman
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
      • Truman is located in Martin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Truman
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,028 people
    • Ormsby
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
      • Ormsby is located in Martin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ormsby
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 121 people
    • Trimont
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Northrop
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
    • Welcome
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
    • Granada
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Fairmont
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
    • Sherburn
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
  • Nicollet County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Grogan, with the one closest to Grogan listed first.
    • Courtland
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Nicollet
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
    • North Mankato
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Oshawa
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Lafayette
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)

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

Cemeteries Near Grogan ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Grogan.

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

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

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

  • Rosendale Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
  • La Salle Lutheran Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
  • Old Faith Lutheran Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
  • Mt. Hope Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
  • Madelia Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
  • Riverside Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
  • East Sveadahl Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
  • Sell - Lamb Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
  • Old Catholic Church Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
  • Calvary Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
  • Zion Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
  • Lake Hanska Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
  • Continue List   (174 more) ...
    • Antrim Cemetery
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Trinity Cemetery
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Linden Cemetery
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)

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>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that in 1895, Grogan had a post office and railroad service.

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

  • Saint James
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
  • Madelia
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
  • South Branch
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • South Branch is located in Watonwan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Branch
  • Hanska
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
  • Butterfield
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
    • Butterfield is located in Watonwan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Butterfield
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 582 people
  • Linden
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Linden is located in Brown County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Linden
  • Odin
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
  • Willow Creek
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
  • Nashville Center
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Nashville Center is located in Martin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nashville Center
  • Lake Crystal
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
  • Iberia
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
  • Vernon Center
    (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
    • Vernon Center is located in Blue Earth County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vernon Center
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 313 people
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...

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

Newspapers Published in Grogan ...

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 58 newspapers that have been published in the area around Grogan.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Grogan, 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 Grogan.

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 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 Grogan:

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 Grogan, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<3>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Grogan) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.