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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 Groningen (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 Groningen. 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.

Groningen is located in Pine 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 Pine County: Aitkin, Carlton, Chisago, Isanti, Kanabec, Burnett (WI), Douglas (WI) & Polk (WI).

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

  • Pine County     (The home county of Groningen)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Groningen, with the one closest to Groningen listed first.
    • Finlayson
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Sandstone
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Askov
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Rutledge
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
      • Rutledge is located in Pine County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rutledge
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 221 people
    • Hinckley
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Willow River
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
    • Cloverdale
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
      • Cloverdale is located in Pine County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cloverdale
    • Denham
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
      • Denham is located in Pine County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Denham
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 34 people
    • Bruno
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Bruno is located in Pine County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bruno
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 97 people
    • Brook Park
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Brook Park is located in Pine County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brook Park
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 132 people
    • Sturgeon Lake
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
    • Beroun
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
      • Beroun is located in Pine County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beroun
  • Aitkin County
    • McGrath
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
  • Carlton County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Groningen, with the one closest to Groningen listed first.
    • Moose Lake
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
    • Kettle River
      (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
    • Automba
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
      • Automba is located in Carlton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Automba
    • Barnum
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
  • Kanabec County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Groningen, with the one closest to Groningen listed first.
    • Quamba
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Quamba is located in Kanabec County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Quamba
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 127 people
    • Mora
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Mora is located in Kanabec County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mora
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,583 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Mora <1>
    • Grasston
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
  • Mille Lacs County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Groningen, with the one closest to Groningen listed first.
    • Isle
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
      • Isle is located in Mille Lacs County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Isle
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 790 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Isle <1>
    • Wahkon
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
  • Burnett County (WI)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Groningen, with the one closest to Groningen listed first.
    • Grantsburg
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Grantsburg is located in Burnett County (WI)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grantsburg
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,296 people
    • Alpha
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Alpha is located in Burnett County (WI)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alpha

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

Cemeteries Near Groningen ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Groningen.

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

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

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

  • Dell Grove Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
  • Spring Park Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
  • Finnish Lutheran Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
  • Peace Lutheran Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
  • St. Joseph's Catholic Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
  • Evergreen Memorial Park
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
  • Bethlehem Lutheran Church Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
  • Trinity Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
  • Lakeview Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
  • Rose Hill Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
  • Lutheran Memorial Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
  • Wagner Twp. Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
  • Continue List   (79 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.<2>

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

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

  • Sandstone
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
  • Finlayson
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
  • Hinckley
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
  • Mission Creek
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
    • Mission Creek is located in Pine County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mission Creek
  • Willow River
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
  • Sturgeon Lake
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
  • Kerrick
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
  • Pine City
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
  • Moose Lake
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
  • Continue List   (6 more) ...
    • Mora
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Mora is located in Kanabec County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mora
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,583 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Mora <1>
    • Rock Creek
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
    • Barnum
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Opstead
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
      • Opstead is located in Mille Lacs County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Opstead
    • Grass Lake
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Grass Lake is located in Kanabec County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grass Lake
    • Grantsburg
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Grantsburg is located in Burnett County (WI)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grantsburg
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,296 people

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

Newspapers Published in Groningen ...

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 47 newspapers that have been published in the area around Groningen.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Groningen, there are papers which were published within 28 miles [45.1 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Groningen.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we like to start with 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 Groningen:

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 Groningen, 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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Groningen) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.