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 Hawley (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 Hawley. 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 northeast corner of their home county. During their lives, most hospitals were in the next county to the east. 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 east 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.
Hawley is located in Clay 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 Clay County: Becker, Norman, Otter Tail, Wilkin, Cass (ND) & Richland (ND).
Below are the counties that are near Hawley. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Hawley:
- Clay County (The home county of Hawley)
- The following are listed by their distance from Hawley, with the one closest to Hawley listed first.
- Muskoda
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
- Muskoda is located in Clay County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Muskoda
- Hitterdal
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
- Hitterdal is located in Clay County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hitterdal
- Population from the 2020 Census: 213 people
- Rollag
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
- Rollag is located in Clay County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rollag
- Glyndon
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
- Ulen
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
- Baker
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
- Baker is located in Clay County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Baker
- Felton
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
- Barnesville
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
- Sabin
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
- Sabin is located in Clay County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sabin
- Population from the 2020 Census: 558 people
- Dilworth
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
- Finkle
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
- Finkle is located in Clay County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Finkle
- Moorhead
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
- Kragnes
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
- Kragnes is located in Clay County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kragnes
- Becker County
- The following are listed by their distance from Hawley, with the one closest to Hawley listed first.
- Lake Park
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
- Audubon
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
- Cormorant
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
- Cormorant is located in Becker County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cormorant
- Callaway
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
- Bucks Mill
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
- Bucks Mill is located in Becker County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bucks Mill
- Detroit Lakes
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
- Richwood
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
- Richwood is located in Becker County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Richwood
- Ogema
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
- Ogema is located in Becker County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ogema
- Population from the 2020 Census: 183 people
- White Earth
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
- Rochert
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
- Frazee
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
- Mahnomen County
- Waubun
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
- Norman County
- The following are listed by their distance from Hawley, with the one closest to Hawley listed first.
- Flom
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
- Borup
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
- Borup is located in Norman County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Borup
- Population from the 2020 Census: 103 people
- Twin Valley
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
- Twin Valley is located in Norman County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Twin Valley
- Population from the 2020 Census: 750 people
- Ada
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
- Faith
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
- Faith is located in Norman County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Faith
- Perley
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
- Perley is located in Norman County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Perley
- Population from the 2020 Census: 83 people
- Otter Tail County
- The following are listed by their distance from Hawley, with the one closest to Hawley listed first.
- Pelican Rapids
(23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
- Rothsay
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
- Vergas
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
- Erhard
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
- Wilkin County
- The following are listed by their distance from Hawley, with the one closest to Hawley listed first.
- Lawndale
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
- Lawndale is located in Wilkin County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lawndale
- Wolverton
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
- Wolverton is located in Wilkin County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wolverton
- Population from the 2020 Census: 129 people
- Cass County (ND)
- The following are listed by their distance from Hawley, with the one closest to Hawley listed first.
- Briarwood
(23 miles [37 km] to the west)
- Briarwood is located in Cass County (ND)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Briarwood
- Population from the 2020 Census: 70 people
- North River
(23 miles [37 km] to the west)
- North River is located in Cass County (ND)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North River
- Population from the 2020 Census: 54 people
- Fargo
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
- Frontier
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
- Frontier is located in Cass County (ND)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Frontier
- Population from the 2020 Census: 212 people
- Prairie Rose
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
- Prairie Rose is located in Cass County (ND)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prairie Rose
- Population from the 2020 Census: 51 people
- Wild Rice
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
- Wild Rice is located in Cass County (ND)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wild Rice
- Oxbow
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
- Oxbow is located in Cass County (ND)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oxbow
- Population from the 2020 Census: 303 people
- Reile's Acres
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
- Reile's Acres is located in Cass County (ND)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Reile's Acres
- Population from the 2020 Census: 748 people
- Harwood
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
- West Fargo
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
- Horace
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Hawley, see our County-by-County Page for Hawley.
Cemeteries Near Hawley ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Hawley.
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 Hawley - one of the links might be able to help.
If not found below, our Cemetery List for Hawley covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Hawley, with the one closest to Hawley listed first.
- Hawley Cemetery
(Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
- Silver Lake Pioneer Cemetery
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
- Hegland Cemetery
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
- Dale Covenant Cemetery
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
- Solem Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
- Dale Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
- Lysne Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
- Spring Prairie Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
- Zion Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
- Eskjo Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
- Highland Grove Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
- West Salem Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
- Continue List (155 more) ...
- Houglum Cemetery
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
- Grong Lutheran Cemetery
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
- Old Yankee Cemetery
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
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 Hawley had a population of 270 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Hawley had a population of 2,210 people.
These communities are listed based on their distance from Hawley, with the one closest to Hawley listed first.
- Winnipeg Junction
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
- Winnipeg Junction is located in Clay County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Winnipeg Junction
- Muskoda
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
- Muskoda is located in Clay County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Muskoda
- Hitterdal
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
- Hitterdal is located in Clay County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hitterdal
- Population from the 2020 Census: 213 people
- Rollag
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
- Rollag is located in Clay County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rollag
- Lake Park
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
- Downer
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
- Downer is located in Clay County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Downer
- Averill
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
- Averill is located in Clay County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Averill
- Glyndon
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
- Tansem
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
- Tansem is located in Clay County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tansem
- Ulen
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
- Baker
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
- Baker is located in Clay County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Baker
- Cormorant
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
- Cormorant is located in Becker County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cormorant
- Continue List (14 more) ...
- Audubon
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
- Barnesville
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
- Felton
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Hawley. See our List of 1890's Communities around Hawley.
Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Hawley ...
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 83 newspapers that have been published in the area around Hawley.
We have organized these newspapers into two lists:
- A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Hawley. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Hawley and those printed in the larger area surrounding Hawley.
- An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<3> of Hawley.
Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...
When we do our genealogical research, we begin 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 Hawley:
- Websites specific to Minnesota
- Pages specific to Clay County
- Genealogy information for nearby counties
- Becker County
- Mahnomen County
- Norman County
- Otter Tail County
- Wilkin County
- Cass County
- Cemetery Information and Directories for Minnesota
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 Hawley, 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' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Hawley) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |