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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 Hazel (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 Hazel. 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.

Hazel is located in Pennington 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 Pennington County: Beltrami, Clearwater, Marshall, Polk & Red Lake.

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

  • Pennington County     (The home county of Hazel)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Hazel, with the one closest to Hazel listed first.
    • Saint Hilaire
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
      • Saint Hilaire is located in Pennington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saint Hilaire
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 258 people
    • Thief River Falls
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Goodridge
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Goodridge is located in Pennington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Goodridge
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 126 people
    • Erie
      (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
      • Erie is located in Pennington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Erie
  • Marshall County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Hazel, with the one closest to Hazel listed first.
    • Holt
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
      • Holt is located in Marshall County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holt
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 87 people
    • Viking
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
      • Viking is located in Marshall County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Viking
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 96 people
    • Espelie
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
      • Espelie is located in Marshall County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Espelie
    • Newfolden
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Newfolden is located in Marshall County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Newfolden
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 363 people
    • Middle River
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
    • Grygla
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Polk County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Hazel, with the one closest to Hazel listed first.
    • Mentor
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
    • Gentilly
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Gentilly is located in Polk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gentilly
    • Dugdale
      (23 miles [37 km] to the south)
      • Dugdale is located in Polk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dugdale
    • Euclid
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
      • Euclid is located in Polk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Euclid
    • Erskine
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
    • Trail
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Trail is located in Polk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Trail
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 46 people
    • Shirley
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Shirley is located in Polk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shirley
    • McIntosh
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
    • Gully
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Gully is located in Polk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gully
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 66 people
    • Crookston
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Melvin
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Melvin is located in Polk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Melvin
  • Red Lake County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Hazel, with the one closest to Hazel listed first.
    • Plummer
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Plummer is located in Red Lake County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plummer
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 289 people
    • Red Lake Falls
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Brooks
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
      • Brooks is located in Red Lake County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brooks
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 136 people
    • Dorothy
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Dorothy is located in Red Lake County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dorothy
    • Oklee
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)

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

Cemeteries Near Hazel ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Hazel.

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

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

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

  • St. Pauli Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
  • Clara Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
  • St. Hilaire Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
  • Clearwater Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
  • Riverside Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
  • Emanuel Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
  • Greenwood Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Bethania Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
  • St. Vincent De Paul Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
  • St. Bernard Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
  • Silver Creek Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
  • Silverton Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
  • Continue List   (113 more) ...
    • Clearwater Cemetery
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Rux Cemetery
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Finnish Cemetery
      (10 miles [16.1 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>

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

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

  • Holt
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
    • Holt is located in Marshall County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holt
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 87 people
  • Viking
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Viking is located in Marshall County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Viking
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 96 people
  • Gentilly
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Gentilly is located in Polk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gentilly
  • Mentor
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
  • Dugdale
    (23 miles [37 km] to the south)
    • Dugdale is located in Polk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dugdale
  • Euclid
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
    • Euclid is located in Polk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Euclid
  • Shirley
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Shirley is located in Polk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shirley
  • Benoit
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Benoit is located in Polk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Benoit
  • Erskine
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
  • Burwell
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Burwell is located in Polk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Burwell
  • Maple Bay
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
    • Maple Bay is located in Polk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maple Bay
  • Angus
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
  • Continue List   (4 more) ...
    • Crookston
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
    • McIntosh
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
    • Hixon
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Hixon is located in Polk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hixon

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

Newspapers Published in Hazel ...

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 39 newspapers that have been published in the area around Hazel.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Hazel, there are papers which were published within 29 miles [46.7 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Hazel.

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 professional and volunteer 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 Hazel:

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 Hazel, 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 from Point A (ie- Hazel) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.