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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 Hill City (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 Hill City. 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 doctors and 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.

Hill City 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 Hill City. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Hill City:

  • Aitkin County     (The home county of Hill City)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Hill City, with the one closest to Hill City listed first.
    • Haypoint
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
      • Haypoint is located in Aitkin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Haypoint
    • Swatara
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Swatara is located in Aitkin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Swatara
    • Jacobson
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
    • Palisade
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
    • Libby
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
      • Libby is located in Aitkin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Libby
    • Minnewawa
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
      • Minnewawa is located in Aitkin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Minnewawa
    • Hassman
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
      • Hassman is located in Aitkin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hassman
    • McGregor
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Kimberly
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
      • Kimberly is located in Aitkin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kimberly
  • Cass County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Hill City, with the one closest to Hill City listed first.
    • Remer
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
    • Outing
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Boy River
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Boy River is located in Cass County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Boy River
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 51 people
    • Longville
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
    • Wabedo
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
      • Wabedo is located in Cass County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wabedo
  • Crow Wing County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Hill City, with the one closest to Hill City listed first.
    • Emily
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
      • Emily is located in Crow Wing County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Emily
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 841 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Emily <1>
    • Fifty Lakes
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Manhattan Beach
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Itasca County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Hill City, with the one closest to Hill City listed first.
    • Cohasset
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
    • Grand Rapids
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
    • La Prairie
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
      • La Prairie is located in Itasca County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for La Prairie
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 661 people
    • Warba
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
    • Swan River
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
    • Wawina
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
      • Wawina is located in Itasca County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wawina
    • Bovey
      (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
    • Coleraine
      (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
    • Zemple
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
      • Zemple is located in Itasca County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Zemple
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 90 people
    • Goodland
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
      • Goodland is located in Itasca County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Goodland
    • Deer River
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
    • Taconite
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Taconite is located in Itasca County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Taconite
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 629 people
  • Saint Louis County
    • Island
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
      • 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 Hill City, see our County-by-County Page for Hill City.

Cemeteries Near Hill City ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Hill City.

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 Hill City - one of the links might be able to help.

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

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

  • Hill Lake Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
  • Macville Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
  • Heavirland Family Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Lake View Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
  • Hebron Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
  • Verdon Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Harris Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
  • Ball Bluff Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
  • Blackberry Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Fairview Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fairview Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Fairview Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located outside and to the northwest of Remer.
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #1961404 <2>
  • Waukenabo Cemetery
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
  • Paulley Children Cemetery
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
  • Continue List   (42 more) ...
    • Calvary Cemetery
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
    • Blandin Cemetery
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
    • Sago Cemetery
      (18 miles [29 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 Hill City in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Hill City.

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

  • Blackberry
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Blackberry is located in Itasca County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blackberry
  • La Prairie
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
    • La Prairie is located in Itasca County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for La Prairie
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 661 people
  • Grand Rapids
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
  • Cohasset
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
  • Libby
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Libby is located in Aitkin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Libby
  • Swan River
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
  • Wawina
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
    • Wawina is located in Itasca County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wawina
  • Deer River
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
  • Island
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
    • Island is located in Saint Louis County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Island
  • McGregor
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Hill City ...

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 27 newspapers that have been published in the area around Hill City.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Hill City. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Hill City and those printed in the larger area surrounding Hill City.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 29 miles [46.7 km]<4> of Hill City.

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 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 Hill City:

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