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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 Hoffman (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 Hoffman. 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 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.

Hoffman is located in Grant County.

To see how the shape of Minnesota's counties have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Grant County: Douglas, Otter Tail, Pope, Stevens, Traverse & Wilkin.

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

  • Grant County     (The home county of Hoffman)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Hoffman, with the one closest to Hoffman listed first.
    • Barrett
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Barrett have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Barrett
      • Barrett is located in Grant County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 414 people
    • Erdahl
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
    • Elbow Lake
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Herman
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
    • Ashby
      (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ashby have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ashby
      • Ashby is located in Grant County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 444 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Ashby <2>
    • Norcross
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Norcross have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Norcross
      • Norcross is located in Grant County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 71 people
    • Wendell
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
  • Big Stone County
    • Johnson
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Douglas County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Hoffman, with the one closest to Hoffman listed first.
    • Kensington
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Holmes City
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
    • Evansville
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
    • Brandon
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Melby
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
    • Garfield
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Millerville
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Millerville have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Millerville
      • Millerville is located in Douglas County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 103 people
    • Alexandria
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
    • Forada
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Forada have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Forada
      • Forada is located in Douglas County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 192 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Forada <2>
    • Nelson
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Nelson have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nelson
      • Nelson is located in Douglas County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 192 people
    • Carlos
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Carlos have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carlos
      • Carlos is located in Douglas County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 490 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Carlos <2>
    • Miltona
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Belle River
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Belle River. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Belle River
      • Belle River is located in Douglas County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Belle River
      • From Hoffman to Belle River
  • Otter Tail County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Hoffman, with the one closest to Hoffman listed first.
    • Dalton
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
    • Urbank
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Urbank have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Urbank
      • Urbank is located in Otter Tail County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 52 people
    • Western
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Western. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Western
      • Western is located in Otter Tail County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Western
      • From Hoffman to Western
  • Pope County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Hoffman, with the one closest to Hoffman listed first.
    • Farwell
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Farwell have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Farwell
      • Farwell is located in Pope County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 52 people
    • Cyrus
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cyrus have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cyrus
      • Cyrus is located in Pope County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 274 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Cyrus <2>
    • Lowry
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lowry have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lowry
      • Lowry is located in Pope County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 301 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Lowry <2>
    • New Prairie ‑ Historic
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Starbuck
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Long Beach
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Long Beach have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Long Beach
      • Long Beach is located in Pope County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 417 people
    • Glenwood
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Villard
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
  • Stevens County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Hoffman, with the one closest to Hoffman listed first.
    • Donnelly
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Donnelly have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Donnelly
      • Donnelly is located in Stevens County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 233 people
    • Morris
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
    • Alberta
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Hancock
      (23 miles [37 km] to the south)
    • Chokio
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
  • Traverse County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Hoffman, with the one closest to Hoffman listed first.
    • Charlesville
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
    • Tintah
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
  • Wilkin County
    • Nashua
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Nashua have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nashua
      • Nashua is located in Wilkin County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 66 people

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

Cemeteries Near Hoffman ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Hoffman.

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.

If you need information about a burial or interment, photos, transcripts, how to contact the cemetery or local authorities, please visit our selection of Genealogy Websites (see below).

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

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

  • Bethel Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Bethel Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Bethel Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Zion Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Zion Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Zion Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Land Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Land Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Land Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Lincoln Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Lincoln Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Lincoln Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Wennesborg Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Wennesborg Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Wennesborg Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Solem Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Solem Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Solem Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Old Lincoln Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Old Lincoln Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Old Lincoln Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Aeneas Lutheran Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Aeneas Lutheran Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Aeneas Lutheran Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Kensington Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Kensington Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Kensington Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Frykesende Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Frykesende Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Frykesende Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Barrett Covenant Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Barrett Covenant Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Barrett Covenant Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Roseville Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Roseville Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Roseville Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (166 more) ...
    • Brennin Cemetery
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Brennin Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Brennin Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Emmanuel Lutheran Cemetery
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Emmanuel Lutheran Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Emmanuel Lutheran Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Pike Lake Cemetery
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Pike Lake Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Pike Lake Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.

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.<4>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that in 1895, Hoffman had a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Hoffman had a population of 688 people.

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

  • Kensington
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
  • Barrett
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Barrett have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Barrett
    • Barrett is located in Grant County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 414 people
  • Farwell
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Farwell have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Farwell
    • Farwell is located in Pope County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 52 people
  • Holmes City
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
  • Thorsborg
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Thorsborg have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Thorsborg
    • Thorsborg is located in Grant County
  • Erdahl
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
  • Brandon
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
  • Evansville
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
  • Donnelly
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Donnelly have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Donnelly
    • Donnelly is located in Stevens County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 233 people
  • Elbow Lake
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Cyrus
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cyrus have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cyrus
    • Cyrus is located in Pope County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 274 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Cyrus <2>
  • Lowry
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lowry have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lowry
    • Lowry is located in Pope County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 301 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Lowry <2>
  • 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 Hoffman. See our List of 1890's Communities around Hoffman.

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Hoffman ...

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 68 newspapers that have been published in the area around Hoffman.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Hoffman. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Hoffman and those printed in the larger area surrounding Hoffman.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<5> of Hoffman.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we 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 Hoffman:

Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Hoffman. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.

The official website for Grant County: www.co.grant.mn.us/

The official website for State of Minnesota: https://mn.gov/

Footnotes ...

<1>The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required.
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<3>An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace.
<4>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 Hoffman, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<5>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a '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- Hoffman) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Hoffman. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 45.8314, Longitude: -95.7896    









 

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This page was last modified/updated: 28 Apr 2025