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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 Homecroft (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 Homecroft. 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 southwest corner of their home county. During their lives, most hospitals and doctors were in the next county to the west. Almost all of the nearby churches and cemeteries were in the county to the south.

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 south 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.

Homecroft is located in Crow Wing 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 Crow Wing County: Aitkin, Cass, Mille Lacs & Morrison.

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

  • Crow Wing County     (The home county of Homecroft)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Homecroft, with the one closest to Homecroft listed first.
    • Riverton
      (Less than 2 miles to the west)
      • Riverton is located in Crow Wing County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Riverton
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 115 people
    • Ironton
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Trommald
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
      • Trommald is located in Crow Wing County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Trommald
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 100 people
    • Crosby
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Crosby is located in Crow Wing County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crosby
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,315 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Crosby <1>
    • Deerwood
      (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Cuyuna
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
      • Cuyuna is located in Crow Wing County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cuyuna
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 365 people
    • Bay Lake
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Bay Lake is located in Crow Wing County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bay Lake
    • Merrifield
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Brainerd
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Lake Hubert
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
      • Lake Hubert is located in Crow Wing County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Hubert
    • Garrison
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Breezy Point
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Baxter
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Baxter is located in Crow Wing County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Baxter
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 8,483 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Baxter <1>
  • Aitkin County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Homecroft, with the one closest to Homecroft listed first.
    • Nichols
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
      • Nichols is located in Aitkin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nichols
    • Aitkin
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
    • Wealthwood
      (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
      • Wealthwood is located in Aitkin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wealthwood
    • Hassman
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Hassman is located in Aitkin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hassman
    • Malmo
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
      • Malmo is located in Aitkin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Malmo
    • Kimberly
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
      • Kimberly is located in Aitkin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kimberly
    • Palisade
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Cass County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Homecroft, with the one closest to Homecroft listed first.
    • East Gull Lake
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
    • Lake Shore
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
    • Pillager
      (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
    • Outing
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
    • Chickamaw Beach
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Chickamaw Beach is located in Cass County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chickamaw Beach
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 110 people
    • Pine River
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
  • Mille Lacs County
    • Vineland
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
      • Vineland is located in Mille Lacs County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vineland
  • Morrison County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Homecroft, with the one closest to Homecroft listed first.
    • Harding
      (23 miles [37 km] to the south)
      • Harding is located in Morrison County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harding
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 122 people
    • Lastrup
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)

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

Cemeteries Near Homecroft ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Homecroft.

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

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

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

  • Irondale Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
  • Lakewood Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
  • Wolford Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
  • Deerwood Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
  • Evergreen Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Mission Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
  • Oak Grove Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
  • Bay Lake Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
  • Evergreen Memorial Gardens
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
  • Maple Grove Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
  • Immanuel Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
  • Lake Edward Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
  • Continue List   (91 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.<3>

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

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

  • Deerwood
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
  • Brainerd
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Garrison
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
  • Nichols
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Nichols is located in Aitkin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nichols
  • Baxter
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Baxter is located in Crow Wing County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Baxter
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 8,483 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Baxter <1>
  • Aitkin
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
  • Crow Wing
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Crow Wing is located in Crow Wing County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crow Wing
  • Saint Mathias
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Saint Mathias is located in Crow Wing County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saint Mathias
  • Rossburg
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
    • Rossburg is located in Aitkin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rossburg
  • Pillager
    (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
  • Vineland
    (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
    • Vineland is located in Mille Lacs County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vineland
  • Malmo
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
    • Malmo is located in Aitkin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Malmo
  • Continue List   (4 more) ...
    • Fort Ripley
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Kimberly
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
      • Kimberly is located in Aitkin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kimberly
    • Pine River
      (26 miles [41.8 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 Homecroft. See our List of 1890's Communities around Homecroft.

Newspapers Published in Homecroft ...

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 37 newspapers that have been published in the area around Homecroft.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Homecroft, there are papers which were published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Homecroft.

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 Homecroft:

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 Homecroft, 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- Homecroft) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.