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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 Jackson (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 Jackson. 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 southeast 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 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 east 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.

Jackson is located in Jackson County and is the County Seat.

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 Jackson County: Dickinson (IA), Emmet (IA), Osceola (IA), Cottonwood, Martin, Nobles & Watonwan.

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

  • Jackson County     (The home county of Jackson)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Jackson, with the one closest to Jackson listed first.
    • Alpha
      (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
      • Alpha is located in Jackson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alpha
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 119 people
    • Petersburg
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Lakefield
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Sioux Valley
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
    • Wilder
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Okabena
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
    • Heron Lake
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Heron Lake is located in Jackson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Heron Lake
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 643 people
  • Cottonwood County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Jackson, with the one closest to Jackson listed first.
    • Windom
      (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
      • Windom is located in Cottonwood County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Windom
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 4,403 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Windom <1>
    • Bingham Lake
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
    • Mountain Lake
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
  • Martin County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Jackson, with the one closest to Jackson listed first.
    • Dunnell
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
      • Dunnell is located in Martin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dunnell
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 145 people
    • Sherburn
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
    • Trimont
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Ceylon
      (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
    • Welcome
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
    • Ormsby
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Ormsby is located in Martin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ormsby
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 121 people
    • Fairmont
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
    • Northrop
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
  • Nobles County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Jackson, with the one closest to Jackson listed first.
    • Brewster
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
    • Round Lake
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
    • Dundee
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Dundee is located in Nobles County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dundee
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 67 people
    • Kinbrae
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Worthington
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
  • Watonwan County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Jackson, with the one closest to Jackson listed first.
    • Odin
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Butterfield
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
      • Butterfield is located in Watonwan County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Butterfield
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 582 people
    • Darfur
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
      • Darfur is located in Watonwan County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Darfur
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 102 people
    • Saint James
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Clay County (IA)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Jackson, with the one closest to Jackson listed first.
    • Fostoria
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
    • Langdon
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
  • Dickinson County (IA)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Jackson, with the one closest to Jackson listed first.
    • Orleans
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
      • Orleans is located in Dickinson County (IA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Orleans
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 591 people
    • Superior
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
      • Superior is located in Dickinson County (IA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Superior
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 124 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Superior <1>
    • Spirit Lake
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
    • Arnolds Park
      (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
    • Okoboji
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
    • Wahpeton
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
      • Wahpeton is located in Dickinson County (IA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wahpeton
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 353 people
    • Lake Park
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
    • West Okoboji
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
      • West Okoboji is located in Dickinson County (IA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Okoboji
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 303 people
    • Milford
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
    • Terril
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
    • Old Town
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
      • Old Town is located in Dickinson County (IA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Old Town
  • Emmet County (IA)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Jackson, with the one closest to Jackson listed first.
    • Estherville
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Dolliver
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Gruver
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Gruver is located in Emmet County (IA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gruver
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 82 people
    • Wallingford
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Armstrong
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Hoprig
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Osceola County (IA)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Jackson, with the one closest to Jackson listed first.
    • Harris
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Ocheyedan
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Palo Alto County (IA)

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

Cemeteries Near Jackson ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Jackson.

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

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

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

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>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Jackson had a population of 720 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Jackson had a population of 3,151 people.

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

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Jackson ...

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 123 newspapers that have been published in the area around Jackson.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Jackson. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Jackson and those printed in the larger area surrounding Jackson.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<4> of Jackson.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we first visit 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 Jackson:

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 Jackson, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>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- Jackson) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.