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 Jessie Lake (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 Jessie Lake. 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.

Name Variations for Jessie Lake ...

When searching records, keep in mind that names and their spelling can change over time. Our sources include documents like maps, railroad schedules, Travel, Express and Shipping Guides. Many of these documents date from the 1800's and it's common to find spelling differences.

Although we can't give a definitive list, hopefully the following will give you a feel for the variations that might have occurred.

For example, a typical abbreviation for Jessie Lake: Jessie Lk.

If you have information about these names (such as the reason for the change, date of change, the origin of the name), please Contact Us.

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 and doctors 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.

Jessie Lake is located in Itasca 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 Itasca County: Aitkin, Beltrami, Cass, Koochiching & Saint Louis.

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

• Itasca County     (The home county of Jessie Lake)
  • The following are listed by their distance from Jessie Lake, with the one closest to Jessie Lake listed first.
  • Talmoon
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Talmoon have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Talmoon
    • Talmoon is located in Itasca County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Talmoon <2>
  • Spring Lake
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Spring Lake have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spring Lake
    • Spring Lake is located in Itasca County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Spring Lake <2>
  • Bowstring
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bowstring have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bowstring
    • Bowstring is located in Itasca County
  • Marcell
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Marcell have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marcell
    • Marcell is located in Itasca County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Marcell <2>
  • Wirt
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Wirt have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wirt
    • Wirt is located in Itasca County
  • Max
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Max have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Max
    • Max is located in Itasca County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Max <2>
  • Bigfork
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bigfork
    • Bigfork is located in Itasca County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 444 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Bigfork <2>
  • Dora Lake
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dora Lake
    • Dora Lake is located in Itasca County
  • Squaw Lake
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Squaw Lake have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Squaw Lake
    • Squaw Lake is located in Itasca County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 106 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Squaw Lake <2>
  • Deer River
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Deer River have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Deer River
    • Deer River is located in Itasca County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 930 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Deer River <2>
  • Effie
    (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Effie have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Effie
    • Effie is located in Itasca County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 118 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Effie <2>
  • Zemple
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Zemple have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Zemple
    • Zemple is located in Itasca County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 90 people
  • Cohasset
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cohasset have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cohasset
    • Cohasset is located in Itasca County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,739 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Cohasset <2>
• Cass County
  • The following are listed by their distance from Jessie Lake, with the one closest to Jessie Lake listed first.
  • Bena
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bena have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bena
    • Bena is located in Cass County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 125 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Bena <2>
  • Ryan Village
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ryan Village have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ryan Village
    • Ryan Village is located in Cass County
• Koochiching County
  • The following are listed by their distance from Jessie Lake, with the one closest to Jessie Lake listed first.
  • Mizpah
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mizpah have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mizpah
    • Mizpah is located in Koochiching County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 52 people
  • Northome
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Northome have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Northome
    • Northome is located in Koochiching County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 187 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Northome <2>
  • Gemmell
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gemmell
    • Gemmell is located in Koochiching County

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

Newspapers Published in Jessie Lake ...

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 18 newspapers that have been published in the area around Jessie Lake.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Jessie Lake, 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 Jessie Lake.

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 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 Jessie Lake:

• Websites specific to Minnesota
  • Jump to Cyndi's List
  • Jump to Family Search
  • Jump to Genealogy Trails
  • Website for the Minnesota State Archives

• Pages specific to Itasca County
  • Jump to Cyndi's List
  • Jump to Family Search
  • Jump to Genealogy Trails

• Genealogy information for nearby counties
  • Cass County
    • Jump to Cyndi's List
    • Jump to Family Search
    • Jump to Genealogy Trails
  • Koochiching County
    • Jump to Cyndi's List
    • Jump to Family Search
    • Jump to Genealogy Trails

• Cemetery Information and Directories for Minnesota
  • Cemetery Junction: Cemeteries of Minnesota
  • Cyndi's List
  • Cemeteries of Minnesota
  • Cemeteries of Itasca County
  • FamilySearch.org: Cemeteries of Minnesota
  • Find-A-Grave: Home Page
  • Interment.net
  • Cemeteries of Minnesota

Cemeteries Near Jessie Lake ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Jessie Lake.

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 Jessie Lake covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.

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

• Old Norwegian Church Cemetery
  (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Old Norwegian Church Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Old Norwegian Church Cemetery
• Greenwood Cemetery
  (Less than 2 miles to the east)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Greenwood Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Greenwood Cemetery
• Evergreen Knoll Cemetery
  (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Evergreen Knoll Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Evergreen Knoll Cemetery
• Donnelly Cemetery
  (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Donnelly Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Donnelly Cemetery
• Stakes Cemetery
  (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Stakes Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Stakes Cemetery
• Sand Lake Cemetery
  (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Sand Lake Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Sand Lake Cemetery
• Inger Cemetery
  (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Inger Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Inger Cemetery
• Suomi Cemetery
  (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Suomi Cemetery
  • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #83667 <4>
• Wirt Cemetery
  (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Wirt Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Wirt Cemetery
• Pine Grove Cemetery
  (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Pine Grove Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Pine Grove Cemetery
• Lakeview Cemetery
  (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Lakeview Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Lakeview Cemetery
• Fairbanks Cemetery
  (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Fairbanks Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Fairbanks Cemetery
• Continue List   (35 more) ...
  • Pine Ridge Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Pine Ridge Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Pine Ridge Cemetery
  • Popple Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Popple Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Popple Cemetery
  • Peter & Eva Niska Memorial Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Peter & Eva Niska Memorial Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Peter & Eva Niska Memorial Cemetery

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.<5>

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

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

• Deer River
  (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Deer River have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Deer River
  • Deer River is located in Itasca County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 930 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Deer River <2>
• Cohasset
  (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cohasset have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cohasset
  • Cohasset is located in Itasca County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,739 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Cohasset <2>
• Grand Rapids
  (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grand Rapids
  • Grand Rapids is located in Itasca County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 11,219 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Grand Rapids <2>
• La Prairie
  (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for La Prairie have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for La Prairie
  • La Prairie is located in Itasca County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 661 people

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

Off-the-Road Links ...

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

The official website for Itasca County: www.co.itasca.mn.us/

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