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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 Kimball Prairie (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 Kimball Prairie. 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 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.

Kimball Prairie is located in Stearns 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 Stearns County: Benton, Douglas, Kandiyohi, Meeker, Morrison, Pope, Sherburne, Todd & Wright.

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

  • Stearns County     (The home county of Kimball Prairie)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Kimball Prairie, with the one closest to Kimball Prairie listed first.
    • Kimball
      (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Fairhaven
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
      • Fairhaven is located in Stearns County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fairhaven
    • Rockville
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Saint Augusta
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Saint Augusta is located in Stearns County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saint Augusta
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,900 people
    • Cold Spring
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Pleasant Lake
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
      • Pleasant Lake is located in Stearns County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Lake
    • Richmond
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Saint Joseph
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
    • Waite Park
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
    • Saint Cloud
      (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
    • Roscoe
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
    • Collegeville
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
  • Benton County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Kimball Prairie, with the one closest to Kimball Prairie listed first.
    • Sauk Rapids
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
    • Evergreen Village
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
      • Evergreen Village is located in Benton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Evergreen Village
    • Watab
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
      • Watab is located in Benton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Watab
    • Duelm
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Duelm is located in Benton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Duelm
    • Rice
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
      • Rice is located in Benton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rice
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,401 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Rice <1>
    • Foley
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Carver County
    • Hazelton
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Hazelton is located in Carver County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hazelton
  • Kandiyohi County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Kimball Prairie, with the one closest to Kimball Prairie listed first.
    • Hawick
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
      • Hawick is located in Kandiyohi County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hawick
    • Atwater
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Regal
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
      • Regal is located in Kandiyohi County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Regal
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 35 people
  • McLeod County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Kimball Prairie, with the one closest to Kimball Prairie listed first.
    • Winsted
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Silver Lake
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
    • Hutchinson
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
  • Meeker County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Kimball Prairie, with the one closest to Kimball Prairie listed first.
    • Watkins
      (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Kingston
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
      • Kingston is located in Meeker County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kingston
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 162 people
    • Forest City
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Forest City is located in Meeker County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Forest City
    • Eden Valley
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Darwin
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
    • Dassel
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
    • Manannah
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
      • Manannah is located in Meeker County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Manannah
    • Litchfield
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Grove City
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Cedar Mills
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
      • Cedar Mills is located in Meeker County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Mills
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 51 people
    • Rosendale
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Rosendale is located in Meeker County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rosendale
  • Sherburne County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Kimball Prairie, with the one closest to Kimball Prairie listed first.
    • Cable
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Cable is located in Sherburne County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cable
    • Clear Lake
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Becker
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
      • Becker is located in Sherburne County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Becker
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 5,033 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Becker <1>
    • Salida
      (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
      • Salida is located in Sherburne County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Salida
    • Big Lake
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
    • Orrock
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
      • Orrock is located in Sherburne County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Orrock
    • Santiago
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Santiago is located in Sherburne County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Santiago
  • Wright County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Kimball Prairie, with the one closest to Kimball Prairie listed first.
    • South Haven
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Annandale
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Clearwater
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Albion Center
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Albion Center is located in Wright County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Albion Center
    • Maple Lake
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
    • Silver Creek
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
      • Silver Creek is located in Wright County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Silver Creek
    • Albright
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Albright is located in Wright County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Albright
    • Hasty
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
      • Hasty is located in Wright County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hasty
    • Cokato
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
    • Rassat
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
      • Rassat is located in Wright County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rassat
    • Smith Lake
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
      • Smith Lake is located in Wright County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Smith Lake
    • Howard Lake
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)

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

Cemeteries Near Kimball Prairie ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Kimball Prairie.

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 Kimball Prairie - one of the links might be able to help.

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

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

  • St. Annes Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
  • Kimball Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
  • Talbot Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
  • Lake Union Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
  • Concordia Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
  • Fairhaven Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
  • North Kingston Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
  • Maine Prairie Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
  • Redeemer Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
  • Union Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
  • West Kingston Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Grace Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
  • Continue List   (198 more) ...
    • Ostmark Cemetery
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Riverside Cemetery
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Grace Cemetery
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)

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.<2>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that in 1895, Kimball Prairie had railroad service and no post office. In 1990, Kimball Prairie had a population of 690 people.

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

  • South Haven
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
  • Fairhaven
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Fairhaven is located in Stearns County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fairhaven
  • Watkins
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
  • Kingston
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Kingston is located in Meeker County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kingston
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 162 people
  • Saint Nicholas
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Saint Nicholas is located in Stearns County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saint Nicholas
  • Annandale
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
  • Luxemburg
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Luxemburg is located in Stearns County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Luxemburg
  • Forest City
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Forest City is located in Meeker County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Forest City
  • Saint Augusta
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Saint Augusta is located in Stearns County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saint Augusta
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,900 people
  • Rockville
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
  • Cold Spring
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Eden Valley
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...
    • Clearwater
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Richmond
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Manannah
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
      • Manannah is located in Meeker County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Manannah

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

Newspapers Published in Kimball Prairie ...

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 99 newspapers that have been published in the area around Kimball Prairie.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Kimball Prairie, there are papers which were published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Kimball Prairie.

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 professional and volunteer 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 Kimball Prairie:

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>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 Kimball Prairie, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<3>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 from Point A (ie- Kimball Prairie) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.