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 McKinley (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 McKinley. 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.

McKinley is located in Saint Louis 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 Saint Louis County: Aitkin, Carlton, Itasca, Koochiching, Lake & Douglas (WI).

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

• Saint Louis County     (The home county of McKinley)
  • The following are listed by their distance from McKinley, with the one closest to McKinley listed first.
  • Belgrade
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Belgrade have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Belgrade
    • Belgrade is located in Saint Louis County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Belgrade <2>
  • Gilbert
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Gilbert have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gilbert
    • Gilbert is located in Saint Louis County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,761 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Gilbert <2>
  • Biwabik
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Biwabik
    • Biwabik is located in Saint Louis County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 966 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Biwabik <2>
  • Pineville
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pineville
    • Pineville is located in Saint Louis County
  • Genoa
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Genoa
    • Genoa is located in Saint Louis County
  • Franklin
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Franklin have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Franklin
    • Franklin is located in Saint Louis County
  • Eveleth
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eveleth
    • Eveleth is located in Saint Louis County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,536 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Eveleth <2>
  • Virginia
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Virginia
    • Virginia is located in Saint Louis County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 8,299 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Virginia <2>
  • Aurora
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Aurora have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Aurora
    • Aurora is located in Saint Louis County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,610 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Aurora <2>
  • Leonidas
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Leonidas have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leonidas
    • Leonidas is located in Saint Louis County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 52 people
  • Ramshaw
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ramshaw
    • Ramshaw is located in Saint Louis County
  • Britt
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Britt have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Britt
    • Britt is located in Saint Louis County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Britt <2>

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

Newspapers Published in McKinley ...

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 66 newspapers that have been published in the area around McKinley.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of McKinley, there are papers which were published within 26 miles [41.8 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for McKinley.

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 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 McKinley:

• 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 Saint Louis County
  • Jump to Cyndi's List
  • Jump to Family Search
  • Jump to Genealogy Trails

• Genealogy information for nearby counties

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

Cemeteries Near McKinley ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of McKinley.

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

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

• Gilbert Cemetery
  (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Gilbert Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Gilbert Cemetery
• Eveleth Cemetery
  (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Eveleth Cemetery
  • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #1994495 <4>
• Florenton Cemetery
  (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Florenton Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Florenton Cemetery
• Forest Hill Cemetery
  (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Forest Hill Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Forest Hill Cemetery
• Czechoslovakian National Cemetery
  (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Czechoslovakian National Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Czechoslovakian National Cemetery
• Greenwood Cemetery
  (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
  • 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
• Rauha Cemetery
  (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Rauha Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Rauha Cemetery
• West Pike Cemetery
  (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the West Pike Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the West Pike Cemetery
• Pike River Cemetery
  (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Pike River Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Pike River Cemetery
• Sandy Cemetery
  (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Sandy Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Sandy Cemetery
• Embarrass Cemetery
  (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Embarrass Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Embarrass Cemetery
• Forbes Cemetery
  (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Forbes Cemetery
  • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #82322 <4>
• Continue List   (29 more) ...
  • Bethel Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
    • 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.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Bethel Cemetery
  • Old Vermilion Lake Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Old Vermilion Lake Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Old Vermilion Lake Cemetery
  • Vermilion Lake Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Vermilion Lake 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 McKinley in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of McKinley.

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

• Midway
  (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Midway have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Midway
  • Midway is located in Saint Louis County
• Hinsdale
  (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hinsdale have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hinsdale
  • Hinsdale is located in Saint Louis County
• Tower Junction
  (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Tower Junction have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tower Junction
  • Tower Junction is located in Saint Louis County
• Tower
  (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tower
  • Tower is located in Saint Louis County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 477 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Tower <2>
• Soudan
  (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Soudan have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Soudan
  • Soudan is located in Saint Louis County
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Soudan <2>

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

Off-the-Road Links ...

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

The official website for Saint Louis County: www.co.st-louis.mn.us/

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