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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 Melvin (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 Melvin. 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 doctors and hospitals 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.

Melvin is located in Polk 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 Polk County: Clearwater, Mahnomen, Marshall, Norman, Pennington, Red Lake, Grand Forks (ND) & Traill (ND).

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

  • Polk County     (The home county of Melvin)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Melvin, with the one closest to Melvin listed first.
    • Dugdale
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Fertile
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Beltrami
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
      • Beltrami is located in Polk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beltrami
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 99 people
    • Gentilly
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
    • Mentor
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Crookston
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Erskine
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
    • Winger
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
    • Climax
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
      • Climax is located in Polk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Climax
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 261 people
    • Shirley
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Nielsville
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
      • Nielsville is located in Polk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nielsville
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 82 people
    • Fisher
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Fisher is located in Polk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fisher
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 410 people
    • McIntosh
      (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
  • Mahnomen County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Melvin, with the one closest to Melvin listed first.
    • Bejou
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Mahnomen
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
  • Norman County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Melvin, with the one closest to Melvin listed first.
    • Flaming
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Rindal
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Gary
      (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
    • Ada
      (23 miles [37 km] to the south)
      • Ada is located in Norman County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ada
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,556 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Ada <1>
    • Shelly
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
      • Shelly is located in Norman County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shelly
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 178 people
    • Twin Valley
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
      • Twin Valley is located in Norman County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Twin Valley
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 750 people
    • Faith
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Halstad
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Borup
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
      • Borup is located in Norman County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Borup
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 103 people
  • Pennington County
    • Saint Hilaire
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
      • Saint Hilaire is located in Pennington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saint Hilaire
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 258 people
  • Red Lake County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Melvin, with the one closest to Melvin listed first.
    • Red Lake Falls
      (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
    • Dorothy
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
    • Brooks
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Brooks is located in Red Lake County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brooks
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 136 people
    • Plummer
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Plummer is located in Red Lake County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plummer
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 289 people
    • Oklee
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Traill County (ND)

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

Cemeteries Near Melvin ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Melvin.

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

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

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

  • Varnes Lutheran Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
  • Our Saviors Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
  • Bethel Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
  • Lone Star Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
  • Scott - Widrig Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
  • Hafslo Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Maple Bay Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
  • Pleasant Hill Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
  • Concordia Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
  • St. Josephs Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
  • Little Norway Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
  • Maple Bay Free Lutheran Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
  • Continue List   (144 more) ...
    • Fairview Cemetery
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Hitterdal Cemetery
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Maple Lake Cemetery
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)

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, Melvin had a post office and no railroad service.

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

  • Benoit
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Benoit is located in Polk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Benoit
  • Fertile
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Maple Bay
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Maple Bay is located in Polk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maple Bay
  • Dugdale
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Beltrami
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Beltrami is located in Polk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beltrami
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 99 people
  • Burwell
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Burwell is located in Polk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Burwell
  • Gentilly
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
  • Mentor
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Lockhart
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Lockhart is located in Norman County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lockhart
  • Rindal
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
  • Crookston
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Erskine
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
  • Continue List   (15 more) ...
    • Gary
      (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
    • Winger
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
    • Hixon
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
      • Hixon is located in Polk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hixon

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

Newspapers Published in Melvin ...

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 47 newspapers that have been published in the area around Melvin.

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

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we start with the websites from Cyndi's List, FamilySearch and Genealogy Trails. These websites either 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 Melvin:

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