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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 Milroy (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 Milroy. 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 and doctors 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.

Milroy is located in Redwood 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 Redwood County: Brown, Cottonwood, Lyon, Murray, Renville & Yellow Medicine.

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

  • Redwood County     (The home county of Milroy)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Milroy, with the one closest to Milroy listed first.
    • Lucan
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Vesta
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Vesta is located in Redwood County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vesta
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 295 people
    • Seaforth
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
    • Walnut Grove
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
    • Wabasso
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
    • Revere
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Belview
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Belview is located in Redwood County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Belview
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 352 people
    • Wanda
      (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
    • Lamberton
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Delhi
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Redwood Falls
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
    • Clements
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
      • Clements is located in Redwood County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clements
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 140 people
  • Brown County
    • Springfield
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Cottonwood County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Milroy, with the one closest to Milroy listed first.
    • Westbrook
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
    • Storden
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Jeffers
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Jeffers is located in Cottonwood County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jeffers
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 346 people
  • Lincoln County
  • Lyon County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Milroy, with the one closest to Milroy listed first.
    • Amiret
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Marshall
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Tracy
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
    • Cottonwood
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Lynd
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
    • Garvin
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Garvin is located in Lyon County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Garvin
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 129 people
    • Ghent
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
    • Balaton
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Russell
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
      • Russell is located in Lyon County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Russell
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 343 people
    • Minneota
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
    • Taunton
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Florence
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Florence is located in Lyon County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Florence
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 35 people
  • Murray County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Milroy, with the one closest to Milroy listed first.
    • The Lakes
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
      • The Lakes is located in Murray County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for The Lakes
    • Currie
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
    • Dovray
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
    • Lowville
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Lowville is located in Murray County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lowville
  • Renville County
  • Yellow Medicine County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Milroy, with the one closest to Milroy listed first.
    • Echo
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Echo is located in Yellow Medicine County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Echo
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 247 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Echo <1>
    • Wood Lake
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
      • Wood Lake is located in Yellow Medicine County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wood Lake
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 395 people
    • Hanley Falls
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
    • Hazel Run
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
      • Hazel Run is located in Yellow Medicine County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hazel Run
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 56 people
    • Granite Falls
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
    • Clarkfield
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)

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

Cemeteries Near Milroy ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Milroy.

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

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Milroy, with the one closest to Milroy 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>

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

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

  • Amiret
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
  • Vesta
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Vesta is located in Redwood County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vesta
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 295 people
  • Marshall
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
  • Tracy
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
  • Green Valley
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Green Valley is located in Lyon County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Valley
  • Walnut Grove
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
  • Cottonwood
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Echo
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Echo is located in Yellow Medicine County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Echo
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 247 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Echo <1>
  • Revere
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Wood Lake
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
    • Wood Lake is located in Yellow Medicine County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wood Lake
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 395 people
  • Lynd
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
  • Garvin
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Garvin is located in Lyon County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Garvin
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 129 people
  • Continue List   (13 more) ...
    • Belview
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Belview is located in Redwood County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Belview
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 352 people
    • Ghent
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
    • Lamberton
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Milroy ...

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 97 newspapers that have been published in the area around Milroy.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

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

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 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 Milroy:

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 Milroy, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or 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- Milroy) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.