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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 Nisswa (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 Nisswa. 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 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.

Nisswa is located in Crow Wing 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 Crow Wing County: Aitkin, Cass, Mille Lacs & Morrison.

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

  • Crow Wing County     (The home county of Nisswa)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Nisswa, with the one closest to Nisswa listed first.
    • Lake Hubert
      (Less than 2 miles to the east)
      • Lake Hubert is located in Crow Wing County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Hubert
    • Merrifield
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Pequot Lakes
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Breezy Point
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Jenkins
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Baxter
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
      • Baxter is located in Crow Wing County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Baxter
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 8,483 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Baxter <1>
    • Brainerd
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Riverton
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
      • Riverton is located in Crow Wing County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Riverton
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 115 people
    • Trommald
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
      • Trommald is located in Crow Wing County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Trommald
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 100 people
    • Crosslake
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Ironton
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
    • Crosby
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
      • Crosby is located in Crow Wing County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crosby
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,315 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Crosby <1>
    • Cuyuna
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
      • Cuyuna is located in Crow Wing County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cuyuna
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 365 people
  • Aitkin County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Nisswa, with the one closest to Nisswa listed first.
    • Nichols
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Nichols is located in Aitkin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nichols
    • Aitkin
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
  • Cass County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Nisswa, with the one closest to Nisswa listed first.
    • Lake Shore
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • East Gull Lake
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Pillager
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Pine River
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
    • Chickamaw Beach
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
      • Chickamaw Beach is located in Cass County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chickamaw Beach
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 110 people
    • Ellis
      (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
      • Ellis is located in Cass County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ellis
    • Backus
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Outing
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Wabedo
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
      • Wabedo is located in Cass County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wabedo
  • Morrison County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Nisswa, with the one closest to Nisswa listed first.
    • Motley
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Lincoln
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Lincoln is located in Morrison County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lincoln
    • Cushing
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Randall
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
    • Harding
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Harding is located in Morrison County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harding
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 122 people
  • Todd County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Nisswa, with the one closest to Nisswa listed first.
    • Philbrook
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Philbrook is located in Todd County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Philbrook
    • Staples
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
  • Wadena County
    • Nimrod
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)

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

Cemeteries Near Nisswa ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Nisswa.

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

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

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

  • Nisswa Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
  • Thorp - Heald Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
  • Lake Edward Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
  • Grace Lutheran Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Our Saviour's Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
  • Pequot Lakes Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
  • St. Thomas of the Pines
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
  • Evergreen Memorial Gardens
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
  • Lunde Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
  • Pleasant Hill Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
  • Evergreen Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
  • Baxter Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
  • Continue List   (94 more) ...
    • Evergreen Cemetery
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Mayo Creek Cemetery
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Jenkins Cemetery
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)

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 Nisswa in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Nisswa.

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

  • Baxter
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
    • Baxter is located in Crow Wing County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Baxter
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 8,483 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Baxter <1>
  • Brainerd
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Pillager
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
  • Crow Wing
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
    • Crow Wing is located in Crow Wing County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crow Wing
  • Pine River
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
  • Ellis
    (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
    • Ellis is located in Cass County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ellis
  • Saint Mathias
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
    • Saint Mathias is located in Crow Wing County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saint Mathias
  • Deerwood
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
  • Motley
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
  • Fort Ripley
    (23 miles [37 km] to the south)
  • Staples
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
  • Philbrook
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Philbrook is located in Todd County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Philbrook
  • Continue List   (7 more) ...
    • Lincoln
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Lincoln is located in Morrison County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lincoln
    • Garrison
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Nichols
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Nichols is located in Aitkin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nichols

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

Newspapers Published in Nisswa ...

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 46 newspapers that have been published in the area around Nisswa.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Nisswa, there are papers which were published within 29 miles [46.7 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Nisswa.

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 Nisswa:

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 Nisswa, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Nisswa) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.