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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 Northfield (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 Northfield. 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 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.

Northfield is primarily located in Rice County. A portion of Northfield extends into Dakota 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 Rice County: Dakota, Dodge, Goodhue, Le Sueur, Scott, Steele & Waseca.

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

  • Rice County     (The home county of Northfield)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Northfield, with the one closest to Northfield listed first.
    • Dundas
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Dundas have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dundas
      • Dundas is located in Rice County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,652 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Dundas <2>
    • Millersburg
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Cannon City
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cannon City have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cannon City
      • Cannon City is located in Rice County
    • Nerstrand
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Webster
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Trondjem
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Faribault
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Lonsdale
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lonsdale have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lonsdale
      • Lonsdale is located in Rice County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 4,299 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Lonsdale <2>
    • Moland
      (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Moland have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Moland
      • Moland is located in Rice County
    • Warsaw
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
    • Morristown
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
  • Dakota County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Northfield, with the one closest to Northfield listed first.
    • Waterford
      (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Waterford. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Waterford
      • Waterford is located in Dakota County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Waterford
      • From Northfield to Waterford
    • Castle Rock
      (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Castle Rock have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Castle Rock
      • Castle Rock is located in Dakota County
    • Randolph
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Eureka Center
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Farmington
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
    • Lakeville
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
    • Hampton
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
    • New Trier
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for New Trier have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Trier
      • New Trier is located in Dakota County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 106 people
    • Vermillion
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Vermillion have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vermillion
      • Vermillion is located in Dakota County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 419 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Vermillion <2>
    • Coates
      (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Coates have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coates
      • Coates is located in Dakota County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 155 people
    • Apple Valley
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Apple Valley have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Apple Valley
      • Apple Valley is located in Dakota County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 54,847 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Apple Valley <2>
    • Miesville
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Miesville have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Miesville
      • Miesville is located in Dakota County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 121 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Miesville <2>
  • Dodge County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Northfield, with the one closest to Northfield listed first.
    • West Concord
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Concord
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Concord. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Concord
      • Concord is located in Dodge County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Concord
      • From Northfield to Concord
    • Claremont
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Claremont have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Claremont
      • Claremont is located in Dodge County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 534 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Claremont <2>
  • Goodhue County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Northfield, with the one closest to Northfield listed first.
    • Stanton
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Dennison
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Cannon Falls
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cannon Falls have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cannon Falls
      • Cannon Falls is located in Goodhue County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 4,022 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Cannon Falls <2>
    • Kenyon
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Hader
      (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
    • Belle Creek
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
    • White Rock
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for White Rock. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for White Rock
      • White Rock is located in Goodhue County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to White Rock
      • From Northfield to White Rock
    • Wanamingo
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Welch
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
    • Roscoe
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Roscoe. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roscoe
      • Roscoe is located in Goodhue County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Roscoe
      • From Northfield to Roscoe
    • Goodhue
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Goodhue have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Goodhue
      • Goodhue is located in Goodhue County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,164 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Goodhue <2>
    • Zumbrota
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Zumbrota have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Zumbrota
      • Zumbrota is located in Goodhue County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,530 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Zumbrota <2>
  • Hennepin County
  • Le Sueur County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Northfield, with the one closest to Northfield listed first.
    • Montgomery
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
    • Kilkenny
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Heidelberg
      (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Heidelberg. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Heidelberg
      • Heidelberg is located in Le Sueur County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 122 people
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Heidelberg
      • From Northfield to Heidelberg
    • Waterville
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Waterville have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Waterville
      • Waterville is located in Le Sueur County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,870 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Waterville <2>
    • Cordova
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
    • Lexington
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
    • Le Center
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Le Center have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Le Center
      • Le Center is located in Le Sueur County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,482 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Le Center <2>
    • Saint Thomas
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
  • Scott County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Northfield, with the one closest to Northfield listed first.
    • Elko
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Elko have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elko
      • Elko is located in Scott County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Elko <2>
    • Elko New Market
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Elko New Market have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elko New Market
      • Elko New Market is located in Scott County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 4,733 people
    • New Market
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for New Market have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Market
      • New Market is located in Scott County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for New Market <2>
    • Cedar Lake
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Credit River
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Credit River have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Credit River
      • Credit River is located in Scott County
    • Saint Patrick
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Prior Lake
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
    • New Prague
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
    • Savage
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Savage have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Savage
      • Savage is located in Scott County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 32,858 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Savage <2>
    • Union Hill
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
    • Marystown
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Marystown. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marystown
      • Marystown is located in Scott County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Marystown
      • From Northfield to Marystown
    • Shakopee
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Shakopee have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shakopee
      • Shakopee is located in Scott County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 43,020 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Shakopee <2>
  • Steele County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Northfield, with the one closest to Northfield listed first.
    • Medford
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
    • Rice Lake
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rice Lake have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rice Lake
      • Rice Lake is located in Steele County
    • Owatonna
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
    • Havana
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
    • Pratt
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Pratt. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pratt
      • Pratt is located in Steele County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Pratt
      • From Northfield to Pratt
  • Waseca County
    • Palmer
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Palmer. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Palmer
      • Palmer is located in Waseca County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Palmer
      • From Northfield to Palmer
  • Washington County
  • Pierce County (WI)

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

Cemeteries Near Northfield ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Northfield.

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Northfield, with the one closest to Northfield 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.<5>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Northfield had a population of 2,659 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Northfield had a population of 20,756 people.

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

  • Waterford
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Waterford. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Waterford
    • Waterford is located in Dakota County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Waterford
    • From Northfield to Waterford
  • Dundas
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Dundas have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dundas
    • Dundas is located in Rice County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,652 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Dundas <2>
  • Castle Rock
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Castle Rock have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Castle Rock
    • Castle Rock is located in Dakota County
  • Stanton
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
  • Dennison
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Hazelwood
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hazelwood have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hazelwood
    • Hazelwood is located in Rice County
  • Millersburg
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
  • Randolph
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
  • Nerstrand
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
  • Wangs
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Wangs have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wangs
    • Wangs is located in Goodhue County
  • Webster
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
  • Trondjem
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Northfield ...

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 198 newspapers that have been published in the area around Northfield.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Northfield. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Northfield and those printed in the larger area surrounding Northfield.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 29 miles [46.7 km]<4> of Northfield.

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 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 Northfield:

The official website for Northfield: www.ci.northfield.mn.us/

The official website for Rice County: www.co.rice.mn.us/

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

Footnotes ...

<1>The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required.
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<3>An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace.
<4>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- Northfield) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Northfield. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 44.4583, Longitude: -93.1617    
<5>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 Northfield, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 28 Apr 2025