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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 Oklee (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 Oklee. 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.

Oklee is located in Red Lake 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 Red Lake County: Pennington & Polk.

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

  • Red Lake County     (The home county of Oklee)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Oklee, with the one closest to Oklee listed first.
    • Brooks
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
      • Brooks is located in Red Lake County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brooks
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 136 people
    • Plummer
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Plummer is located in Red Lake County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plummer
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 289 people
    • Red Lake Falls
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
    • Dorothy
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
      • Dorothy is located in Red Lake County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dorothy
  • Clearwater County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Oklee, with the one closest to Oklee listed first.
    • Gonvick
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Clearbrook
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Bagley
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Bagley is located in Clearwater County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bagley
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,439 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Bagley <1>
    • Leonard
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Mahnomen County
    • Bejou
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
  • Marshall County
    • Espelie
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
      • Espelie is located in Marshall County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Espelie
  • Norman County
    • Rindal
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Rindal is located in Norman County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rindal
  • Pennington County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Oklee, with the one closest to Oklee listed first.
    • Erie
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
      • Erie is located in Pennington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Erie
    • Saint Hilaire
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Saint Hilaire is located in Pennington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saint Hilaire
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 258 people
    • Goodridge
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
      • Goodridge is located in Pennington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Goodridge
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 126 people
    • Thief River Falls
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
  • Polk County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Oklee, with the one closest to Oklee listed first.
    • Trail
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
      • Trail is located in Polk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Trail
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 46 people
    • Gully
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Gully is located in Polk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gully
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 66 people
    • McIntosh
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
    • Erskine
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Mentor
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Fosston
      (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
    • Winger
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
    • Dugdale
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Dugdale is located in Polk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dugdale
    • Lengby
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
      • Lengby is located in Polk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lengby
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 86 people
    • Gentilly
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
      • Gentilly is located in Polk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gentilly
    • Fertile
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Melvin
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Melvin is located in Polk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Melvin

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

Cemeteries Near Oklee ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Oklee.

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

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

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

  • Zion Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
  • St. Francis Xavier Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
  • St. Francis Xavier Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
  • Salem Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
  • Valley Lutheran Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
  • West Valle Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
  • Mt. Olive Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
  • St. Joseph Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
  • Presbyterian Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
  • Oakland Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
  • Vernes Lutheran Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
  • Finnish Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Continue List   (144 more) ...
    • Sand Valley Cemetery
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • New Sweden Cemetery
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Trinity Cemetery
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)

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>

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

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

  • Olga
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Olga is located in Polk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Olga
  • Erskine
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
  • McIntosh
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
  • Mentor
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Fosston
    (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
  • Dugdale
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Dugdale is located in Polk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dugdale
  • Winger
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
  • Maple Bay
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Maple Bay is located in Polk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maple Bay
  • Rindal
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Rindal is located in Norman County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rindal
  • Benoit
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
    • Benoit is located in Polk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Benoit
  • Gentilly
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
    • Gentilly is located in Polk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gentilly
  • Melvin
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Melvin is located in Polk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Melvin
  • Fertile
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Oklee ...

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 25 newspapers that have been published in the area around Oklee.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Oklee. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Oklee and those printed in the larger area surrounding Oklee.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<3> of Oklee.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we first visit 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 Oklee:

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 Oklee, 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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Oklee) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.