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A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
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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 Olga (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 Olga. 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.

Olga 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 Olga. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Olga:

  • Polk County     (The home county of Olga)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Olga, with the one closest to Olga listed first.
    • Gully
      (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
      • Gully is located in Polk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gully
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 66 people
    • Trail
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
      • Trail is located in Polk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Trail
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 46 people
    • Fosston
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • McIntosh
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Lengby
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
      • Lengby is located in Polk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lengby
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 86 people
    • Erskine
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
    • Winger
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
    • Mentor
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
    • Dugdale
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
      • Dugdale is located in Polk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dugdale
    • Fertile
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
  • Beltrami County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Olga, with the one closest to Olga listed first.
    • Debs
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
      • Debs is located in Beltrami County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Debs
    • Pinewood
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
      • Pinewood is located in Beltrami County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pinewood
    • Solway
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Little Rock
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Little Rock is located in Beltrami County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Little Rock
    • Island Lake
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
      • Island Lake is located in Beltrami County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Island Lake
  • Clearwater County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Olga, with the one closest to Olga listed first.
    • Gonvick
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Clearbrook
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
    • Bagley
      (16 miles [25.7 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
      (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
    • Rice Lake
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
      • Rice Lake is located in Clearwater County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rice Lake
    • Shevlin
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Minerva
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Minerva is located in Clearwater County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Minerva
  • Mahnomen County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Olga, with the one closest to Olga listed first.
    • Bejou
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Roy Lake
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
      • Roy Lake is located in Mahnomen County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roy Lake
    • Naytahwaush
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
    • Mahnomen
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Norman County
    • Rindal
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Rindal is located in Norman County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rindal
  • Pennington County
    • Erie
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
      • Erie is located in Pennington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Erie
  • Red Lake County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Olga, with the one closest to Olga listed first.
    • Oklee
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Brooks
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
      • Brooks is located in Red Lake County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brooks
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 136 people
    • Plummer
      (23 miles [37 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

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

Cemeteries Near Olga ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Olga.

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

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

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

  • Salem Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
  • Zion Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
  • Queen Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
  • Mamre Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
  • Froen Lutheran Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
  • Cross Lake Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
  • Bethlehem Lutheran Church Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
  • Queen Twp. Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
  • Asphult Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
  • Sand Valley Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
  • St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
  • Cross Lake Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Continue List   (141 more) ...
    • Gully Cemetery
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Vernes Lutheran Cemetery
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Poplar River Cemetery
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)

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, Olga had a post office and no railroad service.

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

  • Fosston
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
  • McIntosh
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
  • Erskine
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
  • Winger
    (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
  • Mentor
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
  • Rindal
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Rindal is located in Norman County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rindal
  • Maple Bay
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
    • Maple Bay is located in Polk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maple Bay
  • Dugdale
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
    • Dugdale is located in Polk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dugdale

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

Newspapers Published in Olga ...

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 27 newspapers that have been published in the area around Olga.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Olga, there are papers which were published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Olga.

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 helpful 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 Olga:

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 Olga, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<3>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or 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- Olga) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.