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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 Orrock (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 Orrock. 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 hospitals 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.

Orrock is located in Sherburne 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 Sherburne County: Anoka, Benton, Isanti, Mille Lacs, Stearns & Wright.

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

  • Sherburne County     (The home county of Orrock)
  • Anoka County
  • Benton County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Orrock, with the one closest to Orrock listed first.
    • Duelm
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Oak Park
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
    • Ronneby
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
      • Ronneby is located in Benton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ronneby
    • Foley
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Gilman
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Sauk Rapids
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
    • Evergreen Village
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
      • Evergreen Village is located in Benton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Evergreen Village
    • Watab
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
  • Hennepin County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Orrock, with the one closest to Orrock listed first.
    • Rogers
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
      • Rogers is located in Hennepin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rogers
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 13,623 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Rogers <1>
    • Dayton
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Greenfield
      (23 miles [37 km] to the south)
      • Greenfield is located in Hennepin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenfield
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,058 people
    • Champlin
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Corcoran
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
    • Loretto
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
    • Maple Grove
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Osseo
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Osseo is located in Hennepin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Osseo
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,703 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Osseo <1>
    • Hamel
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
    • Independence
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
      • Independence is located in Hennepin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Independence
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,786 people
    • Medina
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
    • Brooklyn Park
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Isanti County
  • Kanabec County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Orrock, with the one closest to Orrock listed first.
    • Coin
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Ogilvie
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Mille Lacs County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Orrock, with the one closest to Orrock listed first.
    • Princeton
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Estes Brook
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
    • Pease
      (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
      • Pease is located in Mille Lacs County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pease
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 224 people
    • Foreston
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
    • Milaca
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
      • Milaca is located in Mille Lacs County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Milaca
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,899 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Milaca <1>
    • Bock
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
      • Bock is located in Mille Lacs County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bock
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 108 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Bock <1>
  • Morrison County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Orrock, with the one closest to Orrock listed first.
    • Ramey
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
    • Morrill
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Stearns County
  • Wright County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Orrock, with the one closest to Orrock listed first.
    • Monticello
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
    • Hasty
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Otsego
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Albertville
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
    • Silver Creek
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Silver Creek is located in Wright County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Silver Creek
    • Clearwater
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
    • Saint Michael
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
    • Buffalo
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
    • Hanover
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
    • Maple Lake
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Annandale
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Rassat
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)

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

Cemeteries Near Orrock ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Orrock.

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

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

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

  • Two Stone Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
  • Snake River Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
  • Greenwood Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
  • Svea Hill Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
  • Bellwood Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
  • Galbriath Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
  • Santiago Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
  • Meadowville Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Danish Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
  • Becker Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Our Savior Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
  • Big Lake Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
  • Continue List   (230 more) ...
    • St. Pius X Cemetery
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • South Santiago Cemetery
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Oak Hill Cemetery
      (7 miles [11.3 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>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that in 1895, Orrock had a post office and no railroad service.

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

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

Newspapers Published in Orrock ...

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 Orrock.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Orrock, 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 Orrock.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we first turn to 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 Orrock:

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 Orrock, 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- Orrock) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.