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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 Otisville (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 Otisville. 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 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.

Otisville is located in Washington 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 Washington County: Anoka, Chisago, Dakota, Ramsey, Pierce (WI), Polk (WI) & Saint Croix (WI).

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

  • Washington County     (The home county of Otisville)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Otisville, with the one closest to Otisville listed first.
    • Scandia
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Marine-on-Saint-Croix
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Forest Lake
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Withrow
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Hugo
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Stillwater
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
    • Duluth Junction
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Grant
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
      • Grant is located in Washington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grant
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 4,107 people
    • Dellwood
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Dellwood is located in Washington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dellwood
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,120 people
    • Bayport
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
    • Oak Park Heights
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
    • Mahtomedi
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
  • Anoka County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Otisville, with the one closest to Otisville listed first.
    • Centerville
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
    • City of Columbus
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
      • City of Columbus is located in Anoka County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for City of Columbus
      • Estimated population in 2015: 4,007 people
    • Lino Lakes
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
    • Linwood
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
    • Circle Pines
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
    • Ham Lake
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
    • Lexington
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
    • Blaine
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
    • East Bethel
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
    • Coopers Corner
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Spring Lake Park
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Cedar
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
  • Chisago County
  • Dakota County
  • Hennepin County
  • Isanti County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Otisville, with the one closest to Otisville listed first.
    • Weber
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
    • Isanti
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Minnesota Boys Town
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Minnesota Boys Town is located in Isanti County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Minnesota Boys Town
  • Ramsey County
  • Pierce County (WI)
  • Polk County (WI)
  • Saint Croix County (WI)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Otisville, with the one closest to Otisville listed first.
    • Somerset
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Star Prairie
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
      • Star Prairie is located in Saint Croix County (WI)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Star Prairie
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 549 people
    • New Richmond
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Burkhardt
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
    • North Hudson
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
      • North Hudson is located in Saint Croix County (WI)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Hudson
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,833 people
    • Deer Park
      (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
    • Hudson
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
      • Hudson is located in Saint Croix County (WI)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hudson
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 14,168 people
    • Erin Corner
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Roberts
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Hammond
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Baldwin
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Woodville
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)

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

Cemeteries Near Otisville ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Otisville.

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

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Otisville, with the one closest to Otisville 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.<4>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that in 1895, Otisville had a post office and railroad service.

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

  • Scandia
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
  • East Farmington
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • East Farmington is located in Polk County (WI)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Farmington
  • Maple Island
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Maple Island is located in Washington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maple Island
  • Arcola
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Arcola is located in Washington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Arcola
  • Somerset
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
  • Franconia
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
  • Shafer
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
  • Forest Lake
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
  • Center City
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
  • Withrow
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
  • Lindstrom
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
  • Nye
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Nye is located in Polk County (WI)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nye
  • Continue List   (15 more) ...

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

Newspapers Published in Otisville ...

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 302 newspapers that have been published in the area around Otisville.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Otisville, there are papers which were published within 26 miles [41.8 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Otisville.

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 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 Otisville:

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