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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 Ponsford Landing (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 Ponsford Landing. 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.

Name Variations for Ponsford Landing ...

When searching records, keep in mind that names and their spelling can change over time. Our sources include documents like maps, railroad schedules, Travel, Express and Shipping Guides. Many of these documents date from the 1800's and it's common to find spelling differences.

For example, a typical abbreviation for Ponsford Landing: Ponsford Lndg. (or less commonly used: Ponsford Lndng.)

If you have information about these names (such as the reason for the change, date of change, the origin of the name), please Contact Us.

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 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.

Ponsford Landing is located in Clearwater 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 Clearwater County: Becker, Beltrami, Hubbard, Mahnomen, Pennington & Polk.

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

  • Clearwater County     (The home county of Ponsford Landing)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Ponsford Landing, with the one closest to Ponsford Landing listed first.
    • Minerva
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Minerva is located in Clearwater County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Minerva
    • Rice Lake
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Rice Lake is located in Clearwater County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rice Lake
    • Long Lost Lake
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Long Lost Lake is located in Clearwater County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Long Lost Lake
      • Estimated population in 2015: 44 people
    • Bagley
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
      • 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>
    • Shevlin
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Leonard
      (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
    • Clearbrook
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
    • Gonvick
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
  • Becker County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Ponsford Landing, with the one closest to Ponsford Landing listed first.
    • Elbow Lake
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
      • Elbow Lake is located in Becker County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elbow Lake
    • Two Inlets
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Two Inlets is located in Becker County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Two Inlets
    • Pine Point
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
      • Pine Point is located in Becker County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine Point
    • White Earth
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Ponsford
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
    • Ogema
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Ogema is located in Becker County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ogema
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 183 people
    • Osage
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
    • Richwood
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Richwood is located in Becker County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Richwood
  • Beltrami County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Ponsford Landing, with the one closest to Ponsford Landing listed first.
    • Solway
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Pinewood
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
      • Pinewood is located in Beltrami County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pinewood
    • Wilton
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
      • Wilton is located in Beltrami County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wilton
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 295 people
    • Bemidji
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
    • Rosby
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
      • Rosby is located in Beltrami County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rosby
  • Hubbard County
  • Mahnomen County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Ponsford Landing, with the one closest to Ponsford Landing listed first.
    • Roy Lake
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
      • Roy Lake is located in Mahnomen County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roy Lake
    • Naytahwaush
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Waubun
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Mahnomen
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
    • Bejou
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
  • Norman County
    • Faith
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
      • Faith is located in Norman County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Faith
  • Polk County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Ponsford Landing, with the one closest to Ponsford Landing listed first.
    • Lengby
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Lengby is located in Polk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lengby
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 86 people
    • Fosston
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Winger
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
    • McIntosh
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)

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

Cemeteries Near Ponsford Landing ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Ponsford Landing.

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 Ponsford Landing - one of the links might be able to help.

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

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

  • Rice Free Lutheran Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
  • Samuel Memorial Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
  • Nora Twp. Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nora Twp. Cemetery
    • The Nora Twp. Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Bethel Lutheran Church Cemetery
    • Nora Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #82896 <2>
  • Pine Bend Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Indian Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
  • Stevens Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
  • Alida Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
  • Holiness Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
  • Sell Lake Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
  • St. Agnes Catholic Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Old Sell Lake Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
  • Moose Creek Twp. Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
  • Continue List   (116 more) ...
    • Our Saviour's Lutheran Cemetery
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
    • Pioneer Cemetery
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Freedom Cemetery
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)

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>

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

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

  • Fosston
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
  • White Earth
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
  • Olga
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
    • Olga is located in Polk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Olga
  • Winger
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
  • Osage
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
  • McIntosh
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)

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

Newspapers Published in Ponsford Landing ...

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 51 newspapers that have been published in the area around Ponsford Landing.

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

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 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 Ponsford Landing:

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 Ponsford Landing, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>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- Ponsford Landing) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.