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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 Saint Peter (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 Saint Peter. 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 Saint Peter ...

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.

Although we can't give a definitive list, hopefully the following will give you a feel for the variations that might have occurred.

For example, a typical abbreviation for Saint Peter: St. Peter

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 northwest corner of their home county. During their lives, most hospitals and doctors 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.

Saint Peter is located in Nicollet County and is the County Seat.

To see how the shape of Minnesota's counties have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Nicollet County: Blue Earth, Brown, Le Sueur, Renville & Sibley.

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

  • Nicollet County     (The home county of Saint Peter)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Saint Peter, with the one closest to Saint Peter listed first.
    • Oshawa
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • North Mankato
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for North Mankato have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Mankato
      • North Mankato is located in Nicollet County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 14,052 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for North Mankato <2>
    • Nicollet
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Nicollet have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nicollet
      • Nicollet is located in Nicollet County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,175 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Nicollet <2>
    • New Sweden
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Courtland
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
    • Lafayette
      (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lafayette have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lafayette
      • Lafayette is located in Nicollet County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 492 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Lafayette <2>
  • Blue Earth County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Saint Peter, with the one closest to Saint Peter listed first.
    • Mankato
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mankato have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mankato
      • Mankato is located in Blue Earth County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 43,435 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Mankato <2>
    • Madison Lake
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Madison Lake have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Madison Lake
      • Madison Lake is located in Blue Earth County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,202 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Madison Lake <2>
    • Eagle Lake
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Eagle Lake have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eagle Lake
      • Eagle Lake is located in Blue Earth County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,123 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Eagle Lake <2>
    • Skyline
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Skyline have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Skyline
      • Skyline is located in Blue Earth County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 299 people
    • Judson
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Smiths Mill
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Smiths Mill have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Smiths Mill
      • Smiths Mill is located in Blue Earth County
    • Rapidan
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
    • Saint Clair
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Saint Clair have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saint Clair
      • Saint Clair is located in Blue Earth County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 821 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Saint Clair <2>
    • Lake Crystal
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Garden City
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Beauford
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Beauford. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beauford
      • Beauford is located in Blue Earth County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Beauford
      • From Saint Peter to Beauford
    • Good Thunder
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Good Thunder have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Good Thunder
      • Good Thunder is located in Blue Earth County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 566 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Good Thunder <2>
  • Brown County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Saint Peter, with the one closest to Saint Peter listed first.
    • New Ulm
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
    • Searles
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Searles have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Searles
      • Searles is located in Brown County
    • Hanska
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hanska have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hanska
      • Hanska is located in Brown County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 372 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Hanska <2>
  • Carver County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Saint Peter, with the one closest to Saint Peter listed first.
    • Assumption
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Assumption have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Assumption
      • Assumption is located in Carver County
    • Gotha
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Gotha. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gotha
      • Gotha is located in Carver County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Gotha
      • From Saint Peter to Gotha
    • Hamburg
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
    • Norwood
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Norwood have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Norwood
      • Norwood is located in Carver County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Norwood <2>
    • Norwood Young America
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Norwood Young America have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Norwood Young America
      • Norwood Young America is located in Carver County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,794 people
  • Le Sueur County
  • Rice County
  • Scott County
  • Sibley County
  • Waseca County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Saint Peter, with the one closest to Saint Peter listed first.
    • Elysian
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Janesville
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Janesville have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Janesville
      • Janesville is located in Waseca County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,247 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Janesville <2>
    • Alma City
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Alma City. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alma City
      • Alma City is located in Waseca County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Alma City
      • From Saint Peter to Alma City
    • Palmer
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Palmer. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Palmer
      • Palmer is located in Waseca County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Palmer
      • From Saint Peter to Palmer
    • Waseca
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Waldorf
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Waldorf have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Waldorf
      • Waldorf is located in Waseca County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 224 people
    • Wilton
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Wilton have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wilton
      • Wilton is located in Waseca County
  • Watonwan County
    • Madelia
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Madelia have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Madelia
      • Madelia is located in Watonwan County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,226 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Madelia <2>

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

Cemeteries Near Saint Peter ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Saint Peter.

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.

If you need information about a burial or interment, photos, transcripts, how to contact the cemetery or local authorities, please visit our selection of Genealogy Websites (see below).

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

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

  • Calvary Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Calvary Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Calvary Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Resurrection Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Resurrection Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Resurrection Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Woodlawn Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Woodlawn Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Woodlawn Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Woodlawn Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
  • Lake Emily Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Lake Emily Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Lake Emily Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Wood Hill Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Wood Hill Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Wood Hill Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Kasota Hill Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
  • Green Lawn Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Green Lawn Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Green Lawn Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Pettis - Klaseus Family Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Pettis - Klaseus Family Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Pettis - Klaseus Family Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Savidge Lake Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
  • Elim Welsh Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
  • Ottawa Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
  • Continue List   (243 more) ...
    • Anderson Family Cemetery
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Anderson Family Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Anderson Family Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Bochland Cemetery
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Bochland Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Bochland Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Wendelschafer Family Cemetery
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Wendelschafer Family Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Wendelschafer Family Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.

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.<5>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Saint Peter had a population of 3,671 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Saint Peter had a population of 12,033 people.

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

  • Kasota
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
  • Ottawa
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
  • Cleveland
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
  • Oshawa
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
  • Marysburg
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Marysburg. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marysburg
    • Marysburg is located in Le Sueur County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Marysburg
    • From Saint Peter to Marysburg
  • Saint Henry
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Saint Henry have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saint Henry
    • Saint Henry is located in Le Sueur County
  • Le Sueur
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
  • Norseland
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Norseland have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Norseland
    • Norseland is located in Nicollet County
  • Mankato
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mankato have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mankato
    • Mankato is located in Blue Earth County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 43,435 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Mankato <2>
  • Madison Lake
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Madison Lake have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Madison Lake
    • Madison Lake is located in Blue Earth County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,202 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Madison Lake <2>
  • Rush River
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rush River have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rush River
    • Rush River is located in Sibley County
  • Eagle Lake
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Eagle Lake have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eagle Lake
    • Eagle Lake is located in Blue Earth County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,123 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Eagle Lake <2>
  • Continue List   (15 more) ...
    • Nicollet
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Nicollet have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nicollet
      • Nicollet is located in Nicollet County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,175 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Nicollet <2>
    • Greenland
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Greenland. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenland
      • Greenland is located in Le Sueur County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Greenland
      • From Saint Peter to Greenland
    • New Sweden
      (13 miles [20.9 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 Saint Peter. See our List of 1890's Communities around Saint Peter.

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Saint Peter ...

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 166 newspapers that have been published in the area around Saint Peter.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Saint Peter. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Saint Peter and those printed in the larger area surrounding Saint Peter.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<6> of Saint Peter.

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 professional and volunteer 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 Saint Peter:

The official website for Saint Peter: www.ci.st-peter.mn.us/

The official website for Nicollet County: www.co.nicollet.mn.us/

The official website for State of Minnesota: https://mn.gov/

Footnotes ...

<1>The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required.
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<3>An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace.
<4>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.
<5>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 Saint Peter, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<6>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Saint Peter) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Saint Peter. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 44.3259, Longitude: -93.9555    









 

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This page was last modified/updated: 28 Apr 2025