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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 Thomas (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 Thomas. 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 Thomas ...

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 Thomas: St. Thomas

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 Thomas is located in Le Sueur County.

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 Le Sueur County: Blue Earth, Nicollet, Rice, Scott, Sibley & Waseca.

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

  • Le Sueur County     (The home county of Saint Thomas)
  • Blue Earth County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Saint Thomas, with the one closest to Saint Thomas listed first.
    • Madison Lake
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Madison Lake have been provided by the GNIS.<2> 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 <3>
    • Eagle Lake
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Eagle Lake have been provided by the GNIS.<2> 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 <3>
    • Smiths Mill
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Smiths Mill have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Smiths Mill
      • Smiths Mill is located in Blue Earth County
    • Mankato
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mankato have been provided by the GNIS.<2> 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 <3>
    • Skyline
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Skyline have been provided by the GNIS.<2> 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
    • Saint Clair
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Saint Clair have been provided by the GNIS.<2> 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 <3>
    • Judson
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Carver County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Saint Thomas, with the one closest to Saint Thomas listed first.
    • Assumption
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Assumption have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Assumption
      • Assumption is located in Carver County
    • Gotha
      (15 miles [24.1 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.<1>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gotha
      • Gotha is located in Carver County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Gotha
      • From Saint Thomas to Gotha
    • Cologne
      (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cologne have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cologne
      • Cologne is located in Carver County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,860 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Cologne <3>
    • Carver
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
    • Dahlgren
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Dahlgren. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dahlgren
      • Dahlgren is located in Carver County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Dahlgren
      • From Saint Thomas to Dahlgren
    • Hamburg
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Norwood
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Norwood have been provided by the GNIS.<2> 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 <3>
    • Norwood Young America
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Norwood Young America have been provided by the GNIS.<2> 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
    • Chaska
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
    • Young America
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Young America have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Young America
      • Young America is located in Carver County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Young America <3>
    • Hydes Lake
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
    • Waconia
      (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Waconia have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Waconia
      • Waconia is located in Carver County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 12,415 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Waconia <3>
    • Hazeltine
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
  • Dakota County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Saint Thomas, with the one closest to Saint Thomas listed first.
    • Eureka Center
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
    • Lakeville
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Burnsville
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Burnsville have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Burnsville
      • Burnsville is located in Dakota County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 62,170 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Burnsville <3>
    • Castle Rock
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Castle Rock have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Castle Rock
      • Castle Rock is located in Dakota County
    • Waterford
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Waterford. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Waterford
      • Waterford is located in Dakota County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Waterford
      • From Saint Thomas to Waterford
  • Hennepin County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Saint Thomas, with the one closest to Saint Thomas listed first.
    • Saint Bonifacius
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Saint Bonifacius have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saint Bonifacius
      • Saint Bonifacius is located in Hennepin County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,345 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Saint Bonifacius <3>
    • Eden Prairie
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Excelsior
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
    • Minnetrista
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
    • Greenwood
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Greenwood have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenwood
      • Greenwood is located in Hennepin County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 937 people
    • Mound
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mound have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mound
      • Mound is located in Hennepin County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 9,404 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Mound <3>
    • Shorewood
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Shorewood have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shorewood
      • Shorewood is located in Hennepin County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 8,098 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Shorewood <3>
    • Spring Park
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
    • Tonka Bay
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Tonka Bay have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tonka Bay
      • Tonka Bay is located in Hennepin County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,551 people
  • McLeod County
  • Nicollet County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Saint Thomas, with the one closest to Saint Thomas listed first.
    • Saint Peter
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Oshawa
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
    • New Sweden
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
    • North Mankato
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for North Mankato have been provided by the GNIS.<2> 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 <3>
    • Nicollet
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Nicollet have been provided by the GNIS.<2> 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 <3>
  • Rice County
  • Scott County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Saint Thomas, with the one closest to Saint Thomas listed first.
    • Union Hill
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Belle Plaine
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • New Prague
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Jordan
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Saint Patrick
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Cedar Lake
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
    • Marystown
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Marystown. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marystown
      • Marystown is located in Scott County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Marystown
      • From Saint Thomas to Marystown
    • New Market
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for New Market have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Market
      • New Market is located in Scott County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for New Market <3>
    • Elko New Market
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Elko New Market have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elko New Market
      • Elko New Market is located in Scott County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 4,733 people
    • Elko
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Elko have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elko
      • Elko is located in Scott County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Elko <3>
    • Credit River
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Credit River have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Credit River
      • Credit River is located in Scott County
    • Prior Lake
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Shakopee
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Shakopee have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shakopee
      • Shakopee is located in Scott County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 43,020 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Shakopee <3>
  • Sibley County
  • Waseca County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Saint Thomas, with the one closest to Saint Thomas listed first.
    • Elysian
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
    • Janesville
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Janesville have been provided by the GNIS.<2> 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 <3>
    • Palmer
      (26 miles [41.8 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.<1>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Palmer
      • Palmer is located in Waseca County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Palmer
      • From Saint Thomas to Palmer

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

Cemeteries Near Saint Thomas ...

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

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 Thomas covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Saint Thomas, with the one closest to Saint Thomas 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.<6>

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

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

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

Newspapers Published in Saint Thomas ...

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 114 newspapers that have been published in the area around Saint Thomas.

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

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 Saint Thomas:

Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Saint Thomas. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.

The official website for Le Sueur County: www.co.le-sueur.mn.us/

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

Footnotes ...

<1>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.
<2>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.
<3>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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- Saint Thomas) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Saint Thomas. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 44.4978, Longitude: -93.7593    
<5>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.
<6>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 Thomas, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 28 Apr 2025