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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 Snellman (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 Snellman. 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.

Snellman is located in Becker 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 Becker County: Clay, Clearwater, Hubbard, Mahnomen, Norman, Otter Tail & Wadena.

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

  • Becker County     (The home county of Snellman)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Snellman, with the one closest to Snellman listed first.
    • Ponsford
      (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Pine Point
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
      • Pine Point is located in Becker County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine Point
    • Wolf Lake
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Wolf Lake is located in Becker County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wolf Lake
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 55 people
    • Osage
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Evergreen
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
      • Evergreen is located in Becker County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Evergreen
    • Rochert
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
    • Two Inlets
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Two Inlets is located in Becker County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Two Inlets
    • Frazee
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Elbow Lake
      (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
      • Elbow Lake is located in Becker County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elbow Lake
    • Richwood
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
      • Richwood is located in Becker County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Richwood
    • Detroit Lakes
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
    • Callaway
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
  • Clearwater County
    • Long Lost Lake
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
      • Long Lost Lake is located in Clearwater County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Long Lost Lake
      • Estimated population in 2015: 44 people
  • Hubbard County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Snellman, with the one closest to Snellman listed first.
    • Park Rapids
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
    • Dorset
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
      • Dorset is located in Hubbard County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dorset
    • Nevis
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
    • Lake George
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Mahnomen County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Snellman, with the one closest to Snellman listed first.
    • Naytahwaush
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
    • Roy Lake
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
      • Roy Lake is located in Mahnomen County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roy Lake
  • Otter Tail County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Snellman, with the one closest to Snellman listed first.
    • Davies
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
      • Davies is located in Otter Tail County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Davies
    • Perham
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
      • Perham is located in Otter Tail County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Perham
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,638 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Perham <1>
    • Vergas
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
    • New York Mills
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
    • Dent
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Dent is located in Otter Tail County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dent
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 185 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Dent <1>
    • Richville
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
    • Bluffton
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
      • Bluffton is located in Otter Tail County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bluffton
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 216 people
  • Wadena County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Snellman, with the one closest to Snellman listed first.
    • Menahga
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Sebeka
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
    • Nimrod
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)

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

Cemeteries Near Snellman ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Snellman.

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

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

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

  • Snellman Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
  • Pickerel Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
  • Palm Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
  • Emmanuel Lutheran Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
  • Zion Lutheran Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
  • Wolf Lake Community Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Linnel Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
  • St. Paul's Lutheran Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Breck Memorial Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
  • Breck Memorial Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
  • St. Theodores Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
  • Osage Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
  • Continue List   (126 more) ...

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.<2>

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

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

  • Osage
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
  • Park Rapids
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
  • Frazee
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
  • Menahga
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
  • Luce
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Luce is located in Otter Tail County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Luce
  • Hubbard
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
    • Hubbard is located in Hubbard County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hubbard
  • Davies
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
    • Davies is located in Otter Tail County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Davies
  • Richwood
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
    • Richwood is located in Becker County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Richwood
  • Perham
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
    • Perham is located in Otter Tail County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Perham
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,638 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Perham <1>
  • Sebeka
    (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
  • White Earth
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
  • New York Mills
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
  • Bucks Mill
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Bucks Mill is located in Becker County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bucks Mill
  • Audubon
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)

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

Newspapers Published in Snellman ...

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 54 newspapers that have been published in the area around Snellman.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Snellman, there are papers which were published within 28 miles [45.1 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Snellman.

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 websites either 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 Snellman:

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>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 Snellman, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<3>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Snellman) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.