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

Vista is located in Waseca 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 Waseca County: Blue Earth, Faribault, Freeborn, Le Sueur, Rice & Steele.

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

  • Waseca County     (The home county of Vista)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Vista, with the one closest to Vista listed first.
    • New Richland
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Wilton
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
      • Wilton is located in Waseca County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wilton
    • Waseca
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Waldorf
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
      • Waldorf is located in Waseca County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Waldorf
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 224 people
    • Alma City
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
    • Palmer
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
    • Janesville
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Elysian
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
  • Blue Earth County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Vista, with the one closest to Vista listed first.
    • Pemberton
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
      • Pemberton is located in Blue Earth County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pemberton
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 241 people
    • Smiths Mill
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
      • Smiths Mill is located in Blue Earth County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Smiths Mill
    • Saint Clair
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Madison Lake
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Beauford
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
    • Mapleton
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
    • Eagle Lake
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Mankato
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Mankato is located in Blue Earth County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mankato
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 43,435 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Mankato <1>
    • Skyline
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Skyline is located in Blue Earth County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Skyline
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 299 people
    • Good Thunder
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
  • Dodge County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Vista, with the one closest to Vista listed first.
    • Claremont
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
    • Westfield Center ‑ Historic
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
      • Westfield Center is located in Dodge County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Westfield Center
  • Faribault County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Vista, with the one closest to Vista listed first.
    • Minnesota Lake
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Wells
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
      • Wells is located in Faribault County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wells
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,157 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Wells <1>
    • Easton
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Easton is located in Faribault County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Easton
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 183 people
    • Walters
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Walters is located in Faribault County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Walters
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 67 people
    • Delavan
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Delavan is located in Faribault County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Delavan
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 166 people
  • Freeborn County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Vista, with the one closest to Vista listed first.
    • Bath
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Hartland
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
      • Hartland is located in Freeborn County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hartland
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 307 people
    • Geneva
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Freeborn
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
    • Clarks Grove
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Manchester
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
      • Manchester is located in Freeborn County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Manchester
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 55 people
    • Hollandale
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
    • Alden
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
    • Albert Lea
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
    • Conger
      (23 miles [37 km] to the south)
      • Conger is located in Freeborn County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Conger
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 144 people
    • Hayward
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
    • Oakland
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Oakland is located in Freeborn County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oakland
  • Le Sueur County
  • Mower County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Vista, with the one closest to Vista listed first.
    • Lansing
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Waltham
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
    • Mapleview
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Mapleview is located in Mower County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mapleview
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 177 people
  • Rice County
  • Steele County

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

Cemeteries Near Vista ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Vista.

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

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

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

  • Vista Swedish Lutheran Church Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
  • Vista Covenant Church Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
  • Otisco Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
  • Calvary Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
  • Le Sueur River American Lutheran Church Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
  • Pontoppidan Lutheran Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
  • Otisco - Lemond Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
  • St. Peter Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
  • St. Olaf Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
  • Wilton Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
  • Calvary Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
  • Zion Lutheran Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
  • Continue List   (238 more) ...
    • Danish Cemetery
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Brase Cemetery
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • St. Paul's Lutheran Cemetery
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)

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 Vista in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Vista.

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

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

Newspapers Published in Vista ...

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 48 newspapers that have been published in the area around Vista.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Vista, there are papers which were published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Vista.

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 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 Vista:

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