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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 Wanda (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 Wanda. 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 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 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.

Wanda is located in Redwood 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 Redwood County: Brown, Cottonwood, Lyon, Murray, Renville & Yellow Medicine.

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

  • Redwood County     (The home county of Wanda)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Wanda, with the one closest to Wanda listed first.
    • Wabasso
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Lamberton
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Sanborn
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Clements
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Clements is located in Redwood County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clements
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 140 people
    • Revere
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Lucan
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Seaforth
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Walnut Grove
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Morgan
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Morgan is located in Redwood County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Morgan
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 832 people
    • Redwood Falls
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
    • Vesta
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Vesta is located in Redwood County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vesta
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 295 people
    • Milroy
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
  • Brown County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Wanda, with the one closest to Wanda listed first.
    • Springfield
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Cobden
      (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
      • Cobden is located in Brown County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cobden
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 35 people
    • Evan
      (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
      • Evan is located in Brown County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Evan
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 84 people
    • Comfrey
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Leavenworth
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
      • Leavenworth is located in Brown County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leavenworth
    • Sleepy Eye
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
    • Iberia
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
      • Iberia is located in Brown County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Iberia
    • Essig
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
  • Cottonwood County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Wanda, with the one closest to Wanda listed first.
    • Jeffers
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
      • Jeffers is located in Cottonwood County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jeffers
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 346 people
    • Storden
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
      • Storden is located in Cottonwood County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Storden
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 204 people
    • Westbrook
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Bingham Lake
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
    • Mountain Lake
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Windom
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
      • Windom is located in Cottonwood County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Windom
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 4,403 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Windom <1>
  • Lyon County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Wanda, with the one closest to Wanda listed first.
    • Tracy
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
    • Amiret
      (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
      • Amiret is located in Lyon County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Amiret
    • Garvin
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
      • Garvin is located in Lyon County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Garvin
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 129 people
    • Marshall
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
    • Cottonwood
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Murray County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Wanda, with the one closest to Wanda listed first.
    • Dovray
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
      • Dovray is located in Murray County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dovray
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 51 people
    • The Lakes
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
      • The Lakes is located in Murray County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for The Lakes
    • Currie
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
  • Renville County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Wanda, with the one closest to Wanda listed first.
    • Morton
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Franklin
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Fairfax
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
  • Watonwan County
    • Darfur
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Darfur is located in Watonwan County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Darfur
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 102 people
  • Yellow Medicine County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Wanda, with the one closest to Wanda listed first.
    • Echo
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
      • Echo is located in Yellow Medicine County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Echo
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 247 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Echo <1>
    • Wood Lake
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Wood Lake is located in Yellow Medicine County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wood Lake
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 395 people

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

Cemeteries Near Wanda ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Wanda.

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

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

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

  • Wanda Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
  • St. Mathias Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
  • Trinity Lutheran Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
  • Missouri Evans Plot
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
  • St. Matthews Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
  • St. Anns Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
  • Jewish Burial Plot
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
  • Tonak Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
  • Schwahn Family Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
  • St. Joseph Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Bethany Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
  • Lamberton Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
  • Continue List   (158 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 Wanda in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Wanda.

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

  • Lamberton
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Sanborn
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
  • Revere
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
  • Springfield
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Walnut Grove
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
  • Gilfillan
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Gilfillan is located in Redwood County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gilfillan
  • Morgan
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Morgan is located in Redwood County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Morgan
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 832 people
  • Vesta
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Vesta is located in Redwood County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vesta
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 295 people
  • Cobden
    (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
    • Cobden is located in Brown County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cobden
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 35 people
  • Evan
    (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
    • Evan is located in Brown County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Evan
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 84 people
  • North Redwood
    (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
    • North Redwood is located in Redwood County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Redwood
  • Storden
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
    • Storden is located in Cottonwood County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Storden
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 204 people
  • Continue List   (13 more) ...
    • Morton
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Delhi
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
      • Delhi is located in Redwood County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Delhi
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 63 people
    • Tracy
      (20 miles [32.2 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 Wanda. See our List of 1890's Communities around Wanda.

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Wanda ...

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 86 newspapers that have been published in the area around Wanda.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Wanda. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Wanda and those printed in the larger area surrounding Wanda.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<3> of Wanda.

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 Wanda:

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 Wanda, 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- Wanda) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.