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 Williams (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 Williams. 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.

Williams is located in Lake of the Woods 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 Lake of the Woods County: Beltrami, Koochiching & Roseau.

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

• Lake of the Woods County     (The home county of Williams)
  • The following are listed by their distance from Williams, with the one closest to Williams listed first.
  • Pitt
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pitt
    • Pitt is located in Lake of the Woods County
  • Long Point
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Long Point have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Long Point
    • Long Point is located in Lake of the Woods County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 40 people
  • Baudette
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Baudette
    • Baudette is located in Lake of the Woods County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,018 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Baudette <2>
  • Clementson
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clementson
    • Clementson is located in Lake of the Woods County
• Roseau County
  • The following are listed by their distance from Williams, with the one closest to Williams listed first.
  • Roosevelt
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Roosevelt have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roosevelt
    • Roosevelt is located in Roseau County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 138 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Roosevelt <2>
  • Swift
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Swift have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Swift
    • Swift is located in Roseau County
  • Warroad
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Warroad have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Warroad
    • Warroad is located in Roseau County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,792 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Warroad <2>
  • Salol
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Salol have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Salol
    • Salol is located in Roseau County

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

Newspapers Published in Williams ...

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 5 newspapers that have been published in the area around Williams.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Williams, there are papers which were published within 19 miles [30.6 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Williams.

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 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 Williams:

• Websites specific to Minnesota
  • Jump to Cyndi's List
  • Jump to Family Search
  • Jump to Genealogy Trails
  • Website for the Minnesota State Archives

• Pages specific to Lake of the Woods County
  • Jump to Cyndi's List
  • Jump to Family Search
  • Jump to Genealogy Trails

• Genealogy information for nearby counties
  • Roseau County
    • Jump to Cyndi's List
    • Jump to Family Search
    • Jump to Genealogy Trails

• Cemetery Information and Directories for Minnesota
  • Cemetery Junction: Cemeteries of Minnesota
  • Cyndi's List
  • Cemeteries of Minnesota
  • Cemeteries of Lake of the Woods County
  • FamilySearch.org: Cemeteries of Minnesota
  • Find-A-Grave: Home Page
  • Interment.net
  • Cemeteries of Minnesota
  • Cemeteries of Lake of the Woods County

Cemeteries Near Williams ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Williams.

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

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

• Pine Hill Cemetery
  (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Pine Hill Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Pine Hill Cemetery
• Graceton Cemetery
  (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Graceton Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Graceton Cemetery
• Hillside Cemetery
  (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Hillside Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Hillside Cemetery
• Potamo - Parke Cemetery
  (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Potamo - Parke Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Potamo - Parke Cemetery
• Pine Ridge Cemetery
  (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Pine Ridge Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Pine Ridge Cemetery
• Wildwood Cemetery
  (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Wildwood Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Wildwood Cemetery
• Elm Park Cemetery
  (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Elm Park Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Elm Park Cemetery
• Forest Lawn Cemetery
  (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Forest Lawn Cemetery
  • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2406510 <4>
• Riverside Cemetery
  (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Riverside Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Riverside Cemetery
• St. Marys Cemetery
  (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Marys Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Marys Cemetery
• Hamilton Farm Cemetery
  (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Hamilton Farm Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Hamilton Farm Cemetery
• America Cemetery
  (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the America Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the America Cemetery
• Continue List   (18 more) ...
  • Bankton Cemetery
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Bankton Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Bankton Cemetery
  • Silver Creek Cemetery
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Silver Creek Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Silver Creek Cemetery
  • Elkwood Cemetery
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Elkwood Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Elkwood Cemetery

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

Off-the-Road Links ...

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

The official website for Lake of the Woods County: www.co.lake-of-the-woods.mn.us/

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