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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 Wright (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 Wright. 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.

Wright is located in Carlton 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 Carlton County: Aitkin, Pine, Saint Louis & Douglas (WI).

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

  • Carlton County     (The home county of Wright)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Wright, with the one closest to Wright listed first.
    • Cromwell
      (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Automba
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Automba
      • Automba is located in Carlton County
    • Kettle River
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Kettle River have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kettle River
      • Kettle River is located in Carlton County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 170 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Kettle River <1>
    • Sawyer
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sawyer have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sawyer
      • Sawyer is located in Carlton County
    • Mahtowa
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mahtowa
      • Mahtowa is located in Carlton County
    • Barnum
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Moose Lake
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Otter Creek
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Otter Creek
      • Otter Creek is located in Carlton County
    • Cloquet
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
    • Carlton
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
    • Scanlon
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Scanlon have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Scanlon
      • Scanlon is located in Carlton County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 945 people
    • Thomson
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Thomson have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Thomson
      • Thomson is located in Carlton County
      • Estimated population in 2014: 158 people
    • Wrenshall
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Wrenshall have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wrenshall
      • Wrenshall is located in Carlton County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 423 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Wrenshall <1>
  • Aitkin County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Wright, with the one closest to Wright listed first.
    • Tamarack
      (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Tamarack have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tamarack
      • Tamarack is located in Aitkin County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 94 people
    • Minnewawa
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Minnewawa
      • Minnewawa is located in Aitkin County
    • McGregor
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
    • Libby
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Libby
      • Libby is located in Aitkin County
    • Kimberly
      (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kimberly
      • Kimberly is located in Aitkin County
    • Palisade
      (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Palisade have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Palisade
      • Palisade is located in Aitkin County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 169 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Palisade <1>
    • Jacobson
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Hassman
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hassman
      • Hassman is located in Aitkin County
  • Itasca County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Wright, with the one closest to Wright listed first.
    • Wawina
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Wawina. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wawina
      • Wawina is located in Itasca County
    • Swan River
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Swan River have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Swan River
      • Swan River is located in Itasca County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Swan River <1>
  • Pine County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Wright, with the one closest to Wright listed first.
    • Denham
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Denham have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Denham
      • Denham is located in Pine County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 34 people
    • Sturgeon Lake
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Willow River
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
    • Rutledge
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rutledge have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rutledge
      • Rutledge is located in Pine County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 221 people
    • Kerrick
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Saint Louis County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Wright, with the one closest to Wright listed first.
    • Floodwood
      (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Floodwood have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Floodwood
      • Floodwood is located in Saint Louis County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 525 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Floodwood <1>
    • Brookston
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Brookston have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brookston
      • Brookston is located in Saint Louis County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 140 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Brookston <1>
    • Alborn
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alborn
      • Alborn is located in Saint Louis County
    • Saginaw
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Saginaw have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saginaw
      • Saginaw is located in Saint Louis County
    • Meadowlands
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Meadowlands have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadowlands
      • Meadowlands is located in Saint Louis County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 128 people

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

Cemeteries Near Wright ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Wright.

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

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

  • Wright Catholic Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Wright Catholic Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Wright Catholic Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Lakeview Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Lakeview Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Lakeview Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Wright Community Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Wright Community Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Wright Community Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Violet Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Violet Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Violet Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Lakeside Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Lakeside Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Lakeside Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Forest Hill Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Forest Hill Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Forest Hill Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Eagle Lake Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Eagle Lake Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Eagle Lake Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Fairview Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Fairview Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Fairview Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Prairie Lake Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Prairie Lake Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Prairie Lake Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Fine Lakes Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Fine Lakes Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Fine Lakes Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Round Lake Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Round Lake Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Round Lake Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Grayling Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Grayling Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Grayling Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (87 more) ...
    • Sheriff Lake Cemetery
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Sheriff Lake Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Sheriff Lake Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Finnish Apostolic Cemetery
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Finnish Apostolic Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Finnish Apostolic Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Salo Cemetery
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Salo Cemetery
      • The Salo Cemetery has also been known as:
      • Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Church Cemetery
      • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #83542 <4>

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.<5>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that in 1895, Wright had railroad service and no post office. In 2020, Wright had a population of 126 people.

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

  • Tamarack
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Tamarack have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tamarack
    • Tamarack is located in Aitkin County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 94 people
  • Cromwell
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
  • Corona
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Corona have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Corona
    • Corona is located in Carlton County
  • McGregor
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
  • Libby
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Libby
    • Libby is located in Aitkin County
  • Sawyer
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sawyer have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sawyer
    • Sawyer is located in Carlton County
  • Floodwood
    (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Floodwood have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Floodwood
    • Floodwood is located in Saint Louis County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 525 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Floodwood <1>
  • Moose Lake
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
  • Barnum
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
  • Mahtowa
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mahtowa
    • Mahtowa is located in Carlton County
  • Island
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Island have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Island
    • Island is located in Saint Louis County
  • Sturgeon Lake
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
  • Continue List   (10 more) ...
    • Otter Creek
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Otter Creek
      • Otter Creek is located in Carlton County
    • Kimberly
      (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kimberly
      • Kimberly is located in Aitkin County
    • Willow River
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)

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

Newspapers Published in Wright ...

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 30 newspapers that have been published in the area around Wright.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Wright, there are papers which were published within 27 miles [43.5 km]<6>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Wright.

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 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 Wright:

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

The official website for Carlton County: www.co.carlton.mn.us/

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

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>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>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.
<4>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.
<5>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 Wright, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<6>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or 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- Wright) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Wright. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 46.6722, Longitude: -93.0072       In this case, the coordinates for Wright have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 28 Apr 2025