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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 Zerkel (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 Zerkel. 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 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.

Zerkel is located in Clearwater 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 Clearwater County: Becker, Beltrami, Hubbard, Mahnomen, Pennington & Polk.

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

  • Clearwater County     (The home county of Zerkel)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Zerkel, with the one closest to Zerkel listed first.
    • Minerva
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
      • Minerva is located in Clearwater County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Minerva
    • Rice Lake
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
      • Rice Lake is located in Clearwater County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rice Lake
    • Long Lost Lake
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
      • Long Lost Lake is located in Clearwater County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Long Lost Lake
      • Estimated population in 2015: 44 people
    • Bagley
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
      • Bagley is located in Clearwater County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bagley
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,439 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Bagley <1>
    • Shevlin
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
    • Leonard
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
    • Clearbrook
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
    • Gonvick
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
  • Becker County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Zerkel, with the one closest to Zerkel listed first.
    • Elbow Lake
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
      • Elbow Lake is located in Becker County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elbow Lake
    • Two Inlets
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
      • Two Inlets is located in Becker County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Two Inlets
    • Pine Point
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
      • Pine Point is located in Becker County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine Point
    • Ponsford
      (23 miles [37 km] to the south)
    • White Earth
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Osage
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
    • Ogema
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Ogema is located in Becker County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ogema
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 183 people
  • Beltrami County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Zerkel, with the one closest to Zerkel listed first.
    • Solway
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
    • Wilton
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Wilton is located in Beltrami County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wilton
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 295 people
    • Pinewood
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
      • Pinewood is located in Beltrami County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pinewood
    • Bemidji
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Rosby
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
      • Rosby is located in Beltrami County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rosby
    • Lavinia
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Lavinia is located in Beltrami County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lavinia
  • Hubbard County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Zerkel, with the one closest to Zerkel listed first.
    • Lake George
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
    • Laporte
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
    • Park Rapids
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Mahnomen County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Zerkel, with the one closest to Zerkel listed first.
    • Roy Lake
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
      • Roy Lake is located in Mahnomen County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roy Lake
    • Naytahwaush
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Mahnomen
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
    • Waubun
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
    • Bejou
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
  • Polk County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Zerkel, with the one closest to Zerkel listed first.
    • Lengby
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
      • Lengby is located in Polk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lengby
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 86 people
    • Fosston
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)

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

Cemeteries Near Zerkel ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Zerkel.

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

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

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

  • Rice Free Lutheran Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
  • Stevens Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Sell Lake Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
  • Alida Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
  • Old Sell Lake Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
  • Nora Twp. Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nora Twp. Cemetery
    • The Nora Twp. Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Bethel Lutheran Church Cemetery
    • Nora Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #82896 <2>
  • Pioneer Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
  • Indian Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
  • Samuel Memorial Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
  • Moose Creek Twp. Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Pine Bend Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Lake Alice Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
  • Continue List   (108 more) ...
    • Fern Twp. Cemetery
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
    • Holiness Cemetery
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Shevlin - Moose Cemetery
      (14 miles [22.5 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.<3>

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

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

  • Fosston
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
  • White Earth
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
  • Osage
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
  • Olga
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Olga is located in Polk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Olga

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

Newspapers Published in Zerkel ...

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 56 newspapers that have been published in the area around Zerkel.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Zerkel, there are papers which were published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Zerkel.

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 Zerkel:

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 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.
<3>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 Zerkel, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>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 drawn from Point A (ie- Zerkel) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.