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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 Ayr (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 Ayr. 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 southeast corner of their home county. During their lives, most doctors and hospitals were in the next county to the east. 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 east 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.

Ayr is located in Cass County.

To see how the shape of North Dakota's counties have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Cass County: Clay (MN), Norman (MN), Barnes, Ransom, Richland, Steele & Traill.

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

  • Cass County     (The home county of Ayr)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Ayr, with the one closest to Ayr listed first.
    • Absaraka
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Erie
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Erie have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Erie
      • Erie is located in Cass County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Erie <1>
    • Nolan ‑ Historic
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Nolan have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nolan
      • Nolan is located in Cass County
    • Page
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Page have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Page
      • Page is located in Cass County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 229 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Page <1>
    • Buffalo
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Buffalo have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Buffalo
      • Buffalo is located in Cass County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 182 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Buffalo <1>
    • Wheatland
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Wheatland have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wheatland
      • Wheatland is located in Cass County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Wheatland <1>
    • Tower City
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Amenia
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
    • Arthur
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
    • Hunter
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hunter have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hunter
      • Hunter is located in Cass County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 251 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Hunter <1>
    • Casselton
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Alice
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alice
      • Alice is located in Cass County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 40 people
    • Chaffee
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
  • Barnes County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Ayr, with the one closest to Ayr listed first.
    • Oriska
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Oriska have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oriska
      • Oriska is located in Barnes County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 109 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Oriska <1>
    • Pillsbury
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Pillsbury have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pillsbury
      • Pillsbury is located in Barnes County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 11 people
    • Fingal
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Fingal have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fingal
      • Fingal is located in Barnes County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 86 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Fingal <1>
    • North Valley City
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for North Valley City have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Valley City
      • North Valley City is located in Barnes County
    • Sibley
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sibley have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sibley
      • Sibley is located in Barnes County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 28 people
    • Valley City
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
    • Nome
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Ransom County
    • Enderlin
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
  • Steele County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Ayr, with the one closest to Ayr listed first.
    • Hope
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hope have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hope
      • Hope is located in Steele County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 250 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Hope <1>
    • Luverne
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Luverne have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Luverne
      • Luverne is located in Steele County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 29 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Luverne <1>
  • Traill County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Ayr, with the one closest to Ayr listed first.
    • Galesburg
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Galesburg have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Galesburg
      • Galesburg is located in Traill County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 101 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Galesburg <1>
    • Clifford
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Clifford have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clifford
      • Clifford is located in Traill County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 43 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Clifford <1>
    • Blanchard
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Grandin
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Grandin have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grandin
      • Grandin is located in Traill County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 171 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Grandin <1>
    • Roseville
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roseville
      • Roseville is located in Traill County
    • Kelso
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kelso
      • Kelso is located in Traill County
    • Alton
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Alton have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alton
      • Alton is located in Traill County

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Ayr ...

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 52 newspapers that have been published in the area around Ayr.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

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

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we like to 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 Ayr:

Cemeteries Near Ayr ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Ayr.

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

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

  • Erie Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Erie Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Erie Cemetery
  • St. Martins Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Martins Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Martins Cemetery
  • Page Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Page Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Page Cemetery
  • Greenwood Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Greenwood Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Greenwood Cemetery
  • Wheatland Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Wheatland Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Wheatland Cemetery
  • Arthur Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Arthur Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Arthur Cemetery
  • Good Samaritan Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Good Samaritan Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Good Samaritan Cemetery
  • Morton Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Morton Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Morton Cemetery
  • Oriska Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Oriska Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Oriska Cemetery
  • St. Bernards Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Bernards Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Bernards Cemetery
  • Casselton Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
  • St. Leos Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the St. Leos Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located in Casselton.
    • The St. Leos Cemetery has also been known as:
    • St. Leo Cemetery
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Leos Cemetery
  • Continue List   (36 more) ...
    • Elm River Cemetery
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Elm River Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Elm River Cemetery
    • Minnie Lake Cemetery
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Minnie Lake Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Minnie Lake Cemetery
    • St. Johannes Cemetery
      (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Johannes Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Johannes Cemetery

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 Ayr had a population of 52 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Ayr had a population of 16 people.

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

  • Absaraka
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Buffalo
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Buffalo have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Buffalo
    • Buffalo is located in Cass County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 182 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Buffalo <1>
  • Page
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Page have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Page
    • Page is located in Cass County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 229 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Page <1>
  • Magnolia
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Magnolia have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Magnolia
    • Magnolia is located in Cass County
  • Tower City
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Wheatland
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Wheatland have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wheatland
    • Wheatland is located in Cass County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Wheatland <1>
  • Amenia
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
  • Arthur
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
  • Oriska
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Oriska have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oriska
    • Oriska is located in Barnes County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 109 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Oriska <1>
  • Casselton
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Colgate
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Colgate have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Colgate
    • Colgate is located in Steele County
  • Hunter
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hunter have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hunter
    • Hunter is located in Cass County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 251 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Hunter <1>
  • Continue List   (15 more) ...
    • Galesburg
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Galesburg have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Galesburg
      • Galesburg is located in Traill County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 101 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Galesburg <1>
    • Greenfield
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Greenfield have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenfield
      • Greenfield is located in Traill County
    • Clifford
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Clifford have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clifford
      • Clifford is located in Traill County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 43 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Clifford <1>

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

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

The official website for Cass County: www.co.cass.nd.us/

The official website for State of North Dakota: www.nd.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>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Ayr) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Ayr. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 47.0405, Longitude: -97.4915       In this case, the coordinates for Ayr have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<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 Ayr, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024