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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 Berea (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 Berea. 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.

Berea is located in Barnes County.

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

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Barnes County: Cass, Griggs, LaMoure, Ransom, Steele & Stutsman.

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

  • Barnes County     (The home county of Berea)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Berea, with the one closest to Berea listed first.
    • North Valley City
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
      • North Valley City is located in Barnes County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Valley City
    • Valley City
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Sanborn
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Rogers
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Eckelson
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Oriska
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
    • Ashtabula ‑ Historic
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
      • Ashtabula is located in Barnes County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ashtabula
    • Leal
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Leal is located in Barnes County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leal
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 18 people
    • Dazey
      (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
    • Kathryn
      (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
    • Fingal
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
    • Litchville
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
  • Cass County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Berea, with the one closest to Berea listed first.
    • Tower City
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
    • Buffalo
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
    • Nolan ‑ Historic
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Nolan is located in Cass County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nolan
    • Alice
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Alice is located in Cass County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alice
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 40 people
    • Ayr
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
    • Page
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Griggs County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Berea, with the one closest to Berea listed first.
    • Walum
      (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
      • Walum is located in Griggs County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Walum
    • Hannaford
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
  • LaMoure County
    • Marion
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
  • Ransom County
    • Fort Ransom
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
  • Steele County
    • Luverne
      (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
  • Stutsman County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Berea, with the one closest to Berea listed first.
    • Spiritwood
      (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
    • Spiritwood Lake
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
      • Spiritwood Lake is located in Stutsman County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spiritwood Lake
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 98 people
    • Ypsilanti
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Bloom
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
      • Bloom is located in Stutsman County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bloom
    • Jamestown Junction
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
      • Jamestown Junction is located in Stutsman County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jamestown Junction
    • Montpelier
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Frontier Village
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
      • Frontier Village is located in Stutsman County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Frontier Village
    • Jamestown
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
    • Courtenay
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)

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

Cemeteries Near Berea ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Berea.

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

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

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

  • Woodbine Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
  • Nebo Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
  • St. Catherines Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
  • Hillside Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hillside Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Hillside Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located outside and to the northeast of Valley City.
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #102029 <2>
  • Sacred Heart Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
  • Fairview Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
  • St. Peter Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
  • Memory Gardens Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
  • Prairie Rest Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
  • Ringsaker Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
  • St. Bernards Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
  • Oriska Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
  • Continue List   (54 more) ...
    • Elim Evangelical Free Church Cemetery
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Sunnyside Cemetery
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
    • Sheyenne Valley Cemetery
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)

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.<4>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that in 1895, Berea had railroad service and no post office.

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

  • Valley City
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
  • Sanborn
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
  • Odell ‑ Historic
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Odell is located in Barnes County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Odell
  • Cuba
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Cuba is located in Barnes County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cuba
  • Oriska
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
  • Ashtabula ‑ Historic
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
    • Ashtabula is located in Barnes County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ashtabula
  • Urbana
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
    • Urbana is located in Barnes County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Urbana
  • Daily
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
    • Daily is located in Barnes County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Daily
  • Hastings
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
    • Hastings is located in Barnes County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hastings
  • Dazey
    (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
  • Fingal
    (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
  • Spiritwood
    (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
  • Continue List   (13 more) ...
    • Tower City
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
    • Lucca
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
      • Lucca is located in Barnes County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lucca
    • Ypsilanti
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)

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

Newspapers Published in Berea ...

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 100 newspapers that have been published in the area around Berea.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Berea, there are papers which were published within 29 miles [46.7 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Berea.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we start with 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 Berea:

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