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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 Bowdon (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 Bowdon. 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.

Bowdon is located in Wells 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 Wells County: Benson, Eddy, Foster, Kidder, Pierce, Sheridan & Stutsman.

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

  • Wells County     (The home county of Bowdon)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Bowdon, with the one closest to Bowdon listed first.
    • Chaseley
      (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Hurdsfield
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hurdsfield have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hurdsfield
      • Hurdsfield is located in Wells County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 73 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Hurdsfield <1>
    • Fessenden
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Fessenden have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fessenden
      • Fessenden is located in Wells County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 420 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Fessenden <1>
    • Sykeston
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
    • Cathay
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cathay have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cathay
      • Cathay is located in Wells County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 38 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Cathay <1>
    • Hamberg
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hamberg have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hamberg
      • Hamberg is located in Wells County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 20 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Hamberg <1>
    • Harvey
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Harvey have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harvey
      • Harvey is located in Wells County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,587 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Harvey <1>
    • Bremen
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
  • Eddy County
    • New Rockford
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Foster County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Bowdon, with the one closest to Bowdon listed first.
    • Guptill
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Guptill
      • Guptill is located in Foster County
    • Barlow
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Barlow
      • Barlow is located in Foster County
    • Carrington
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
  • Kidder County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Bowdon, with the one closest to Bowdon listed first.
    • Robinson
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Robinson have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Robinson
      • Robinson is located in Kidder County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 46 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Robinson <1>
    • Lake Williams
      (23 miles [37 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Williams
      • Lake Williams is located in Kidder County
    • Pettibone
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Pettibone have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pettibone
      • Pettibone is located in Kidder County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 68 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Pettibone <1>
    • Tuttle
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
  • Pierce County
    • Selz
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Selz
      • Selz is located in Pierce County
  • Sheridan County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Bowdon, with the one closest to Bowdon listed first.
    • Goodrich
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Goodrich have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Goodrich
      • Goodrich is located in Sheridan County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 89 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Goodrich <1>
    • Denhoff
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
  • Stutsman County
    • Woodworth
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Woodworth have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodworth
      • Woodworth is located in Stutsman County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 47 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Woodworth <1>

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Bowdon ...

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 Bowdon.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

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

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 Bowdon:

Cemeteries Near Bowdon ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Bowdon.

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

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

  • Wayside Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Wayside Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Wayside Cemetery
  • Mielke Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Mielke Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Mielke Cemetery
  • Bowdon Lutheran Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
  • Dunkard Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Dunkard Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Dunkard Cemetery
  • Chaseley Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Chaseley Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Chaseley Cemetery
  • Tolbert Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Tolbert Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Tolbert Cemetery
  • Heaton Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Heaton Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Heaton Cemetery
  • Mennonite Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Mennonite Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Mennonite Cemetery
  • Pleasant Hill Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Pleasant Hill Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Pleasant Hill Cemetery
  • Methodist Episcopal Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
  • Hillside Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
  • Sykeston Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
  • Continue List   (43 more) ...
    • St. Elizabeth Cemetery
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Elizabeth Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Elizabeth Cemetery
    • German Baptist Cemetery
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the German Baptist Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the German Baptist Cemetery
    • Lake View Cemetery
      (15 miles [24.1 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.<5>

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

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

  • Sykeston
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
  • Carrington
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
  • Barlow
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Barlow
    • Barlow is located in Foster County

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

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

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 obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Bowdon) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Bowdon. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 47.4689, Longitude: -99.7085       In this case, the coordinates for Bowdon 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 Bowdon, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024