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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 Finley (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 Finley. 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 northeast 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 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 east 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.

Finley is located in Steele County and is the County Seat.

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 Steele County: Barnes, Cass, Grand Forks, Griggs, Nelson & Traill.

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

  • Steele County     (The home county of Finley)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Finley, with the one closest to Finley listed first.
    • Sharon
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Sherbrooke
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sherbrooke have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sherbrooke
      • Sherbrooke is located in Steele County
    • Hope
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
      • 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
      (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
      • 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>
  • Barnes County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Finley, with the one closest to Finley listed first.
    • Pillsbury
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
      • 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
    • Sibley
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
      • 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
    • Dazey
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Dazey have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dazey
      • Dazey is located in Barnes County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 93 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Dazey <1>
  • Cass County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Finley, with the one closest to Finley listed first.
    • Page
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
      • 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>
    • Nolan ‑ Historic
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
      • 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
  • Grand Forks County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Finley, with the one closest to Finley listed first.
    • Northwood
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Northwood have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Northwood
      • Northwood is located in Grand Forks County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 884 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Northwood <1>
    • Kempton
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kempton
      • Kempton is located in Grand Forks County
    • Larimore
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
    • Holmes
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Holmes have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holmes
      • Holmes is located in Grand Forks County
  • Griggs County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Finley, with the one closest to Finley listed first.
    • Cooperstown
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cooperstown have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cooperstown
      • Cooperstown is located in Griggs County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 891 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Cooperstown <1>
    • Jessie
      (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
    • Hannaford
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Walum
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Walum
      • Walum is located in Griggs County
    • Binford
      (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Binford have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Binford
      • Binford is located in Griggs County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 166 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Binford <1>
    • Sutton
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
  • Nelson County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Finley, with the one closest to Finley listed first.
    • Aneta
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
    • McVille
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for McVille have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for McVille
      • McVille is located in Nelson County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 313 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for McVille <1>
    • Pekin
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Pekin have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pekin
      • Pekin is located in Nelson County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 63 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Pekin <1>
  • Traill County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Finley, with the one closest to Finley listed first.
    • Hatton
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hatton have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hatton
      • Hatton is located in Traill County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 731 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Hatton <1>
    • Portland
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
    • Roseville
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roseville
      • Roseville is located in Traill County
    • Clifford
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
      • 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>
    • Mayville
      (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
    • Galesburg
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
      • 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>

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Finley ...

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 61 newspapers that have been published in the area around Finley.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Finley. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Finley and those printed in the larger area surrounding Finley.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 29 miles [46.7 km]<3> of Finley.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we first visit 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 Finley:

Cemeteries Near Finley ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Finley.

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

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

  • Ebenezer Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Ebenezer Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Ebenezer Cemetery
  • St. Petri Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Petri Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Petri Cemetery
  • Gilbertson Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Gilbertson Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Gilbertson Cemetery
  • Sherbrooke Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Sherbrooke Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Sherbrooke Cemetery
  • Sharon Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Sharon Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Sharon Cemetery
  • Westfield Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Westfield Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Westfield Cemetery
  • Bethany Lutheran Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
  • Trinity Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Trinity Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Trinity Cemetery
  • Hoff Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
  • Silent Hill Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Silent Hill Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Silent Hill Cemetery
  • Romness Methodist Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Romness Methodist Cemetery is located 8 miles [12.9 km]<3> to the east of Sharon.
    • The Romness Methodist Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Romness Cemetery
    • Romness Methodist Church Cemetery
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Romness Methodist Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2677795 <4>
  • Hanson Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Hanson Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Hanson Cemetery
  • Continue List   (54 more) ...
    • Severson Cemetery
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Severson Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Severson Cemetery
    • Sacred Heart Cemetery
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Sacred Heart Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Sacred Heart Cemetery
    • Cooperstown Cemetery
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Cooperstown Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Cooperstown 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>

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

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

  • Pickert
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Pickert have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pickert
    • Pickert is located in Steele County
  • Sherbrooke
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sherbrooke have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sherbrooke
    • Sherbrooke is located in Steele County
  • Sharon
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Aneta
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
  • Cooperstown
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cooperstown have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cooperstown
    • Cooperstown is located in Griggs County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 891 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Cooperstown <1>
  • Hope
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
    • 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>
  • Jessie
    (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
  • Hatton
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hatton have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hatton
    • Hatton is located in Traill County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 731 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Hatton <1>
  • Northwood
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Northwood have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Northwood
    • Northwood is located in Grand Forks County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 884 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Northwood <1>
  • Colgate
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
    • 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
  • Hannaford
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
  • Roseville
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roseville
    • Roseville is located in Traill County
  • Continue List   (11 more) ...
    • Portland
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
    • Clifford
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
      • 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>
    • Mayville
      (23 miles [37 km] to the east)

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

Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Finley. 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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Finley) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Finley. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 47.5141, Longitude: -97.8359    
<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 Finley, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024