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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 Fort Ransom (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 Fort Ransom. 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.

Name Variations for Fort Ransom ...

When searching records, keep in mind that names and their spelling can change over time. Our sources include documents like maps, railroad schedules, Travel, Express and Shipping Guides. Many of these documents date from the 1800's and it's common to find spelling differences.

Although we can't give a definitive list, hopefully the following will give you a feel for the variations that might have occurred.

For example, a typical abbreviation for Fort Ransom: Ft. Ransom

If you have information about these names (such as the reason for the change, date of change, the origin of the name), please Contact Us.

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 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.

Fort Ransom is located in Ransom 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 Ransom County: Barnes, Cass, Dickey, LaMoure, Richland & Sargent.

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

  • Ransom County     (The home county of Fort Ransom)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Fort Ransom, with the one closest to Fort Ransom listed first.
    • Elliott
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Elliott have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elliott
      • Elliott is located in Ransom County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 25 people
    • Lisbon
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Enderlin
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Anselm
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Anselm. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Anselm
      • Anselm is located in Ransom County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Anselm
      • From Fort Ransom to Anselm
    • Sheldon
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
  • Barnes County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Fort Ransom, with the one closest to Fort Ransom listed first.
    • Kathryn
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
    • Nome
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Litchville
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Fingal
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Fingal have been provided by the GNIS.<1> 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 <2>
    • Valley City
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
    • North Valley City
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for North Valley City have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Valley City
      • North Valley City is located in Barnes County
    • Oriska
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Oriska have been provided by the GNIS.<1> 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 <2>
  • Cass County
  • Dickey County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Fort Ransom, with the one closest to Fort Ransom listed first.
    • Glover
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Oakes
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Oakes have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oakes
      • Oakes is located in Dickey County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,657 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Oakes <2>
    • Norway
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Norway have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Norway
      • Norway is located in Dickey County
  • LaMoure County
  • Sargent County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Fort Ransom, with the one closest to Fort Ransom listed first.
    • Stirum
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
    • Gwinner
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Gwinner have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gwinner
      • Gwinner is located in Sargent County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 956 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Gwinner <2>
    • Harlem ‑ Historic
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Harlem. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harlem
      • Harlem is located in Sargent County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Harlem
      • From Fort Ransom to Harlem
    • Milnor
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Milnor have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Milnor
      • Milnor is located in Sargent County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 632 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Milnor <2>
    • Cogswell
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cogswell have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cogswell
      • Cogswell is located in Sargent County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 93 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Cogswell <2>

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

Cemeteries Near Fort Ransom ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Fort Ransom.

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

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

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.<6>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Fort Ransom had a population of 97 people in 1895 with a post office and no railroad service. In 2020, Fort Ransom had a population of 74 people.

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

  • Verona
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Verona have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Verona
    • Verona is located in LaMoure County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 86 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Verona <2>
  • Lisbon
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Hastings
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hastings have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hastings
    • Hastings is located in Barnes County
  • Daily
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Daily have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Daily
    • Daily is located in Barnes County
  • Buttzville
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Buttzville have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Buttzville
    • Buttzville is located in Ransom County
  • Lucca
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lucca have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lucca
    • Lucca is located in Barnes County
  • Fingal
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Fingal have been provided by the GNIS.<1> 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 <2>
  • LaMoure
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
  • Anselm
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Anselm. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Anselm
    • Anselm is located in Ransom County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Anselm
    • From Fort Ransom to Anselm
  • Cuba
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cuba have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cuba
    • Cuba is located in Barnes County
  • Grand Rapids
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
  • Glover
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
  • Continue List   (15 more) ...

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

Newspapers Published in Fort Ransom ...

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 39 newspapers that have been published in the area around Fort Ransom.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Fort Ransom, 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 Fort Ransom.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we begin with 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 Fort Ransom:

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

The official website for State of North Dakota: https://www.nd.gov/

Footnotes ...

<1>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.
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<3>An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace.
<4>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 drawn from Point A (ie- Fort Ransom) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Fort Ransom. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 46.5211, Longitude: -97.9259    
<5>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.
<6>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 Fort Ransom, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 28 Apr 2025