RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of North Dakota >> Ramsey County >> Lawton >> Genealogy HelperIndex...

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 Lawton (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 Lawton. 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 southwest 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 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 west 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.

Lawton is located in Ramsey 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 Ramsey County: Benson, Cavalier, Nelson, Towner & Walsh.

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

  • Ramsey County     (The home county of Lawton)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Lawton, with the one closest to Lawton listed first.
    • Brocket
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Edmore
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Bartlett
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
      • Bartlett is located in Ramsey County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bartlett
    • Doyon
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
      • Doyon is located in Ramsey County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Doyon
    • Hampden
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Crary
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Garske
      (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
      • Garske is located in Ramsey County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Garske
    • Webster
      (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
    • Starkweather
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Devils Lake
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Saint Joe
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Saint Joe is located in Ramsey County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saint Joe
    • Grand Harbor
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
      • Grand Harbor is located in Ramsey County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grand Harbor
  • Cavalier County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Lawton, with the one closest to Lawton listed first.
    • Nekoma
      (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
    • Loma
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
      • Loma is located in Cavalier County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Loma
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 15 people
    • Milton
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Osnabrock
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
    • Alsen
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Nelson County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Lawton, with the one closest to Lawton listed first.
    • Whitman
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Whitman is located in Nelson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Whitman
    • Lakota
      (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
    • Mapes
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
      • Mapes is located in Nelson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mapes
    • Michigan City
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Michigan City is located in Nelson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Michigan City
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 260 people
    • Michigan
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Petersburg
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Harrisburg ‑ Historic
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
      • Harrisburg is located in Nelson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harrisburg
  • Pembina County
    • Gardar
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Gardar is located in Pembina County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gardar
  • Walsh County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Lawton, with the one closest to Lawton listed first.
    • Fairdale
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Adams
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Praha ‑ Historic
      (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
      • Praha is located in Walsh County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Praha
    • Lankin
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
    • Pleasant Valley
      (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
      • Pleasant Valley is located in Walsh County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Valley
    • Edinburg
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Fordville
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
    • Kerry ‑ Historic
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Kerry is located in Walsh County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kerry
    • Park River
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
    • Pisek
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)

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

Cemeteries Near Lawton ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Lawton.

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

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

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

  • Lawton Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
  • St. Joseph Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
  • Vaage Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
  • Sobak Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
  • Hoff Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
  • Edmore Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
  • St. Ansgar Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
  • Finnish Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
  • Kalhagen Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
  • Fox Lake Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Hope Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
  • St. Olaf Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
  • Continue List   (51 more) ...
    • German Lutheran Cemetery
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
    • West Forest Cemetery
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
    • ZCBJ Narodni Hrbitov Cemetery
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)

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>

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

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

  • Adams
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
  • Bartlett
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
    • Bartlett is located in Ramsey County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bartlett
  • Lakota
    (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
  • Praha ‑ Historic
    (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
    • Praha is located in Walsh County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Praha
  • Mapes
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
    • Mapes is located in Nelson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mapes
  • Crary
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
  • Michigan City
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Michigan City is located in Nelson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Michigan City
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 260 people
  • Michigan
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
  • Starkweather
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
  • Continue List   (6 more) ...
    • Devils Lake
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Petersburg
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Union
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Union is located in Cavalier County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Union
    • Milton
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Harrisburg ‑ Historic
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
      • Harrisburg is located in Nelson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harrisburg
    • Park River
      (29 miles [46.7 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 Lawton. See our List of 1890's Communities around Lawton.

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Lawton ...

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 70 newspapers that have been published in the area around Lawton.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Lawton. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Lawton and those printed in the larger area surrounding Lawton.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 29 miles [46.7 km]<2> of Lawton.

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 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 Lawton:

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>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- Lawton) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>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.
<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 Lawton, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.