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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 Mason (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 Mason. 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 hospitals and 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.

Mason is located in Cass 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 Cass County: Clay (MN), Norman (MN), Barnes, Ransom, Richland, Steele & Traill.

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

  • Cass County     (The home county of Mason)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Mason, with the one closest to Mason listed first.
    • Erie
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Arthur
      (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Amenia
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Absaraka
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Ayr
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Hunter
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Wheatland
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
    • Nolan ‑ Historic
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
      • Nolan is located in Cass County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nolan
    • Page
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Magnolia
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Magnolia is located in Cass County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Magnolia
    • Casselton
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Buffalo
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
  • Barnes County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Mason, with the one closest to Mason listed first.
    • Oriska
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
    • Pillsbury
      (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
      • Pillsbury is located in Barnes County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pillsbury
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 11 people
    • Fingal
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Steele County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Mason, with the one closest to Mason listed first.
    • Hope
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Luverne
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Traill County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Mason, with the one closest to Mason listed first.
    • Galesburg
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
    • Greenfield
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
      • Greenfield is located in Traill County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenfield
    • Grandin
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
    • Blanchard
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
    • Clifford
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
    • Kelso
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Kelso is located in Traill County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kelso
    • Alton
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
      • Alton is located in Traill County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alton
    • Roseville
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
      • Roseville is located in Traill County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roseville
    • Hillsboro
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Mayville
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
    • Portland
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
  • Clay County (MN)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Mason, with the one closest to Mason listed first.
    • Georgetown
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
      • Georgetown is located in Clay County (MN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Georgetown
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 126 people
    • Kragnes
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
      • Kragnes is located in Clay County (MN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kragnes
    • Oakport
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
      • Oakport is located in Clay County (MN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oakport
  • Norman County (MN)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Mason, with the one closest to Mason listed first.
    • Perley
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
      • Perley is located in Norman County (MN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Perley
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 83 people
    • Hendrum
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Hendrum is located in Norman County (MN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hendrum
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 282 people
    • Halstad
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)

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

Cemeteries Near Mason ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Mason.

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

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

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

  • St. Martins Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
  • Erie Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
  • Arthur Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
  • Good Samaritan Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
  • Wheatland Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
  • Rose Valley Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Casselton Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
  • St. Leos Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for St. Leos Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the St. Leos Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located in Casselton.
    • The St. Leos Cemetery has also been known as:
    • St. Leo Cemetery
  • Page Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
  • Elm River Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
  • Argusville Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
  • Grandin Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Continue List   (59 more) ...
    • Greenwood Cemetery
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
    • Mapleton Cemetery
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
    • Bohnsack Cemetery
      (18 miles [29 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.<3>

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

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

  • Arthur
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
  • Amenia
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Ayr
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
  • Absaraka
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Hunter
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
  • Wheatland
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
  • Magnolia
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Magnolia is located in Cass County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Magnolia
  • Page
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Casselton
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
  • Buffalo
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
  • Galesburg
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
  • Greenfield
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
    • Greenfield is located in Traill County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenfield
  • Continue List   (13 more) ...
    • Mapleton
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
    • Argusville
      (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
      • Argusville is located in Cass County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Argusville
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 467 people
    • Grandin
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)

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

Newspapers Published in Mason ...

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 85 newspapers that have been published in the area around Mason.

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

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 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 Mason:

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