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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 McHenry (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 McHenry. 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 southeast 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 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 east 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.

McHenry is located in Foster 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 Foster County: Eddy, Griggs, Stutsman & Wells.

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

  • Foster County     (The home county of McHenry)
    • The following are listed by their distance from McHenry, with the one closest to McHenry listed first.
    • Glenfield
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Glenfield have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glenfield
      • Glenfield is located in Foster County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 90 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Glenfield <2>
    • Grace City
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Grace City have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grace City
      • Grace City is located in Foster County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 59 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Grace City <2>
    • Barlow
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
    • Guptill
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
    • Melville
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Carrington
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
  • Barnes County
    • Wimbledon
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Wimbledon have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wimbledon
      • Wimbledon is located in Barnes County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 189 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Wimbledon <2>
  • Benson County
    • The following are listed by their distance from McHenry, with the one closest to McHenry listed first.
    • Warwick
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Warwick have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Warwick
      • Warwick is located in Benson County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 63 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Warwick <2>
    • Tokio
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
  • Eddy County
  • Griggs County
  • Nelson County
    • The following are listed by their distance from McHenry, with the one closest to McHenry listed first.
    • Tolna
      (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Tolna have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tolna
      • Tolna is located in Nelson County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 146 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Tolna <2>
    • Pekin
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Pekin have been provided by the GNIS.<1> 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 <2>
    • McVille
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for McVille have been provided by the GNIS.<1> 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 <2>
    • Aneta
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
  • Stutsman County
    • The following are listed by their distance from McHenry, with the one closest to McHenry listed first.
    • Kensal
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
    • Courtenay
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Courtenay have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Courtenay
      • Courtenay is located in Stutsman County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 45 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Courtenay <2>

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

Cemeteries Near McHenry ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of McHenry.

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

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

  • Bethlehem Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Bethlehem Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Bethlehem Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Naroen Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Naroen Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Naroen Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Glenfield Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
  • Grace City Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Grace City Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Grace City Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Binford Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Binford Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Binford Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Bethany Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Bethany Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Bethany Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Brethren Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Brethren Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Brethren Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Eastman Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Eastman Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Eastman Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Brantford Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Brantford Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Brantford Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Mabel Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Mabel Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Mabel Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • St. Lawrence Cemetery
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Lawrence Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Lawrence Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Warwick Cemetery
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
  • Continue List   (32 more) ...
    • St. Johns Cemetery
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Johns Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Johns Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Hero Cemetery
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Hero Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Hero Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • St. Marys Cemetery
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Marys Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Marys Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.

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 McHenry in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of McHenry.

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

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of McHenry ...

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 54 newspapers that have been published in the area around McHenry.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

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

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 helpful 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 McHenry:

Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for McHenry. 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>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a '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- McHenry) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in McHenry. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 47.5763, Longitude: -98.5901    
<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 McHenry, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 28 Apr 2025