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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 Medora (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 Medora. 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 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.

Medora is located in Billings 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 Billings County: Dunn, Golden Valley, McKenzie, Slope & Stark.

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

  • Billings County     (The home county of Medora)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Medora, with the one closest to Medora listed first.
    • Fryburg
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fryburg
      • Fryburg is located in Billings County
    • Fairfield
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
  • Dunn County
    • New Hradec
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Hradec
      • New Hradec is located in Dunn County
      • Former name for New Hradec:
      • Novy Hradec
  • Golden Valley County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Medora, with the one closest to Medora listed first.
    • Sentinel Butte
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sentinel Butte have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sentinel Butte
      • Sentinel Butte is located in Golden Valley County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 62 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Sentinel Butte <1>
    • Beach
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beach
      • Beach is located in Golden Valley County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,026 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Beach <1>
    • Golva
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Golva have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Golva
      • Golva is located in Golden Valley County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 67 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Golva <1>
  • Stark County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Medora, with the one closest to Medora listed first.
    • Belfield
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Belfield have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Belfield
      • Belfield is located in Stark County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,035 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Belfield <1>
    • South Heart
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for South Heart have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Heart
      • South Heart is located in Stark County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 449 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for South Heart <1>

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Medora ...

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 12 newspapers that have been published in the area around Medora.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Medora. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Medora and those printed in the larger area surrounding Medora.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 22 miles [35.4 km]<3> of Medora.

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 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 Medora:

Cemeteries Near Medora ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Medora.

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

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

  • Medora Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
  • Connell Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Connell Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Connell Cemetery
  • St. Michaels Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Michaels Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Michaels Cemetery
  • St. Stanislaus Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Stanislaus Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Stanislaus Cemetery
  • Plain View Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Plain View Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Plain View Cemetery
  • St. Boniface Cemetery
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Boniface Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Boniface Cemetery
  • St. Josephat Cemetery
    (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Josephat Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Josephat Cemetery
  • St. Marys Cemetery
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Marys Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Marys Cemetery
  • St. Jacobs Cemetery
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Jacobs Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Jacobs Cemetery
  • St. Demetrius Cemetery
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
  • St. Peter and Paul Ukrainian Orthodox Cemetery
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
  • St.s Peter & Paul Cemetery
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St.s Peter & Paul Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St.s Peter & Paul Cemetery
  • Continue List   (7 more) ...
    • Burkey Cemetery
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Burkey Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Burkey Cemetery
    • St. Marys Cemetery
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Marys Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Marys Cemetery
    • Peaceful Valley Cemetery
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Peaceful Valley Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Peaceful Valley 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>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that in 1895, Medora had a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Medora had a population of 124 people.

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

  • Sully Springs
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sully Springs have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sully Springs
    • Sully Springs is located in Billings County
  • Fryburg
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fryburg
    • Fryburg is located in Billings County
  • Belfield
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Belfield have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Belfield
    • Belfield is located in Stark County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,035 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Belfield <1>
  • South Heart
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for South Heart have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Heart
    • South Heart is located in Stark County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 449 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for South Heart <1>

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

Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Medora. 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 '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- Medora) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Medora. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 46.9142, Longitude: -103.5230    
<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 Medora, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024