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 Norman (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 Norman. 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 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 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.
Norman 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 Norman. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Norman:
- Cass County (The home county of Norman)
- The following are listed by their distance from Norman, with the one closest to Norman listed first.
- Kindred
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
- Warren
(5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
- Warren is located in Cass County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Warren
- Oxbow
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
- Oxbow is located in Cass County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oxbow
- Population from the 2020 Census: 303 people
- Horace
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
- Davenport
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
- Wild Rice
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
- Wild Rice is located in Cass County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wild Rice
- Briarwood
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
- Briarwood is located in Cass County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Briarwood
- Population from the 2020 Census: 70 people
- Frontier
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
- Frontier is located in Cass County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Frontier
- Population from the 2020 Census: 212 people
- Woods
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
- Woods is located in Cass County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woods
- Prairie Rose
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
- Prairie Rose is located in Cass County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prairie Rose
- Population from the 2020 Census: 51 people
- Durbin
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
- Durbin is located in Cass County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Durbin
- Leonard
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
- Ransom County
- The following are listed by their distance from Norman, with the one closest to Norman listed first.
- McLeod
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
- Sheldon
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
- Anselm
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
- Anselm is located in Ransom County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Anselm
- Richland County
- The following are listed by their distance from Norman, with the one closest to Norman listed first.
- Walcott
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
- Christine
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
- Barrie
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
- Barrie is located in Richland County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Barrie
- Colfax
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
- Abercrombie
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
- Galchutt
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
- Galchutt is located in Richland County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Galchutt
- Dwight
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
- Dwight is located in Richland County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dwight
- Population from the 2020 Census: 77 people
- Barney
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
- Fairview Junction
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
- Fairview Junction is located in Richland County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fairview Junction
- Mooreton
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
- Wyndmere
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
- Clay County (MN)
- The following are listed by their distance from Norman, with the one closest to Norman listed first.
- Comstock
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
- Comstock is located in Clay County (MN)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Comstock
- Population from the 2020 Census: 108 people
- Finkle
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
- Finkle is located in Clay County (MN)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Finkle
- Moorhead
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
- Sabin
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
- Sabin is located in Clay County (MN)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sabin
- Population from the 2020 Census: 558 people
- Baker
(18 miles [29 km] to the east)
- Baker is located in Clay County (MN)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Baker
- Dilworth
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
- Oakport
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
- Oakport is located in Clay County (MN)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oakport
- Glyndon
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
- Kragnes
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
- Kragnes is located in Clay County (MN)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kragnes
- Barnesville
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
- Muskoda
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
- Muskoda is located in Clay County (MN)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Muskoda
- Georgetown
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
- Georgetown is located in Clay County (MN)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Georgetown
- Population from the 2020 Census: 126 people
- Wilkin County (MN)
- The following are listed by their distance from Norman, with the one closest to Norman listed first.
- Wolverton
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
- Wolverton is located in Wilkin County (MN)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wolverton
- Population from the 2020 Census: 129 people
- Kent
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
- Kent is located in Wilkin County (MN)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kent
- Population from the 2020 Census: 72 people
- Lawndale
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
- Lawndale is located in Wilkin County (MN)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lawndale
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Norman, see our County-by-County Page for Norman.
Cemeteries Near Norman ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Norman.
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 Norman - one of the links might be able to help.
If not found below, our Cemetery List for Norman covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Norman, with the one closest to Norman listed first.
- Norman Cemetery
(Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
- Perhus Cemetery
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
- North Pleasant Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
- Gol Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
- German Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
- Christiania Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
- South Pleasant Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
- South Pleasant and Christine Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Pleasant and Christine Cemetery
- To give a relative sense of its location, the South Pleasant and Christine Cemetery is located less than 2 miles<3> to the northwest of Christine.
- The South Pleasant and Christine Cemetery has also been known as:
- South Pleasant Cemetery
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #102592 <2>
- Hemnes Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
- Clara Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
- Lower Wild Rice & Red River Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
- Brink Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brink Cemetery
- The Brink Cemetery has also been known as:
- Horace Lutheran Cemetery
- Continue List (92 more) ...
- Davenport Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
- Walcott Cemetery
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Walcott Cemetery
- To give a relative sense of its location, the Walcott Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located outside and to the southeast of Walcott.
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2292816 <2>
- Christine Cemetery
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
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 Norman in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Norman.
These communities are listed based on their distance from Norman, with the one closest to Norman listed first.
- Kindred
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
- Warren
(5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
- Warren is located in Cass County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Warren
- Hickson
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
- Hickson is located in Cass County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hickson
- Walcott
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
- Horace
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
- Davenport
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
- Christine
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
- Wild Rice
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
- Wild Rice is located in Cass County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wild Rice
- Comstock
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
- Comstock is located in Clay County (MN)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Comstock
- Population from the 2020 Census: 108 people
- Barrie
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
- Barrie is located in Richland County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Barrie
- Wolverton
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
- Wolverton is located in Wilkin County (MN)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wolverton
- Population from the 2020 Census: 129 people
- Woods
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
- Woods is located in Cass County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woods
- Continue List (15 more) ...
- Colfax
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
- Finkle
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
- Finkle is located in Clay County (MN)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Finkle
- Durbin
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
- Durbin is located in Cass County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Durbin
We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Norman. See our List of 1890's Communities around Norman.
Newspapers Published in Norman ...
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 115 newspapers that have been published in the area around Norman.
Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Norman, there are papers which were published within 29 miles [46.7 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Norman.
Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...
When we do our genealogical research, we first turn to 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 Norman:
- Websites specific to North Dakota
- Pages specific to Cass County
- Genealogy information for nearby counties
- Ransom County
- Richland County
- Clay County
- Wilkin County
- Cemetery Information and Directories for North Dakota
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> | 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- Norman) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |
| <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 Norman, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |