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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 Penn (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 Penn. 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 hospitals and doctors 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.

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

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

  • Ramsey County     (The home county of Penn)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Penn, with the one closest to Penn listed first.
    • Churchs Ferry
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Churchs Ferry have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Churchs Ferry
      • Churchs Ferry is located in Ramsey County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 12 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Churchs Ferry <2>
    • Grand Harbor
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Grand Harbor. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grand Harbor
      • Grand Harbor is located in Ramsey County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Grand Harbor
      • From Penn to Grand Harbor
    • Webster
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Devils Lake
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Garske
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Starkweather
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
    • Saint Joe
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Saint Joe. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saint Joe
      • Saint Joe is located in Ramsey County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Saint Joe
      • From Penn to Saint Joe
    • Crary
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Crary have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crary
      • Crary is located in Ramsey County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 147 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Crary <2>
    • Doyon
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Hampden
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hampden have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hampden
      • Hampden is located in Ramsey County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 45 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Hampden <2>
  • Benson County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Penn, with the one closest to Penn listed first.
    • Brinsmade
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Brinsmade have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brinsmade
      • Brinsmade is located in Benson County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 34 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Brinsmade <2>
    • Minnewaukan
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Niles
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Niles. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Niles
      • Niles is located in Benson County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Niles
      • From Penn to Niles
    • Leeds
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
    • Fort Totten
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
    • Saint Michael
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Oberon
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Oberon have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oberon
      • Oberon is located in Benson County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 101 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Oberon <2>
    • York
      (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
    • Tokio
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Maddock
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Maddock have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maddock
      • Maddock is located in Benson County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 375 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Maddock <2>
    • Isabel
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Knox
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Knox have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Knox
      • Knox is located in Benson County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 24 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Knox <2>
    • Warwick
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
      • 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>
  • Cavalier County
    • Calio
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Calio have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Calio
      • Calio is located in Cavalier County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 20 people
  • Eddy County
  • Towner County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Penn, with the one closest to Penn listed first.
    • Maza
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Maza have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maza
      • Maza is located in Towner County
    • Cando
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cando have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cando
      • Cando is located in Towner County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,008 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Cando <2>
    • Egeland
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Egeland have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Egeland
      • Egeland is located in Towner County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 25 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Egeland <2>
    • Bisbee
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bisbee have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bisbee
      • Bisbee is located in Towner County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 120 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Bisbee <2>

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

Cemeteries Near Penn ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Penn.

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

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

  • St. Paul Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Paul Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Paul Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Presbyterian Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Presbyterian Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Presbyterian Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Zion Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Zion Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Zion Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Grand Harbor Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Grand Harbor Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Grand Harbor Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Almlie Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Almlie Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Almlie Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Webster Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Webster Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Webster Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Lebanon Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
  • Brinsmade Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
  • Minnewaukan Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Minnewaukan Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Minnewaukan Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • St. Peter Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Peter Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Peter Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • G A R Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the G A R Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the G A R Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Free Church Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Free Church Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Free Church Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (34 more) ...
    • Wilmerth Cemetery
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Wilmerth Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Wilmerth Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Olson Cemetery
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Olson Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Olson Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Christian Church Cemetery
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)

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.<6>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that in 1895, Penn had a post office and railroad service.

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

  • Grand Harbor
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Grand Harbor. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grand Harbor
    • Grand Harbor is located in Ramsey County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Grand Harbor
    • From Penn to Grand Harbor
  • Churchs Ferry
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Churchs Ferry have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Churchs Ferry
    • Churchs Ferry is located in Ramsey County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 12 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Churchs Ferry <2>
  • Brinsmade
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Brinsmade have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brinsmade
    • Brinsmade is located in Benson County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 34 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Brinsmade <2>
  • Minnewaukan
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Devils Lake
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Leeds
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
  • Lallie
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lallie have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lallie
    • Lallie is located in Benson County
  • Fort Totten
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
  • Starkweather
    (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
  • Cando
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cando have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cando
    • Cando is located in Towner County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,008 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Cando <2>
  • Oberon
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Oberon have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oberon
    • Oberon is located in Benson County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 101 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Oberon <2>
  • Crary
    (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Crary have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crary
    • Crary is located in Ramsey County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 147 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Crary <2>
  • Continue List   (4 more) ...

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

Newspapers Published in Penn ...

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 62 newspapers that have been published in the area around Penn.

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

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 professional and volunteer 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 Penn:

Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Penn. 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>An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace.
<4>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or 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- Penn) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Penn. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 48.2214, Longitude: -99.0892    
<5>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.
<6>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 Penn, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 28 Apr 2025