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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 Pillsbury (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 Pillsbury. 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 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.

Pillsbury is located in Barnes 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 Barnes County: Cass, Griggs, LaMoure, Ransom, Steele & Stutsman.

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

  • Barnes County     (The home county of Pillsbury)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Pillsbury, with the one closest to Pillsbury listed first.
    • Sibley
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
      • Sibley is located in Barnes County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sibley
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 28 people
    • Ashtabula ‑ Historic
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Ashtabula is located in Barnes County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ashtabula
    • Oriska
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
    • Dazey
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
    • North Valley City
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
      • North Valley City is located in Barnes County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Valley City
    • Rogers
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Valley City
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Leal
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
      • Leal is located in Barnes County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leal
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 18 people
    • Sanborn
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Fingal
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
  • Cass County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Pillsbury, with the one closest to Pillsbury listed first.
    • Page
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
    • Nolan ‑ Historic
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
      • Nolan is located in Cass County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nolan
    • Ayr
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
    • Erie
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
    • Tower City
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
    • Buffalo
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Absaraka
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Magnolia
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Magnolia is located in Cass County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Magnolia
    • Hunter
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
    • Arthur
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
    • Wheatland
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Amenia
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Griggs County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Pillsbury, with the one closest to Pillsbury listed first.
    • Hannaford
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
    • Walum
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
      • Walum is located in Griggs County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Walum
    • Cooperstown
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
  • Steele County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Pillsbury, with the one closest to Pillsbury listed first.
    • Luverne
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Hope
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Sherbrooke
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
      • Sherbrooke is located in Steele County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sherbrooke
    • Finley
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
    • Sharon
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
  • Traill County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Pillsbury, with the one closest to Pillsbury listed first.
    • Galesburg
      (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
    • Clifford
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Roseville
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
      • Roseville is located in Traill County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roseville
    • Greenfield
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
      • Greenfield is located in Traill County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenfield
    • Blanchard
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
    • Portland
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Mayville
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)

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

Cemeteries Near Pillsbury ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Pillsbury.

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

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

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

  • Minnie Lake Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
  • Morton Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
  • Hope Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Pederson Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Luverne Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Lund Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lund Cemetery
    • The Lund Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Peterson Cemetery
  • Page Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
  • St. Petri Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
  • Oriska Cemetery
    (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
  • Elm River Cemetery
    (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
  • Sherbrooke Cemetery
    (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
  • St. Bernards Cemetery
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
  • Continue List   (38 more) ...
    • Erie Cemetery
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
    • Dazey Cemetery
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
    • Hillside Cemetery
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hillside Cemetery
      • To give a relative sense of its location, the Hillside Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located outside and to the northeast of Valley City.
      • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #102029 <2>

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

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

  • Colgate
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Colgate is located in Steele County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Colgate
  • Hope
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
  • Ashtabula ‑ Historic
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Ashtabula is located in Barnes County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ashtabula
  • Page
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
  • Pickert
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
    • Pickert is located in Steele County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pickert
  • Sherbrooke
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
    • Sherbrooke is located in Steele County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sherbrooke
  • Ayr
    (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
  • Galesburg
    (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
  • Oriska
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
  • Hannaford
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
  • Dazey
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
  • Tower City
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...
    • Clifford
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Odell ‑ Historic
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Odell is located in Barnes County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Odell
    • Valley City
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)

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

Newspapers Published in Pillsbury ...

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 72 newspapers that have been published in the area around Pillsbury.

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

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we begin with 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 Pillsbury:

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 Pillsbury, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>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 drawn from Point A (ie- Pillsbury) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.