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 Powell (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 Powell. 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 southwest corner of their home county. During their lives, most hospitals and doctors were in the next county to the west. 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 west 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.
Powell is located in Grand Forks 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 Grand Forks County: Polk (MN), Nelson, Steele, Traill & Walsh.
Below are the counties that are near Powell. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Powell:
- Grand Forks County (The home county of Powell)
- The following are listed by their distance from Powell, with the one closest to Powell listed first.
- Grand Forks
(5 miles [8 km] to the east)
- Kelly
(5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
- Kelly is located in Grand Forks County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kelly
- Emerado
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
- Manvel
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
- Thompson
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
- Mekinock
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
- Arvilla
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
- Holmes
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
- Holmes is located in Grand Forks County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holmes
- Gilby
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
- Reynolds
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
- Johnstown
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
- Johnstown is located in Grand Forks County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Johnstown
- Larimore
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
- Kempton
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
- Kempton is located in Grand Forks County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kempton
- Traill County
- The following are listed by their distance from Powell, with the one closest to Powell listed first.
- Buxton
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
- Hatton
(23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
- Cummings
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
- Mayville
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
- Portland
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
- Walsh County
- The following are listed by their distance from Powell, with the one closest to Powell listed first.
- Ardoch
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
- Forest River
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
- Warsaw
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
- Warsaw is located in Walsh County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Warsaw
- Minto
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
- Marshall County (MN)
- The following are listed by their distance from Powell, with the one closest to Powell listed first.
- Oslo
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
- Oslo is located in Marshall County (MN)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oslo
- Population from the 2020 Census: 323 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Oslo <1>
- Alvarado
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
- Alvarado is located in Marshall County (MN)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alvarado
- Population from the 2020 Census: 362 people
- Warren
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
- Big Woods
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
- Big Woods is located in Marshall County (MN)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Big Woods
- Polk County (MN)
- The following are listed by their distance from Powell, with the one closest to Powell listed first.
- East Grand Forks
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
- Mallory
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
- Mallory is located in Polk County (MN)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mallory
- Fisher
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
- Fisher is located in Polk County (MN)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fisher
- Population from the 2020 Census: 410 people
- Euclid
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
- Euclid is located in Polk County (MN)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Euclid
- Shirley
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
- Shirley is located in Polk County (MN)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shirley
- Climax
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
- Climax is located in Polk County (MN)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Climax
- Population from the 2020 Census: 261 people
- Crookston
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Powell, see our County-by-County Page for Powell.
Cemeteries Near Powell ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Powell.
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 Powell - one of the links might be able to help.
If not found below, our Cemetery List for Powell covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Powell, with the one closest to Powell listed first.
- Memorial Park
(5 miles [8 km] to the east)
- Calvary Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the east)
- Sunset Memorial Gardens
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
- Emerado Cemetery
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
- Thompson Cemetery
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
- South Bethany Cemetery
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
- Bethany Cemetery
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
- St. James Cemetery
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
- St. James Cemetery
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
- St. Timothy Cemetery
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
- Walle Lutheran Church Cemetery
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
- Resthaven Memorial Gardens
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
- Continue List (85 more) ...
- East Walle Evangelical Lutheran Cemetery
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
- EUB Cemetery
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
- Bygland Cemetery
(13 miles [20.9 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.<2>
While we didn't find Powell in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Powell.
These communities are listed based on their distance from Powell, with the one closest to Powell listed first.
- Ojata ‑ Historic
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
- Ojata is located in Grand Forks County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ojata
- Grand Forks
(5 miles [8 km] to the east)
- Kelly
(5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
- Kelly is located in Grand Forks County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kelly
- Merrifield
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
- Merrifield is located in Grand Forks County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Merrifield
- East Grand Forks
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
- Thompson
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
- Manvel
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
- Mekinock
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
- Mallory
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
- Mallory is located in Polk County (MN)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mallory
- Arvilla
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
- Holmes
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
- Holmes is located in Grand Forks County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holmes
- Reynolds
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
- Continue List (14 more) ...
- Gilby
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
- Tabor
(18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
- Tabor is located in Polk County (MN)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tabor
- Fisher
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
- Fisher is located in Polk County (MN)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fisher
- Population from the 2020 Census: 410 people
We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Powell. See our List of 1890's Communities around Powell.
Newspapers Published in Powell ...
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 38 newspapers that have been published in the area around Powell.
Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Powell, there are papers which were published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Powell.
Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...
When we do our genealogical research, we 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 Powell:
- Websites specific to North Dakota
- Pages specific to Grand Forks County
- Genealogy information for nearby counties
- Traill County
- Walsh County
- Marshall County
- Polk 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> | 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 Powell, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <3> | 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 from Point A (ie- Powell) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |