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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 Stanley (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 Stanley. 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 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.

Stanley is located in Mountrail 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 Mountrail County: Burke, Dunn, McKenzie, McLean, Ward & Williams.

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

  • Mountrail County     (The home county of Stanley)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Stanley, with the one closest to Stanley listed first.
    • Palermo
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Ross
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ross
      • Ross is located in Mountrail County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 116 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Ross <1>
    • Belden
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Belden
      • Belden is located in Mountrail County
    • Blaisdell
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
    • White Earth
      (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
    • Coulee
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coulee
      • Coulee is located in Mountrail County
    • New Town
      (23 miles [37 km] to the south)
    • Sanish
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sanish
      • Sanish is located in Mountrail County
    • Van Hook
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Van Hook. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Van Hook
      • Van Hook is located in Mountrail County
    • Parshall
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Plaza
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Plaza have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plaza
      • Plaza is located in Mountrail County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 211 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Plaza <1>
  • Burke County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Stanley, with the one closest to Stanley listed first.
    • Powers Lake
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Battleview
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Battleview
      • Battleview is located in Burke County
  • McKenzie County
    • Four Bears Village
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Four Bears Village
      • Four Bears Village is located in McKenzie County
  • Ward County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Stanley, with the one closest to Stanley listed first.
    • Donnybrook
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Niobe
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Niobe
      • Niobe is located in Ward County
    • Kenmare
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Kenmare have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kenmare
      • Kenmare is located in Ward County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,026 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Kenmare <1>
    • Berthold
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
  • Williams County
    • Tioga
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tioga
      • Tioga is located in Williams County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,391 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Tioga <1>

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Stanley ...

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 30 newspapers that have been published in the area around Stanley.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Stanley. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Stanley and those printed in the larger area surrounding Stanley.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<4> of Stanley.

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 Stanley:

Cemeteries Near Stanley ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Stanley.

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

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

  • Fairview Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
  • Moslem Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Moslem Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Moslem Cemetery
  • Rosehill Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Rosehill Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Rosehill Cemetery
  • Manitou Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
  • Bethany Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Bethany Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Bethany Cemetery
  • Lunds Valley Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Lunds Valley Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Lunds Valley Cemetery
  • Epworth Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
  • White Earth Cemetery
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the White Earth Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the White Earth Cemetery
  • Johns Cemetery
    (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
  • Finstad Cemetery
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
  • Kristiansand Cemetery
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Kristiansand Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Kristiansand Cemetery
  • Bethel Cemetery
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Bethel Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Bethel Cemetery
  • Continue List   (42 more) ...
    • Bethel Cemetery
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Bethel Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Bethel Cemetery
    • St. James Cemetery
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. James Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. James Cemetery
    • Vanville Cemetery
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Vanville Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Vanville 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.<6>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that in 1895, Stanley had railroad service and no post office. In 2020, Stanley had a population of 2,708 people.

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

  • Ross
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ross
    • Ross is located in Mountrail County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 116 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Ross <1>
  • Manitou
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Manitou have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Manitou
    • Manitou is located in Mountrail County
  • White Earth
    (18 miles [29 km] to the west)

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

The official website for Stanley: www.stanleynd.com/

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>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.
<3>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.
<4>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Stanley) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Stanley. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 48.3127, Longitude: -102.3890    
<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 Stanley, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024