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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 Watford City (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 Watford City. 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 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.

Watford City is located in McKenzie 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 McKenzie County: Richland (MT), Wibaux (MT), Billings, Dunn, Golden Valley, Mountrail & Williams.

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

  • McKenzie County     (The home county of Watford City)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Watford City, with the one closest to Watford City listed first.
    • Schafer
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Schafer. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Schafer
      • Schafer is located in McKenzie County
    • Arnegard
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Arnegard have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Arnegard
      • Arnegard is located in McKenzie County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 179 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Arnegard <3>
    • Rawson
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rawson have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rawson
      • Rawson is located in McKenzie County
    • Banks ‑ Historic
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Banks. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Banks
      • Banks is located in McKenzie County
    • Keene
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Alexander
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
    • Charbonneau
      (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Charbonneau
      • Charbonneau is located in McKenzie County
    • Mandaree
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mandaree have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mandaree
      • Mandaree is located in McKenzie County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Mandaree <3>
    • Grassy Butte
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
    • Cartwright
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
  • Williams County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Watford City, with the one closest to Watford City listed first.
    • Lake Jessie
      (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Jessie
      • Lake Jessie is located in Williams County
    • Williston
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)

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

Cemeteries Near Watford City ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Watford City.

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

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

  • Schafer Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
  • Tepee Buttes Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Tepee Buttes Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Tepee Buttes Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Salem Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Salem Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Salem Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Wilmington Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Wilmington Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Wilmington Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Zoar Lutheran Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
  • Trinity Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Trinity Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Trinity Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Rawson Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Rawson Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Rawson Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Spring Grove Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Spring Grove Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Spring Grove Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Johnsons Corner Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Johnsons Corner Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Johnsons Corner Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Red Wing Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Red Wing Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Red Wing Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Clear Creek Lutheran Church Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Clear Creek Lutheran Church Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Clear Creek Lutheran Church Cemetery is located outside and to the southwest of Keene.
    • The Clear Creek Lutheran Church Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Clear Creek Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2201205 <4>
  • Alexander Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Alexander Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Alexander Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (19 more) ...
    • Union Cemetery
      (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Union Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Union Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Silent City Cemetery
      (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Silent City Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Silent City Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Garden Valley Cemetery
      (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Garden Valley Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Garden Valley Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.

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.<5>

While we didn't find Watford City in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Watford City.

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

  • Avoca
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Avoca have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Avoca
    • Avoca is located in Williams County
  • Oakdale
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Oakdale have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oakdale
    • Oakdale is located in Dunn County
  • Williston
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Watford City ...

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 34 newspapers that have been published in the area around Watford City.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Watford City. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Watford City and those printed in the larger area surrounding Watford City.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 29 miles [46.7 km]<6> of Watford City.

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 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 Watford City:

Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Watford City. 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>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.
<2>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.
<3>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<4>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.
<5>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 Watford City, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<6>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- Watford City) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Watford City. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 47.8022, Longitude: -103.2719       In this case, the coordinates for Watford City have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 28 Apr 2025