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 West Fargo (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 West Fargo. 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.
Name Variations for West Fargo ...
When searching records, keep in mind that names and their spelling can change over time. Our sources include documents like maps, railroad schedules, Travel, Express and Shipping Guides. Many of these documents date from the 1800's and it's common to find spelling differences.
Although we can't give a definitive list, hopefully the following will give you a feel for the variations that might occur.
For example, a typical abbreviation for West Fargo: W. Fargo
You might be interested in other communities that are also named West Fargo. More information can be found on our Tidbits & Trivia Page for West Fargo.
If you have information about these names (such as the reason for the change, date of change, the origin of the name), please Contact Us.
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 northeast 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 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 east 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.
West Fargo is located in Cass 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 Cass County: Clay (MN), Norman (MN), Barnes, Ransom, Richland, Steele & Traill.
Below are the counties that are near West Fargo. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to West Fargo:
- Cass County (The home county of West Fargo)
- The following are listed by their distance from West Fargo, with the one closest to West Fargo listed first.
- Fargo
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
- Reile's Acres
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
- Reile's Acres is located in Cass County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Reile's Acres
- Population from the 2020 Census: 748 people
- Prairie Rose
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
- Prairie Rose is located in Cass County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prairie Rose
- Population from the 2020 Census: 51 people
- Frontier
(5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
- Frontier is located in Cass County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Frontier
- Population from the 2020 Census: 212 people
- North River
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
- North River is located in Cass County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North River
- Population from the 2020 Census: 54 people
- Harwood
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
- Horace
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
- Briarwood
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
- Briarwood is located in Cass County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Briarwood
- Population from the 2020 Census: 70 people
- Mapleton
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
- Wild Rice
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
- Wild Rice is located in Cass County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wild Rice
- Warren
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
- Warren is located in Cass County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Warren
- Argusville
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
- Argusville is located in Cass County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Argusville
- Population from the 2020 Census: 467 people
- Richland County
- The following are listed by their distance from West Fargo, with the one closest to West Fargo listed first.
- Christine
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
- Walcott
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
- Barrie
(23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
- Barrie is located in Richland County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Barrie
- Colfax
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
- Abercrombie
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
- Traill County
- Grandin
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
- Clay County (MN)
- The following are listed by their distance from West Fargo, with the one closest to West Fargo listed first.
- Oakport
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
- Oakport is located in Clay County (MN)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oakport
- Moorhead
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
- Finkle
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
- Finkle is located in Clay County (MN)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Finkle
- Dilworth
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
- Kragnes
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
- Kragnes is located in Clay County (MN)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kragnes
- Sabin
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
- Sabin is located in Clay County (MN)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sabin
- Population from the 2020 Census: 558 people
- Glyndon
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
- Georgetown
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
- Georgetown is located in Clay County (MN)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Georgetown
- Population from the 2020 Census: 126 people
- Comstock
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
- Comstock is located in Clay County (MN)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Comstock
- Population from the 2020 Census: 108 people
- Baker
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
- Baker is located in Clay County (MN)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Baker
- Muskoda
(23 miles [37 km] to the east)
- Muskoda is located in Clay County (MN)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Muskoda
- Felton
(23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
- Norman County (MN)
- The following are listed by their distance from West Fargo, with the one closest to West Fargo listed first.
- Perley
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
- Perley is located in Norman County (MN)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Perley
- Population from the 2020 Census: 83 people
- Hendrum
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
- Hendrum is located in Norman County (MN)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hendrum
- Population from the 2020 Census: 282 people
- Borup
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
- Borup is located in Norman County (MN)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Borup
- Population from the 2020 Census: 103 people
- Wilkin County (MN)
- Wolverton
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
- Wolverton is located in Wilkin County (MN)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wolverton
- Population from the 2020 Census: 129 people
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to West Fargo, see our County-by-County Page for West Fargo.
Cemeteries Near West Fargo ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of West Fargo.
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 West Fargo - one of the links might be able to help.
If not found below, our Cemetery List for West Fargo covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from West Fargo, with the one closest to West Fargo listed first.
- Riverside Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the east)
- Lower Maple River Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
- Horace Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
- Sunset Memorial Gardens Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
- Evergreen Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
- Prairie Home Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
- St. Joseph Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
- Riverside Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Riverside Cemetery
- To give a relative sense of its location, the Riverside Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located outside and to the northeast of Fargo.
- The Riverside Cemetery has also been known as:
- Moorhead Riverside Cemetery
- Be careful not to confuse this cemetery with another one that is also named Riverside Cemetery (located 68 miles to the north).
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #790540 <2>
- Mapleton Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
- Brink Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brink Cemetery
- The Brink Cemetery has also been known as:
- Horace Lutheran Cemetery
- Salem Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
- Holy Cross Cemetery
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
- Continue List (91 more) ...
- Moorhead Memorial Gardens Cemetery
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
- Fridhem Cemetery
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
- Oak Wood Cemetery
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
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 West Fargo in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of West Fargo.
These communities are listed based on their distance from West Fargo, with the one closest to West Fargo listed first.
- Fargo
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
- Horace
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
- Moorhead
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
- Harwood
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
- Mapleton
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
- Finkle
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
- Finkle is located in Clay County (MN)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Finkle
- Wild Rice
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
- Wild Rice is located in Cass County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wild Rice
- Dilworth
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
- Kragnes
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
- Kragnes is located in Clay County (MN)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kragnes
- Warren
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
- Warren is located in Cass County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Warren
- Durbin
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
- Durbin is located in Cass County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Durbin
- Argusville
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
- Argusville is located in Cass County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Argusville
- Population from the 2020 Census: 467 people
- Continue List (17 more) ...
- Davenport
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
- Sabin
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
- Sabin is located in Clay County (MN)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sabin
- Population from the 2020 Census: 558 people
- Hickson
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
- Hickson is located in Cass County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hickson
We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around West Fargo. See our List of 1890's Communities around West Fargo.
Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of West Fargo ...
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 131 newspapers that have been published in the area around West Fargo.
We have organized these newspapers into two lists:
- A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of West Fargo. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of West Fargo and those printed in the larger area surrounding West Fargo.
- An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<4> of West Fargo.
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 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 West Fargo:
- Websites specific to North Dakota
- Pages specific to Cass County
- Genealogy information for nearby counties
- Richland County
- Traill County
- Clay County
- Norman County
- Wilkin 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> | 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 West Fargo, 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- West Fargo) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |