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A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
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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 Horse Creek (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 Horse Creek. 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 Horse Creek ...

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.

For example, a typical abbreviation for Horse Creek: Horse Crk. (or less commonly used: Horse Ck. or Horse Cr.)

You might be interested in other communities that are also named Horse Creek. More information can be found on our Tidbits & Trivia Page for Horse Creek.

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 doctors 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.

Horse Creek is located in Polk County.

To see how the shape of Wisconsin's counties may have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Polk County: Chisago (MN), Washington (MN), Barron, Burnett, Dunn & Saint Croix.

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

  • Polk County     (The home county of Horse Creek)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Horse Creek, with the one closest to Horse Creek listed first.
    • Dresser
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Osceola
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Deronda
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Saint Croix Falls
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Amery
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
    • Volga ‑ Historic
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Centuria
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
    • Clear Lake
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
    • Balsam Lake
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Balsam Lake is located in Polk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Balsam Lake
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 978 people
    • Bunyan
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
    • Milltown
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
      • Milltown is located in Polk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Milltown
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 875 people
    • Clayton
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
      • Clayton is located in Polk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clayton
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 541 people
  • Barron County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Horse Creek, with the one closest to Horse Creek listed first.
    • Turtle Lake
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
    • Twin Town
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
      • Twin Town is located in Barron County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Twin Town
    • Almena
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Almena is located in Barron County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Almena
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 638 people
    • Prairie Farm
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
      • Prairie Farm is located in Barron County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prairie Farm
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 434 people
  • Dunn County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Horse Creek, with the one closest to Horse Creek listed first.
    • Downing
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Boyceville
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Pierce County
  • Saint Croix County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Horse Creek, with the one closest to Horse Creek listed first.
    • Star Prairie
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Star Prairie is located in Saint Croix County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Star Prairie
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 549 people
    • New Richmond
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Deer Park
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Somerset
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Erin Corner
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Burkhardt
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
    • Roberts
      (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
    • Hammond
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
    • North Hudson
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
      • North Hudson is located in Saint Croix County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Hudson
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,833 people
    • Hudson
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
      • Hudson is located in Saint Croix County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hudson
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 14,168 people
    • Baldwin
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Glenwood City
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
      • Glenwood City is located in Saint Croix County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glenwood City
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,214 people
  • Anoka County (MN)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Horse Creek, with the one closest to Horse Creek listed first.
    • Centerville
      (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
    • City of Columbus
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
      • City of Columbus is located in Anoka County (MN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for City of Columbus
      • Estimated population in 2015: 4,007 people
    • Lino Lakes
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
    • Linwood
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
    • Circle Pines
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
    • Lexington
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
    • Blaine
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
      • Blaine is located in Anoka County (MN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blaine
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 66,697 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Blaine <1>
    • East Bethel
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
    • Ham Lake
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
  • Chisago County (MN)
  • Isanti County (MN)
  • Ramsey County (MN)
  • Washington County (MN)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Horse Creek, with the one closest to Horse Creek listed first.
    • Otisville
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Marine-on-Saint-Croix
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Scandia
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Withrow
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Stillwater
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
      • Stillwater is located in Washington County (MN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stillwater
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 19,694 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Stillwater <1>
    • Forest Lake
      (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
    • Bayport
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
      • Bayport is located in Washington County (MN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bayport
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,789 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Bayport <1>
    • Duluth Junction
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Grant
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
      • Grant is located in Washington County (MN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grant
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 4,107 people
    • Oak Park Heights
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Hugo
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
    • Dellwood
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Dellwood is located in Washington County (MN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dellwood
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,120 people

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

Cemeteries Near Horse Creek ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Horse Creek.

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 Horse Creek - one of the links might be able to help.

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

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

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

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

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

Newspapers Published in Horse Creek ...

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 151 newspapers that have been published in the area around Horse Creek.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Horse Creek, there are papers which were published within 29 miles [46.7 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Horse Creek.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we like to 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 Horse Creek:

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 Horse Creek, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>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- Horse Creek) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.