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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 Bluffton (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 Bluffton. 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 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.

Bluffton is located in Winneshiek County.

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

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Winneshiek County: Allamakee, Chickasaw, Clayton, Fayette, Howard, Fillmore (MN) & Houston (MN).

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

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

Cemeteries Near Bluffton ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Bluffton.

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

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

  • Bluffton Village Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Bluffton Village Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Bluffton Village Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Bluffton Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Bluffton Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Bluffton Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • St. Bridgets Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Bridgets Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Bridgets Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Baethke Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Baethke Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Baethke Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Burr Oak Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Burr Oak Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Burr Oak Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • St. Agnes Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Agnes Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Agnes Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Metcalf Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Metcalf Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Metcalf Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Gaul Timber Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Gaul Timber Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Gaul Timber Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Ferkindstad Farm Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Ferkindstad Farm Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Ferkindstad Farm Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • First Orleans Lutheran Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the First Orleans Lutheran Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the First Orleans Lutheran Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Orleans Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Orleans Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Orleans Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Barnes Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Barnes Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Barnes Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (315 more) ...
    • Elliota Cemetery
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Madison Cemetery
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Madison Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Madison Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • East Madison Cemetery
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the East Madison Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the East Madison 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>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Bluffton had a population of 108 people in 1895 with a post office and no railroad service.

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

  • Burr Oak
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
  • Kendallville
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
  • Prosper
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Prosper have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prosper
    • Prosper is located in Fillmore County (MN)
  • Ridgeway
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
  • Springwater
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Springwater have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Springwater
    • Springwater is located in Winneshiek County
  • Canton
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Canton have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Canton
    • Canton is located in Fillmore County (MN)
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 342 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Canton <1>
  • Decorah
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
  • Locust
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Locust have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Locust
    • Locust is located in Winneshiek County
  • Hesper
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
  • Cresco
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
  • Freeport
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Freeport have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Freeport
    • Freeport is located in Winneshiek County
  • Mabel
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...
    • Harmony
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Lenora
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lenora have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lenora
      • Lenora is located in Fillmore County (MN)
    • Conover
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Conover have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Conover
      • Conover is located in Winneshiek County

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

Newspapers Published in Bluffton ...

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 123 newspapers that have been published in the area around Bluffton.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Bluffton, there are papers which were published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<6>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Bluffton.

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 Bluffton:

Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Bluffton. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.

The official website for State of Iowa: https://www.iowa.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>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>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.
<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 Bluffton, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<6>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- Bluffton) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Bluffton. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 43.4030, Longitude: -91.9118    









 

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This page was last modified/updated: 13 Jul 2025