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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 Rossville (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 Rossville. 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 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.

Rossville is located in Allamakee 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 Allamakee County: Clayton, Fayette, Winneshiek, Houston (MN), Crawford (WI) & Vernon (WI).

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

  • Allamakee County     (The home county of Rossville)
  • Clayton County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Rossville, with the one closest to Rossville listed first.
    • Watson
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Watson. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Watson
      • Watson is located in Clayton County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Watson
      • From Rossville to Watson
    • Monona
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Hardin
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Hardin. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hardin
      • Hardin is located in Clayton County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Hardin
      • From Rossville to Hardin
    • Luana
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Luana have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Luana
      • Luana is located in Clayton County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 276 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Luana <3>
    • Beulah
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Beulah. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beulah
      • Beulah is located in Clayton County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Beulah
      • From Rossville to Beulah
    • Marquette
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Farmersburg
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Farmersburg have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Farmersburg
      • Farmersburg is located in Clayton County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 264 people
    • McGregor
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for McGregor have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for McGregor
      • McGregor is located in Clayton County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 826 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for McGregor <3>
    • Gunder
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Saint Olaf
      (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Saint Olaf have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saint Olaf
      • Saint Olaf is located in Clayton County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 99 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Saint Olaf <3>
    • Clayton Center
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
    • Elkader
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Elkader have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elkader
      • Elkader is located in Clayton County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,201 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Elkader <3>
    • Clayton
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
  • Fayette County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Rossville, with the one closest to Rossville listed first.
    • Clermont
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Clermont have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clermont
      • Clermont is located in Fayette County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 580 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Clermont <3>
    • Elgin
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Brainard
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Illyria
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Douglass
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Wadena
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
    • West Union
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for West Union have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Union
      • West Union is located in Fayette County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,270 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for West Union <3>
    • Saint Lucas
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
  • Winneshiek County
  • Fillmore County (MN)
  • Houston County (MN)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Rossville, with the one closest to Rossville listed first.
    • Eitzen
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
    • Bee
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Bee. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bee
      • Bee is located in Houston County (MN)
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Bee
      • From Rossville to Bee
    • Wilmington
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Wilmington. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wilmington
      • Wilmington is located in Houston County (MN)
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Wilmington
      • From Rossville to Wilmington
    • Reno
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
    • Willington Grove
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
    • Spring Grove
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Spring Grove have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spring Grove
      • Spring Grove is located in Houston County (MN)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,262 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Spring Grove <3>
  • Crawford County (WI)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Rossville, with the one closest to Rossville listed first.
    • Prairie du Chien
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Eastman
      (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Eastman have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eastman
      • Eastman is located in Crawford County (WI)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 404 people
    • De Soto
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
    • Ferryville
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ferryville have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ferryville
      • Ferryville is located in Crawford County (WI)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 173 people
    • Freeman
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Freeman have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Freeman
      • Freeman is located in Crawford County (WI)
    • Bridgeport
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Mount Sterling
      (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mount Sterling have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Sterling
      • Mount Sterling is located in Crawford County (WI)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 196 people
    • Wauzeka
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Wauzeka have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wauzeka
      • Wauzeka is located in Crawford County (WI)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 733 people
    • Steuben
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
    • Rising Sun
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Rising Sun. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rising Sun
      • Rising Sun is located in Crawford County (WI)
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Rising Sun
      • From Rossville to Rising Sun
    • Gays Mills
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Gays Mills have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gays Mills
      • Gays Mills is located in Crawford County (WI)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 504 people
    • Petersburg
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
    • Bell Center
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Bell Center. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bell Center
      • Bell Center is located in Crawford County (WI)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 114 people
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Bell Center
      • From Rossville to Bell Center
  • Grant County (WI)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Rossville, with the one closest to Rossville listed first.
    • Wyalusing
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Bagley
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
    • Millville
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Patch Grove
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Patch Grove have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Patch Grove
      • Patch Grove is located in Grant County (WI)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 192 people
    • Woodman
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Woodman have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodman
      • Woodman is located in Grant County (WI)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 129 people
    • Glen Haven
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Bloomington
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bloomington have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bloomington
      • Bloomington is located in Grant County (WI)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 702 people
    • Mount Hope
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mount Hope have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Hope
      • Mount Hope is located in Grant County (WI)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 216 people
  • Vernon County (WI)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Rossville, with the one closest to Rossville listed first.
    • Retreat
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
    • Genoa
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
    • Fargo
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Fargo. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fargo
      • Fargo is located in Vernon County (WI)
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Fargo
      • From Rossville to Fargo
    • Purdy
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Purdy. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Purdy
      • Purdy is located in Vernon County (WI)
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Purdy
      • From Rossville to Purdy

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

Cemeteries Near Rossville ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Rossville.

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Rossville, with the one closest to Rossville 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.<5>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Rossville had a population of 163 people in 1895 with a post office and no railroad service.

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

  • Volney
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
  • Waterville
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Waterville have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Waterville
    • Waterville is located in Allamakee County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 142 people
  • Elon
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Elon. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elon
    • Elon is located in Allamakee County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Elon
    • From Rossville to Elon
  • Ion
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Ion. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ion
    • Ion is located in Allamakee County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Ion
    • From Rossville to Ion
  • Waukon
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Watson
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Watson. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Watson
    • Watson is located in Clayton County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Watson
    • From Rossville to Watson
  • Hardin
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Hardin. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hardin
    • Hardin is located in Clayton County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Hardin
    • From Rossville to Hardin
  • Luana
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Luana have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Luana
    • Luana is located in Clayton County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 276 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Luana <3>
  • Monona
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
  • Waukon Junction
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
  • Lycurgus
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Lycurgus. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lycurgus
    • Lycurgus is located in Allamakee County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Lycurgus
    • From Rossville to Lycurgus
  • Beulah
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Beulah. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beulah
    • Beulah is located in Clayton County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Beulah
    • From Rossville to Beulah
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...

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

Newspapers Published in Rossville ...

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 146 newspapers that have been published in the area around Rossville.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Rossville, 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 Rossville.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we first turn to 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 Rossville:

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

The official website for Allamakee County: www.co.allamakee.ia.us/

The official website for State of Iowa: https://www.iowa.gov/

Footnotes ...

<1>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.
<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>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 Rossville, 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- Rossville) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Rossville. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 43.1896, Longitude: -91.3760    









 

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This page was last modified/updated: 28 Apr 2025