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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 Wausa (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 Wausa. 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.

Wausa is located in Knox County.

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

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Knox County: Antelope, Boyd, Cedar, Holt, Pierce, Bon Homme (SD), Charles Mix (SD) & Yankton (SD).

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

  • Knox County     (The home county of Wausa)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Wausa, with the one closest to Wausa listed first.
    • Bloomfield
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Crofton
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
    • Center
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
    • Bazile Mills
      (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
      • Bazile Mills is located in Knox County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bazile Mills
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 29 people
    • Creighton
      (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
    • Lindy
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
      • Lindy is located in Knox County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lindy
    • Tewsville ‑ Historic
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Tewsville is located in Knox County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tewsville
    • Winnetoon
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
    • Verdigre
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
    • Santee
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Santee is located in Knox County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Santee
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 338 people
    • Niobrara
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Antelope County
    • Brunswick
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
  • Cedar County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Wausa, with the one closest to Wausa listed first.
    • Magnet
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Randolph
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Constance
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
      • Constance is located in Cedar County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Constance
    • Fordyce
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Hartington
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Belden
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
    • Coleridge
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
    • Bow Valley
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Bow Valley is located in Cedar County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bow Valley
    • Laurel
      (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
    • Aten
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
      • Aten is located in Cedar County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Aten
    • Wynot
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Saint Helena
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
  • Dixon County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Wausa, with the one closest to Wausa listed first.
    • Dixon
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
    • Concord
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
  • Pierce County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Wausa, with the one closest to Wausa listed first.
    • McLean
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Osmond
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Breslau
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Breslau is located in Pierce County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Breslau
    • Foster
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
    • Plainview
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Pierce
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
    • Wee Town
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
      • Wee Town is located in Pierce County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wee Town
    • Hadar
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
  • Wayne County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Wausa, with the one closest to Wausa listed first.
    • Sholes
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Sholes is located in Wayne County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sholes
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 20 people
    • Carroll
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
    • Winside
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Hoskins
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Bon Homme County (SD)
    • Springfield
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Yankton County (SD)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Wausa, with the one closest to Wausa listed first.
    • Fairview Heights
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
      • Fairview Heights is located in Yankton County (SD)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fairview Heights
      • Estimated population in 2014: 77 people
    • Oak Hills Addition
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
      • Oak Hills Addition is located in Yankton County (SD)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oak Hills Addition
      • Estimated population in 2014: 23 people
    • Yankton
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
      • Yankton is located in Yankton County (SD)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Yankton
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 14,651 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Yankton <1>

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

Cemeteries Near Wausa ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Wausa.

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 Wausa - one of the links might be able to help.

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

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

  • Woodlawn Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
  • Thabor Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
  • Magnet Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
  • Oliver Grove Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
  • Immanuel Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
  • St. Marys Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
  • Bloomfield Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Eden Valley Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
  • Osmond Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
  • Rose Hill Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
  • Randolph Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Randolph Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Randolph Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located outside and to the northeast of Randolph.
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #156074 <2>
  • St. Frances Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Continue List   (63 more) ...
    • Kemma Cemetery
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
    • Plainview Cemetery
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Zion Cemetery
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)

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>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that in 1895, Wausa had a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Wausa had a population of 557 people.

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

  • Magnet
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
  • Bloomfield
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
  • Osmond
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
  • Randolph
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Constance
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
    • Constance is located in Cedar County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Constance
  • Plainview
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Foster
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
  • Hartington
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Belden
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
  • Coleridge
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
  • Bazile Mills
    (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
    • Bazile Mills is located in Knox County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bazile Mills
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 29 people
  • Creighton
    (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
  • Continue List   (16 more) ...
    • Pierce
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
    • Bow Valley
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Bow Valley is located in Cedar County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bow Valley
    • Menominee
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
      • Menominee is located in Cedar County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Menominee

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Wausa ...

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 68 newspapers that have been published in the area around Wausa.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Wausa. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Wausa and those printed in the larger area surrounding Wausa.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<4> of Wausa.

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 websites either 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 Wausa:

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 Wausa, 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 obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Wausa) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.