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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 Wilson Ranch (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 Wilson Ranch. 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 Wilson Ranch ...

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 Wilson Ranch: Wilson Rnch.

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 northwest corner of their home county. During their lives, most doctors and hospitals were in the next county to the west. 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 west 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.

Wilson Ranch is located in Holt 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 Holt County: Antelope, Boyd, Knox, Loup, Rock & Wheeler.

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

  • Holt County     (The home county of Wilson Ranch)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Wilson Ranch, with the one closest to Wilson Ranch listed first.
    • Cleveland ‑ Historic
      (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
      • Cleveland is located in Holt County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cleveland
    • Stuart
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Dustin
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
      • Dustin is located in Holt County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dustin
    • Atkinson
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Emmet
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Paddock
      (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
      • Paddock is located in Holt County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Paddock
    • O'Neill
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
      • O'Neill is located in Holt County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for O'Neill
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,537 people
      • O'Neill has also been known as:
      • O'Neill City
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for O'Neill <1>
    • Inez ‑ Historic
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
      • Inez is located in Holt County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Inez
  • Boyd County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Wilson Ranch, with the one closest to Wilson Ranch listed first.
    • Naper
      (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
    • Butte
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Anoka
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Anoka is located in Boyd County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Anoka
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 6 people
    • Spencer
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Bristow
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Gross
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Gross is located in Boyd County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gross
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2 people
  • Brown County
    • Winfield ‑ Historic
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
      • Winfield is located in Brown County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Winfield
  • Keya Paha County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Wilson Ranch, with the one closest to Wilson Ranch listed first.
    • Carns ‑ Historic
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
      • Carns is located in Keya Paha County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carns
    • Mills
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Burton
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Burton is located in Keya Paha County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Burton
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 9 people
  • Rock County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Wilson Ranch, with the one closest to Wilson Ranch listed first.
    • Mariaville ‑ Historic
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Mariaville is located in Rock County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mariaville
    • Newport
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Bassett
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
  • Gregory County (SD)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Wilson Ranch, with the one closest to Wilson Ranch listed first.
    • Fairfax
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
      • Fairfax is located in Gregory County (SD)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fairfax
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 117 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Fairfax <1>
    • Bonesteel
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
    • Saint Charles
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
    • Herrick
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
      • Herrick is located in Gregory County (SD)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Herrick
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 103 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Herrick <1>

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

Cemeteries Near Wilson Ranch ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Wilson Ranch.

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 Wilson Ranch - one of the links might be able to help.

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Wilson Ranch, with the one closest to Wilson Ranch 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 Wilson Ranch in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Wilson Ranch.

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

  • Stuart
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Dustin
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Dustin is located in Holt County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dustin
  • Catalpa ‑ Historic
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Catalpa is located in Holt County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Catalpa
  • Atkinson
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Newport
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
  • Mariaville ‑ Historic
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Mariaville is located in Rock County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mariaville
  • Butte
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
  • Emmet
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
  • Carns ‑ Historic
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
    • Carns is located in Keya Paha County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carns
  • Spencer
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
  • Paddock
    (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
    • Paddock is located in Holt County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Paddock
  • Bassett
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
  • Continue List   (4 more) ...
    • Mills
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Bristow
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
    • O'Neill
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
      • O'Neill is located in Holt County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for O'Neill
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,537 people
      • O'Neill has also been known as:
      • O'Neill City
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for O'Neill <1>

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

Newspapers Published in Wilson Ranch ...

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 74 newspapers that have been published in the area around Wilson Ranch.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Wilson Ranch, there are papers which were published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Wilson Ranch.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we 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 Wilson Ranch:

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