RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Wisconsin >> Burnett County >> Alpha >> Genealogy HelperIndex...

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 Alpha (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 Alpha. 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 southwest 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 south.

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 south 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.

Alpha is located in Burnett 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 Burnett County: Chisago (MN), Pine (MN), Barron, Douglas, Polk & Washburn.

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

  • Burnett County     (The home county of Alpha)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Alpha, with the one closest to Alpha listed first.
    • Grantsburg
      (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Siren
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Webster
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Webster is located in Burnett County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Webster
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 620 people
    • Randall
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
      • Randall is located in Burnett County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Randall
    • Hertel
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
    • Bashaw
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
    • Webb Lake
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
  • Polk County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Alpha, with the one closest to Alpha listed first.
    • Atlas
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Frederic
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Frederic is located in Polk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Frederic
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,080 people
    • Clam Falls
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
    • Luck
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
      • Luck is located in Polk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Luck
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,051 people
    • Milltown
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
      • Milltown is located in Polk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Milltown
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 875 people
    • Balsam Lake
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
      • Balsam Lake is located in Polk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Balsam Lake
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 978 people
    • Centuria
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
    • Bunyan
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Saint Croix Falls
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
    • Dresser
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
    • Volga ‑ Historic
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
  • Chisago County (MN)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Alpha, with the one closest to Alpha listed first.
    • Rush City
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
    • Almelund
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Harris
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
      • Harris is located in Chisago County (MN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harris
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,189 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Harris <1>
    • Taylors Falls
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
    • North Branch
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Shafer
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
      • Shafer is located in Chisago County (MN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shafer
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,144 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Shafer <1>
    • Branch
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Branch is located in Chisago County (MN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Branch
    • Franconia
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
    • Center City
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Lindstrom
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Isanti County (MN)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Alpha, with the one closest to Alpha listed first.
    • Braham
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
      • Braham is located in Isanti County (MN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Braham
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,850 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Braham <1>
    • Stanchfield
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
  • Kanabec County (MN)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Alpha, with the one closest to Alpha listed first.
    • Grasston
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
    • Quamba
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
      • Quamba is located in Kanabec County (MN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Quamba
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 127 people
  • Pine County (MN)

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

Cemeteries Near Alpha ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Alpha.

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

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Alpha, with the one closest to Alpha 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.<4>

While we didn't find Alpha in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Alpha.

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

  • Trade Lake
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Trade Lake is located in Burnett County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Trade Lake
  • Grantsburg
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
  • Randall
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Randall is located in Burnett County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Randall
  • Cushing
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
    • Cushing is located in Polk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cushing
  • West Denmark
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
    • West Denmark is located in Polk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Denmark
  • Clam Falls
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
  • Rock Creek
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
  • Wolf Creek
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Wolf Creek is located in Polk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wolf Creek
  • Rush City
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
  • Pine City
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
  • Sunrise
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Sunrise is located in Chisago County (MN)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunrise
  • Almelund
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
  • Continue List   (13 more) ...
    • Balsam Lake
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
      • Balsam Lake is located in Polk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Balsam Lake
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 978 people
    • Bunyan
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Mission Creek
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Mission Creek is located in Pine County (MN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mission Creek

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

Newspapers Published in Alpha ...

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 64 newspapers that have been published in the area around Alpha.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Alpha, there are papers which were published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<2>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Alpha.

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 Alpha:

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>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a '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- Alpha) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>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.
<4>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 Alpha, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.