RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Wisconsin >> Dodge County >> Atwater >> 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 Atwater (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 Atwater. 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 and 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.

Atwater is located in Dodge 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 Dodge County: Columbia, Dane, Fond du Lac, Green Lake, Jefferson, Washington & Waukesha.

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

  • Dodge County     (The home county of Atwater)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Atwater, with the one closest to Atwater listed first.
    • Burnett
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Waupun
      (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Minnesota Junction
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Kekoskee
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
      • Kekoskee is located in Dodge County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kekoskee
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 891 people
    • Beaver Dam
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Fox Lake
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
      • Fox Lake is located in Dodge County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fox Lake
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,440 people
    • Horicon
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Horicon is located in Dodge County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Horicon
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,680 people
    • Juneau
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
    • Mayville
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Mayville is located in Dodge County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mayville
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 4,829 people
    • Knowles
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
    • Brownsville
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
      • Brownsville is located in Dodge County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brownsville
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 585 people
    • Neda
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Randolph
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
      • Randolph is located in Dodge County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Randolph
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,738 people
  • Columbia County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Atwater, with the one closest to Atwater listed first.
    • Friesland
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
      • Friesland is located in Columbia County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Friesland
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 341 people
    • Cambria
      (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
    • Englewood
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Fall River
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Columbus
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Doylestown
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Otsego
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Rio
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
      • Rio is located in Columbia County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rio
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,047 people
    • Pardeeville
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
      • Pardeeville is located in Columbia County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pardeeville
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,053 people
    • Wyocena
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
  • Dane County
  • Fond du Lac County
  • Green Lake County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Atwater, with the one closest to Atwater listed first.
    • Utley
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Markesan
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Markesan is located in Green Lake County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Markesan
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,389 people
    • Kingston
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Green Lake
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Green Lake is located in Green Lake County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Lake
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 959 people
    • Marquette
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
      • Marquette is located in Green Lake County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marquette
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 154 people
    • Princeton
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Berlin
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
  • Jefferson County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Atwater, with the one closest to Atwater listed first.
    • Watertown
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
    • Grellton
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
    • Ixonia
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
      • Ixonia is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ixonia
    • Waterloo
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Lac La Belle
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
      • Lac La Belle is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lac La Belle
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 302 people
  • Washington County
  • Waukesha County
  • Winnebago County

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

Cemeteries Near Atwater ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Atwater.

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

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Atwater, with the one closest to Atwater 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.<1>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that in 1895, Atwater had a post office and railroad service.

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

  • Burnett
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
  • Rolling Prairie
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Rolling Prairie is located in Dodge County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rolling Prairie
  • Minnesota Junction
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
  • Fox Lake Junction
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Fox Lake Junction is located in Dodge County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fox Lake Junction
  • Beaver Dam
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
  • Alto
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Alto is located in Fond du Lac County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alto
  • Kekoskee
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Kekoskee is located in Dodge County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kekoskee
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 891 people
  • LeRoy
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • LeRoy is located in Dodge County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for LeRoy
  • Fox Lake
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Fox Lake is located in Dodge County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fox Lake
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,440 people
  • Horicon
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Horicon is located in Dodge County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Horicon
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,680 people
  • Oak Center
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Oak Center is located in Fond du Lac County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oak Center
  • Juneau
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...
    • Mayville
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Mayville is located in Dodge County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mayville
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 4,829 people
    • Knowles
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
    • Ladoga
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)

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

Newspapers Published in Atwater ...

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 80 newspapers that have been published in the area around Atwater.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Atwater, there are papers which were published within 27 miles [43.5 km]<2>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Atwater.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we first visit the websites from Cyndi's List, FamilySearch and Genealogy Trails. These 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 Atwater:

Footnotes ...

<1>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 Atwater, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<2>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Atwater) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.