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A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
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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 Aurora (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 Aurora. 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.

Aurora is located in Washington 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 Washington County: Dodge, Fond du Lac, Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Sheboygan & Waukesha.

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

  • Washington County     (The home county of Aurora)
  • Dodge County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Aurora, with the one closest to Aurora listed first.
    • Huilsburg
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Theresa
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Rubicon
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Iron Ridge
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Neda
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Woodland
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Lomira
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Neosho
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Mayville
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
      • Mayville is located in Dodge County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mayville
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 4,829 people
    • Kekoskee
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Kekoskee is located in Dodge County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kekoskee
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 891 people
    • Knowles
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Brownsville
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Brownsville is located in Dodge County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brownsville
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 585 people
  • Fond du Lac County
  • Jefferson County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Aurora, with the one closest to Aurora listed first.
    • Lac La Belle
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Lac La Belle is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lac La Belle
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 302 people
    • Lake Lac La Belle
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
      • Lake Lac La Belle is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Lac La Belle
    • Ixonia
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
      • Ixonia is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ixonia
    • Watertown
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Concord
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Concord is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Concord
    • Farmington
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Milwaukee County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Aurora, with the one closest to Aurora listed first.
    • Brown Deer
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
      • Brown Deer is located in Milwaukee County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brown Deer
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 12,191 people
    • West Granville
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
    • River Hills
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
      • River Hills is located in Milwaukee County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for River Hills
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,575 people
    • Bayside
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Bayside is located in Milwaukee County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bayside
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 4,326 people
    • Fox Point
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Fox Point is located in Milwaukee County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fox Point
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 6,628 people
    • Glendale
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Glendale is located in Milwaukee County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glendale
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 12,775 people
    • Wauwatosa
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Whitefish Bay
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Ozaukee County
  • Sheboygan County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Aurora, with the one closest to Aurora listed first.
    • Random Lake
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Cascade
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Adell
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Adell is located in Sheboygan County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Adell
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 508 people
    • Waldo
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Cedar Grove
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Cedar Grove is located in Sheboygan County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Grove
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,115 people
    • Plymouth
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Glenbeulah
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Glenbeulah is located in Sheboygan County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glenbeulah
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 467 people
    • Oostburg
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Ourtown
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Waukesha County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Aurora, with the one closest to Aurora listed first.
    • Merton
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
      • Merton is located in Waukesha County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Merton
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,812 people
    • Menomonee Falls
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Lannon
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
      • Lannon is located in Waukesha County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lannon
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,284 people
    • Stonebank
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
    • Sussex
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
    • Monterey
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Chenequa
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
      • Chenequa is located in Waukesha County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chenequa
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 606 people
    • Hartland
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
      • Hartland is located in Waukesha County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hartland
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 9,338 people
    • Okauchee Lake
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
      • Okauchee Lake is located in Waukesha County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Okauchee Lake
    • Okauchee
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
    • Fussville
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Fussville is located in Waukesha County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fussville
    • Nashotah
      (23 miles [37 km] to the south)

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

Cemeteries Near Aurora ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Aurora.

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

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Aurora, with the one closest to Aurora 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>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Aurora had a population of 68 people in 1895 with a post office and no railroad service.

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

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

Newspapers Published in Aurora ...

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 87 newspapers that have been published in the area around Aurora.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Aurora, there are papers which were published within 22 miles [35.4 km]<2>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Aurora.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we begin 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 Aurora:

Footnotes ...

<1>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.
<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- Aurora) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Aurora, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.