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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 Avalon (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 Avalon. 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 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.

Avalon is located in Rock 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 Rock County: Boone (IL), Winnebago (IL), Dane, Green, Jefferson & Walworth.

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

  • Rock County     (The home county of Avalon)
  • Dane County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Avalon, with the one closest to Avalon listed first.
    • Edgerton Beach Park
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Albion
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Hanerville
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Rockdale
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
      • Rockdale is located in Dane County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rockdale
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 216 people
    • Dunkirk
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Stoughton
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Stoughton is located in Dane County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stoughton
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 13,218 people
    • Cambridge
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
      • Cambridge is located in Dane County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cambridge
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,538 people
    • Stone
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Brooklyn
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Brooklyn is located in Dane County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brooklyn
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,484 people
    • Deerfield
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
  • Green County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Avalon, with the one closest to Avalon listed first.
    • Brodhead
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
      • Brodhead is located in Green County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brodhead
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,204 people
    • Albany
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
      • Albany is located in Green County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Albany
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 977 people
    • Mineral Point
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
      • Mineral Point is located in Green County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mineral Point
  • Jefferson County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Avalon, with the one closest to Avalon listed first.
    • Carcajou
      (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
    • Cold Spring
      (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
    • Lake Koshkonong
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
      • Lake Koshkonong is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Koshkonong
    • Fort Atkinson
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
    • Hebron
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Hebron is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hebron
    • Palmyra
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Palmyra is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Palmyra
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,746 people
    • Jefferson
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
      • Jefferson is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jefferson
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 8,037 people
    • Lake Ripley
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
    • Rome
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Rome is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rome
    • Helenville
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
    • Sullivan
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Sullivan is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sullivan
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 666 people
    • Johnson Creek
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
    • Lake Mills
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
      • Lake Mills is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Mills
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 6,014 people
  • Kenosha County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Avalon, with the one closest to Avalon listed first.
    • Powers Lake
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
      • Powers Lake is located in Kenosha County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Powers Lake
    • Slades Corners
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
  • Racine County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Avalon, with the one closest to Avalon listed first.
    • Bohners Lake
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
      • Bohners Lake is located in Racine County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bohners Lake
    • Honey Creek
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
    • Burlington
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
      • Burlington is located in Racine County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Burlington
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 10,898 people
  • Walworth County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Avalon, with the one closest to Avalon listed first.
    • Allens Grove
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Darien
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Richmond
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Delavan
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
    • Sharon
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Sharon is located in Walworth County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sharon
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,546 people
    • Delavan Lake
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
      • Delavan Lake is located in Walworth County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Delavan Lake
    • Heart Prairie
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Whitewater
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Walworth
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Walworth is located in Walworth County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Walworth
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,827 people
    • Elkhorn
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
    • Fontana-on-Geneva Lake
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
      • Fontana-on-Geneva Lake is located in Walworth County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fontana-on-Geneva Lake
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,743 people
    • Williams Bay
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
    • Big Foot Prairie
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Waukesha County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Avalon, with the one closest to Avalon listed first.
    • Eagle
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Eagleville
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
  • Boone County (IL)
  • McHenry County (IL)
  • Winnebago County (IL)

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

Cemeteries Near Avalon ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Avalon.

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

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

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

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

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

Newspapers Published in Avalon ...

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 181 newspapers that have been published in the area around Avalon.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Avalon, there are papers which were published within 25 miles [40.2 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Avalon.

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 professional and volunteer 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 Avalon:

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