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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 Avon (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 Avon. 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 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.

Avon 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 Avon. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Avon:

  • Rock County     (The home county of Avon)
  • Dane County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Avon, with the one closest to Avon listed first.
    • Brooklyn
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
      • Brooklyn is located in Dane County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brooklyn
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,484 people
    • Stone
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
    • Dunkirk
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
    • Hanerville
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
    • Belleville
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Oregon
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
      • Oregon is located in Dane County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oregon
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 10,731 people
    • Stoughton
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
      • Stoughton is located in Dane County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stoughton
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 13,218 people
    • Albion
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Basco
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
    • Edgerton Beach Park
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Oak Hall
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
    • Paoli
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
  • Green County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Avon, with the one closest to Avon listed first.
    • Brodhead
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
      • Brodhead is located in Green County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brodhead
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,204 people
    • Twin Grove
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Albany
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Albany is located in Green County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Albany
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 977 people
    • Mineral Point
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
      • Mineral Point is located in Green County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mineral Point
    • Monroe
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
      • Monroe is located in Green County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Monroe
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 10,426 people
    • Attica
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Monticello
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Dayton
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Cadiz
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
    • Browntown
      (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
    • New Glarus
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
  • Jefferson County
  • Lafayette County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Avon, with the one closest to Avon listed first.
    • South Wayne
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
      • South Wayne is located in Lafayette County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Wayne
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 472 people
    • Woodford
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
    • Argyle
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
      • Argyle is located in Lafayette County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Argyle
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 809 people
  • Walworth County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Avon, with the one closest to Avon listed first.
    • Allens Grove
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
    • Sharon
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
      • Sharon is located in Walworth County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sharon
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,546 people
  • Boone County (IL)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Avon, with the one closest to Avon listed first.
    • Caledonia
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Timberlane
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Timberlane is located in Boone County (IL)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Timberlane
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 934 people
    • Poplar Grove
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
  • Ogle County (IL)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Avon, with the one closest to Avon listed first.
    • Egan
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
    • Baileyville
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Adeline
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
      • Adeline is located in Ogle County (IL)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Adeline
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 81 people
    • Byron
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
    • Leaf River
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
  • Stephenson County (IL)
  • Winnebago County (IL)

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

Cemeteries Near Avon ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Avon.

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

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Avon, with the one closest to Avon 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 Avon had a population of 67 people in 1895 with a post office and no railroad service.

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

  • Brodhead
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Brodhead is located in Green County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brodhead
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,204 people
  • Newark
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
  • Oakley
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Oakley is located in Green County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oakley
  • Durand
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
  • Orfordville
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Davis
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Davis is located in Stephenson County (IL)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Davis
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 616 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Davis <1>
  • Shirland
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
  • Juda
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Juda is located in Green County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Juda
  • Rock Grove
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
  • Harrison
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Harrison is located in Winnebago County (IL)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harrison
  • Hanover
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
  • Footville
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
  • Continue List   (19 more) ...
    • Twin Grove
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Rock City
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Albany
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Albany is located in Green County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Albany
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 977 people

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

Newspapers Published in Avon ...

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 93 newspapers that have been published in the area around Avon.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Avon, there are papers which were published within 26 miles [41.8 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Avon.

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 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 Avon:

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