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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 Baileys Harbor (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 Baileys Harbor. 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.

Name Variations for Baileys Harbor ...

When searching records, keep in mind that names and their spelling can change over time. Our sources include documents like maps, railroad schedules, Travel, Express and Shipping Guides. Many of these documents date from the 1800's and it's common to find spelling differences.

Although we can't give a definitive list, hopefully the following will give you a feel for the variations that might have occurred.

  • A typical abbreviation for Baileys Harbor: Baileys Hbr. (or less commonly used: Baileys Harb. or Baileys Hrbr.)
  • While the name of this community is Baileys Harbor, be aware that it's the common practice of mapmakers to remove the apostrophe from possessive names<1>. So Baileys Harbor may originally have been Bailey's Harbor.

    Sometimes the trailing 's' might be dropped altogether, in which case Baileys Harbor might be written as Bailey Harbor.

If you have information about these names (such as the reason for the change, date of change, the origin of the name), please Contact Us.

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 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.

Baileys Harbor is located in Door County.

To see how the shape of Wisconsin's counties have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.

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

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

Cemeteries Near Baileys Harbor ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Baileys Harbor.

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.

If you need information about a burial or interment, photos, transcripts, how to contact the cemetery or local authorities, please visit our selection of Genealogy Websites (see below).

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Baileys Harbor, with the one closest to Baileys Harbor listed first.

  • Baileys Harbor Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Baileys Harbor Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Baileys Harbor Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jacksonport Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Jacksonport Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Jacksonport Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Holy Nativity Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Holy Nativity Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Holy Nativity Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Lutheran Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Lutheran Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Lutheran Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Juddville Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Juddville Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Juddville Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Egg Harbor Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Egg Harbor Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Egg Harbor Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Zion Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Zion Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Zion Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Blossomburg Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Blossomburg Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Blossomburg Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • St. Johns Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Johns Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Johns Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • St. Rosalias Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
  • Little Sister Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Little Sister Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Little Sister Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Rowleys Bay Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Rowleys Bay Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Rowleys Bay Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (33 more) ...
    • Whitefish Bay Cemetery
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Whitefish Bay Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Whitefish Bay Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Liberty Grove Cemetery
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Liberty Grove Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Liberty Grove Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Ellison Bay Cemetery
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Ellison Bay Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Ellison Bay Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.

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.<6>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Baileys Harbor had a population of 216 people in 1895 with a post office and no railroad service.

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

  • Jacksonport
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Ephraim
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ephraim have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ephraim
    • Ephraim is located in Door County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 283 people
  • Fish Creek
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Sister Bay
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
  • Egg Harbor
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Egg Harbor have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Egg Harbor
    • Egg Harbor is located in Door County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 202 people
  • Rowleys Bay
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
  • Ellison Bay
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
  • Sturgeon Bay
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
  • Arthur Bay
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
  • Salona
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Salona have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Salona
    • Salona is located in Door County
  • Menominee
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
  • Marinette
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
  • Continue List   (9 more) ...
    • Birch Creek
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Birch Creek have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Birch Creek
      • Birch Creek is located in Menominee County (MI)
    • Little Sturgeon
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Vignes
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Vignes have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vignes
      • Vignes is located in Door County

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

Newspapers Published in Baileys Harbor ...

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 51 newspapers that have been published in the area around Baileys Harbor.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Baileys Harbor, there are papers which were published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<7>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Baileys Harbor.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we like to start 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 Baileys Harbor:

Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Baileys Harbor. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.

The official website for Door County: www.co.door.wi.gov/

The official website for State of Wisconsin: https://www.wisconsin.gov/

Footnotes ...

<1>It's generally believed that possessive apostrophes are removed to prevent confusion on maps where the apostrophe may be confused with a cartographic symbol. While this is generally true, it's not uncommon to find possessive apostrophes in administrative names (such as towns or counties).
<2>The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required.
<3>An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace.
<4>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<5>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.
<6>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 Baileys Harbor, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<7>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- Baileys Harbor) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Baileys Harbor. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 45.0657, Longitude: -87.1259    









 

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This page was last modified/updated: 29 Apr 2025