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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 Brandon (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 Brandon. 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 doctors and hospitals 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.

Brandon is located in Fond du Lac 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 Fond du Lac County: Calumet, Dodge, Green Lake, Sheboygan, Washington & Winnebago.

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

  • Fond du Lac County     (The home county of Brandon)
  • Calumet County
  • Columbia County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Brandon, with the one closest to Brandon listed first.
    • Friesland
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Friesland is located in Columbia County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Friesland
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 341 people
    • Cambria
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Englewood
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Fall River
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Doylestown
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Columbus
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Otsego
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Pardeeville
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Pardeeville is located in Columbia County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pardeeville
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,053 people
    • Rio
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Rio is located in Columbia County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rio
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,047 people
  • Dodge County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Brandon, with the one closest to Brandon listed first.
    • Waupun
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Atwater
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
    • Fox Lake
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
      • Fox Lake is located in Dodge County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fox Lake
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,440 people
    • Burnett
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
    • Brownsville
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Brownsville is located in Dodge County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brownsville
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 585 people
    • Knowles
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Randolph
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Randolph is located in Dodge County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Randolph
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,738 people
    • Kekoskee
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
      • Kekoskee is located in Dodge County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kekoskee
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 891 people
    • Beaver Dam
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
    • Minnesota Junction
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
    • Lomira
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Mayville
      (20 miles [32.2 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
  • Green Lake County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Brandon, with the one closest to Brandon listed first.
    • Utley
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Markesan
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
      • Markesan is located in Green Lake County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Markesan
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,389 people
    • Green Lake
      (11 miles [17.7 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
    • Kingston
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
    • Marquette
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
      • Marquette is located in Green Lake County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marquette
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 154 people
    • Berlin
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
    • Princeton
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
  • Marquette County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Brandon, with the one closest to Brandon listed first.
    • Germania
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Neshkoro
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Neshkoro is located in Marquette County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Neshkoro
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 425 people
    • Montello
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
    • Glen Oak
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
  • Washington County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Brandon, with the one closest to Brandon listed first.
    • Wayne
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Allenton
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Waushara County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Brandon, with the one closest to Brandon listed first.
    • Rodney ‑ Historic
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
      • Rodney is located in Waushara County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rodney
    • Lohrville
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Lohrville is located in Waushara County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lohrville
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 389 people
    • Redgranite
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Poy Sippi
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
  • Winnebago County

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

Cemeteries Near Brandon ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Brandon.

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

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Brandon, with the one closest to Brandon 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 Brandon had a population of 660 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Brandon had a population of 845 people.

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

  • Alto
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Alto is located in Fond du Lac County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alto
  • Fairwater
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
  • Ladoga
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
  • West Rosendale
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Utley
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
  • Ripon
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
  • Rosendale
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Rosendale is located in Fond du Lac County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rosendale
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,026 people
  • Oak Center
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Oak Center is located in Fond du Lac County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oak Center
  • Woodhull
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
  • Eldorado
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
  • Markesan
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Markesan is located in Green Lake County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Markesan
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,389 people
  • Atwater
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
  • Continue List   (20 more) ...
    • Oakfield
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
    • Pickett
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
    • Rush Lake
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
      • Rush Lake is located in Winnebago County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rush Lake

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

Newspapers Published in Brandon ...

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 77 newspapers that have been published in the area around Brandon.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Brandon, there are papers which were published within 26 miles [41.8 km]<2>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Brandon.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we first turn to 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 Brandon:

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 Brandon, 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 from Point A (ie- Brandon) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.