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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 Bridgeport (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 Bridgeport. 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 southeast 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 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 east 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.

Bridgeport is located in Crawford 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 Crawford County: Allamakee (IA), Clayton (IA), Grant, Richland & Vernon.

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

  • Crawford County     (The home county of Bridgeport)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Bridgeport, with the one closest to Bridgeport listed first.
    • Prairie du Chien
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Wauzeka
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Wauzeka is located in Crawford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wauzeka
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 733 people
    • Eastman
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
      • Eastman is located in Crawford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eastman
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 404 people
    • Charme
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
      • Charme is located in Crawford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Charme
    • Boydtown
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Steuben
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Petersburg
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Mount Sterling
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
      • Mount Sterling is located in Crawford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Sterling
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 196 people
    • Bell Center
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Ferryville
      (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
      • Ferryville is located in Crawford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ferryville
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 173 people
    • Gays Mills
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
      • Gays Mills is located in Crawford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gays Mills
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 504 people
    • Freeman
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
      • Freeman is located in Crawford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Freeman
  • Grant County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Bridgeport, with the one closest to Bridgeport listed first.
    • Millville
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Patch Grove
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Patch Grove is located in Grant County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Patch Grove
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 192 people
    • Wyalusing
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Bagley
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Mount Hope
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
      • Mount Hope is located in Grant County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Hope
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 216 people
    • Bloomington
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Bloomington is located in Grant County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bloomington
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 702 people
    • Glen Haven
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
    • Werley
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
      • Werley is located in Grant County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Werley
    • Woodman
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Woodman is located in Grant County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodman
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 129 people
    • North Andover
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
    • Mount Ida
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
    • Beetown
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
  • Richland County
    • Westport
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
      • Westport is located in Richland County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Westport
  • Vernon County
  • Allamakee County (IA)
  • Clayton County (IA)
  • Delaware County (IA)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Bridgeport, with the one closest to Bridgeport listed first.
    • Colesburg
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
    • Holy Cross
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
      • Holy Cross is located in Delaware County (IA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holy Cross
    • Edgewood
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Dubuque County (IA)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Bridgeport, with the one closest to Bridgeport listed first.
    • Waupeton
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
    • Balltown
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
    • Old Balltown
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
    • Holy Cross
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
      • Holy Cross is located in Dubuque County (IA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holy Cross
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 370 people
    • Luxemburg
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
      • Luxemburg is located in Dubuque County (IA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Luxemburg
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 247 people
    • Rickardsville
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
      • Rickardsville is located in Dubuque County (IA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rickardsville
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 179 people
  • Fayette County (IA)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Bridgeport, with the one closest to Bridgeport listed first.
    • Elgin
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
    • Clermont
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
    • Illyria
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
  • Winneshiek County (IA)

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

Cemeteries Near Bridgeport ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Bridgeport.

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

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Bridgeport, with the one closest to Bridgeport 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 Bridgeport had a population of 132 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service.

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

  • Prairie du Chien
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
  • Wyalusing
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Millville
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
  • McGregor
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
  • Bagley
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
  • Clayton
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
  • Yellow River
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Yellow River is located in Allamakee County (IA)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Yellow River
  • Eckards
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
    • Eckards is located in Clayton County (IA)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eckards
  • Mount Hope
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
    • Mount Hope is located in Grant County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Hope
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 216 people
  • Eastman
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Eastman is located in Crawford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eastman
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 404 people
  • Charme
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
    • Charme is located in Crawford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Charme
  • Waukon Junction
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Continue List   (17 more) ...

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

Newspapers Published in Bridgeport ...

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 138 newspapers that have been published in the area around Bridgeport.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Bridgeport, there are papers which were published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Bridgeport.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we first visit 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 Bridgeport:

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