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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 Dunkirk (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 Dunkirk. 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 hospitals and doctors 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.

Dunkirk is located in Dane 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 Dane County: Columbia, Dodge, Green, Iowa, Jefferson, Rock & Sauk.

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

  • Dane County     (The home county of Dunkirk)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Dunkirk, with the one closest to Dunkirk listed first.
    • Hanerville
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Stoughton
      (2 miles [3.2 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
    • Stone
      (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Albion
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Brooklyn
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
      • Brooklyn is located in Dane County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brooklyn
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,484 people
    • Edgerton Beach Park
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Oregon
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
      • Oregon is located in Dane County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oregon
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 10,731 people
    • Door Creek
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Rockdale
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Rockdale is located in Dane County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rockdale
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 216 people
    • McFarland
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
      • McFarland is located in Dane County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for McFarland
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 9,291 people
    • Hope
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
      • Hope is located in Dane County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hope
    • Oak Hall
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
  • Columbia County
  • Green County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Dunkirk, with the one closest to Dunkirk listed first.
    • Attica
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Dayton
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
    • Albany
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Albany is located in Green County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Albany
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 977 people
    • Mineral Point
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Mineral Point is located in Green County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mineral Point
    • Brodhead
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Brodhead is located in Green County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brodhead
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,204 people
    • Monticello
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
    • New Glarus
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
    • Monroe
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Monroe is located in Green County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Monroe
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 10,426 people
    • Twin Grove
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Jefferson County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Dunkirk, with the one closest to Dunkirk listed first.
    • Carcajou
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
    • Lake Koshkonong
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
      • Lake Koshkonong is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Koshkonong
    • Lake Ripley
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Fort Atkinson
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
    • Lake Mills
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Lake Mills is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Mills
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 6,014 people
    • Cold Spring
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
    • Jefferson
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Jefferson is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jefferson
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 8,037 people
    • Milford
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
    • Waterloo
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
    • Johnson Creek
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Hebron
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
      • Hebron is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hebron
    • Grellton
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
  • Rock County
  • Walworth County
  • Winnebago County (IL)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Dunkirk, with the one closest to Dunkirk listed first.
    • South Beloit
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
    • Lake Summerset
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
      • Lake Summerset is located in Winnebago County (IL)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Summerset
    • Rockton
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
    • Shirland
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)

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

Cemeteries Near Dunkirk ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Dunkirk.

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

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

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

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

  • Stoughton
    (2 miles [3.2 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
  • Hanerville
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
  • Cooksville
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
  • Stebbinsville
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Stebbinsville is located in Rock County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stebbinsville
  • Union
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Fulton
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Edgerton
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Albion
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
  • Utica
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Utica is located in Dane County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Utica
  • Rutland
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Rutland is located in Dane County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rutland
  • Evansville
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Evansville is located in Rock County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Evansville
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 5,556 people
  • Indianford
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...
    • Fellows ‑ Historic
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
      • Fellows is located in Rock County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fellows
    • Oregon
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
      • Oregon is located in Dane County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oregon
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 10,731 people
    • Rockdale
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Rockdale is located in Dane County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rockdale
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 216 people

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

Newspapers Published in Dunkirk ...

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 197 newspapers that have been published in the area around Dunkirk.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Dunkirk, there are papers which were published within 23 miles [37 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Dunkirk.

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 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 Dunkirk:

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 Dunkirk, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>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- Dunkirk) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.