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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 Eagle River (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 Eagle River. 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 Eagle River ...

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.

For example, a typical abbreviation for Eagle River: Eagle Riv.

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 southwest 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 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 west 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.

Eagle River is primarily located in Vilas County and is the County Seat. A portion of Eagle River extends into Oneida County.

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

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Vilas County: Gogebic (MI), Iron (MI), Forest, Iron, Oneida & Price.

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

  • Vilas County     (The home county of Eagle River)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Eagle River, with the one closest to Eagle River listed first.
    • Conover
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Conover
      • Conover is located in Vilas County
    • Saint Germain
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saint Germain
      • Saint Germain is located in Vilas County
      • Former names for Saint Germain:
      • Farmington
      • Lakewood
    • Phelps
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Phelps
      • Phelps is located in Vilas County
    • Sayner
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sayner
      • Sayner is located in Vilas County
    • Land O'Lakes
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Land O'Lakes
      • Land O'Lakes is located in Vilas County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 897 people
  • Florence County
    • Tipler
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tipler
      • Tipler is located in Florence County
  • Forest County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Eagle River, with the one closest to Eagle River listed first.
    • Hiles
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hiles have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hiles
      • Hiles is located in Forest County
    • Atkins
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Atkins have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Atkins
      • Atkins is located in Forest County
    • Nelma
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nelma
      • Nelma is located in Forest County
    • Crandon
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crandon
      • Crandon is located in Forest County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,780 people
  • Oneida County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Eagle River, with the one closest to Eagle River listed first.
    • Sugar Camp
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sugar Camp
      • Sugar Camp is located in Oneida County
    • Gagen
      (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Gagen have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gagen
      • Gagen is located in Oneida County
    • Newbold
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Newbold have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Newbold
      • Newbold is located in Oneida County
    • Rhinelander
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rhinelander
      • Rhinelander is located in Oneida County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 7,637 people
    • Woodruff
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodruff
      • Woodruff is located in Oneida County
    • Monico
      (23 miles [37 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Monico
      • Monico is located in Oneida County
    • Hazelhurst
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hazelhurst
      • Hazelhurst is located in Oneida County
    • Harshaw
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harshaw
      • Harshaw is located in Oneida County
    • Jennings
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jennings
      • Jennings is located in Oneida County
  • Gogebic County (MI)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Eagle River, with the one closest to Eagle River listed first.
    • Katakitckon Indian Village
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Katakitckon Indian Village have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Katakitckon Indian Village
      • Katakitckon Indian Village is located in Gogebic County (MI)
    • Watersmeet
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
    • Fuller
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Fuller have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fuller
      • Fuller is located in Gogebic County (MI)

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Eagle River ...

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 30 newspapers that have been published in the area around Eagle River.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Eagle River. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Eagle River and those printed in the larger area surrounding Eagle River.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 29 miles [46.7 km]<3> of Eagle River.

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 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 Eagle River:

Cemeteries Near Eagle River ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Eagle River.

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 Eagle River covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.

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

  • Hildegard Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Hildegard Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Hildegard Cemetery
  • St. Germain Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Germain Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Germain Cemetery
  • Plum Lake Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
  • Land O' Lakes Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Land O' Lakes Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Land O' Lakes Cemetery
  • Newbold Memorial Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Newbold Memorial Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Newbold Memorial Cemetery
  • Oak Hill Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Oak Hill Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Oak Hill Cemetery
  • Katakikon Indian Village Cemetery
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Katakikon Indian Village Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Katakikon Indian Village Cemetery
  • Wilderness Rest Cemetery
    (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Wilderness Rest Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Wilderness Rest Cemetery
  • Northland Memorial Park
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Northland Memorial Park have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Northland Memorial Park
  • Hiles Cemetery
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Hiles Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Hiles Cemetery
  • Lakeview Cemetery
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Lakeview Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Lakeview Cemetery
  • Forest Garden Cemetery
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Forest Garden Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Forest Garden Cemetery
  • Continue List   (23 more) ...
    • Forest Home Cemetery
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Forest Home Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Forest Home Cemetery
    • Evergreen Cemetery
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Evergreen Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Evergreen Cemetery
    • Argonne Cemetery
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Argonne Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Argonne Cemetery

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.<5>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Eagle River had a population of 1,154 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Eagle River had a population of 1,582 people.

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

  • McNaughton
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for McNaughton have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for McNaughton
    • McNaughton is located in Oneida County
  • Newbold
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Newbold have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Newbold
    • Newbold is located in Oneida County
  • Rhinelander
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rhinelander
    • Rhinelander is located in Oneida County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 7,637 people
  • Atkins
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Atkins have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Atkins
    • Atkins is located in Forest County
  • Malvern
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Malvern have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Malvern
    • Malvern is located in Oneida County
  • Woodruff
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodruff
    • Woodruff is located in Oneida County
  • Minocqua
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Minocqua have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Minocqua
    • Minocqua is located in Oneida County
  • Hazelhurst
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hazelhurst
    • Hazelhurst is located in Oneida County
  • Watersmeet
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
  • Goodnow
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Goodnow have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Goodnow
    • Goodnow is located in Oneida County
  • Harshaw
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harshaw
    • Harshaw is located in Oneida County
  • Elmwood
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Elmwood have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elmwood
    • Elmwood is located in Iron County (MI)
  • Continue List   (6 more) ...
    • Tamarack
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Tamarack have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tamarack
      • Tamarack is located in Gogebic County (MI)
      • Tamarack has also been known as:
      • Tamarack Lake
    • Beechwood
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Beechwood have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beechwood
      • Beechwood is located in Iron County (MI)
    • Jeffris
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Jeffris have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jeffris
      • Jeffris is located in Lincoln County

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

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

The official website for Vilas County: www.co.vilas.wi.us/

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

Footnotes ...

<1>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.
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<3>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Eagle River) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Eagle River. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 45.9175, Longitude: -89.2493    
<4>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.
<5>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 Eagle River, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024