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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 El Paso (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 El Paso. 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 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.

El Paso is located in Pierce 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 Pierce County: Dakota (MN), Goodhue (MN), Washington (MN), Dunn, Pepin & Saint Croix.

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

  • Pierce County     (The home county of El Paso)
  • Buffalo County
    • The following are listed by their distance from El Paso, with the one closest to El Paso listed first.
    • Savoy ‑ Historic
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Savoy is located in Buffalo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Savoy
    • Maxville
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
    • Nelson
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Nelson is located in Buffalo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nelson
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 343 people
  • Dunn County
    • The following are listed by their distance from El Paso, with the one closest to El Paso listed first.
    • Eau Galle
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
    • Knapp
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
    • Dunnville
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
    • Menomonie
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
    • Downing
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Boyceville
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Meridean
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
    • Falls City
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
      • Falls City is located in Dunn County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Falls City
    • Tainter Lake
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Tainter Lake is located in Dunn County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tainter Lake
    • Wheeler
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Wheeler is located in Dunn County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wheeler
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 353 people
  • Pepin County
  • Saint Croix County
    • The following are listed by their distance from El Paso, with the one closest to El Paso listed first.
    • Woodville
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
    • Baldwin
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
    • Hammond
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
    • Hersey
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Wilson
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Roberts
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
    • Erin Corner
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
    • Glenwood City
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Glenwood City is located in Saint Croix County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glenwood City
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,214 people
    • Burkhardt
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
    • Hudson
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
      • Hudson is located in Saint Croix County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hudson
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 14,168 people
    • North Hudson
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
      • North Hudson is located in Saint Croix County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Hudson
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,833 people
    • New Richmond
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
  • Dakota County (MN)
  • Goodhue County (MN)
  • Wabasha County (MN)
    • The following are listed by their distance from El Paso, with the one closest to El Paso listed first.
    • Lake City
      (23 miles [37 km] to the south)
    • Reads Landing
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
  • Washington County (MN)
    • The following are listed by their distance from El Paso, with the one closest to El Paso listed first.
    • Afton
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
    • Lake Saint Croix Beach
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
      • Lake Saint Croix Beach is located in Washington County (MN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Saint Croix Beach
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,071 people
    • Lakeland Shores
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
    • Saint Marys Point
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
      • Saint Marys Point is located in Washington County (MN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saint Marys Point
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 388 people
    • Lakeland
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Bayport
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Bayport is located in Washington County (MN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bayport
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,789 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Bayport <1>
    • Oak Park Heights
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Cottage Grove
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
    • Woodbury
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
      • Woodbury is located in Washington County (MN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodbury
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 74,255 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Woodbury <1>
    • Lake Elmo
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Stillwater
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Stillwater is located in Washington County (MN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stillwater
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 19,694 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Stillwater <1>

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

Cemeteries Near El Paso ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of El Paso.

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 El Paso - one of the links might be able to help.

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from El Paso, with the one closest to El Paso 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.<4>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that El Paso had a population of 120 people in 1895 with a post office and no railroad service.

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

  • Olivet
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
  • Martell
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
  • Waverly
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
  • Ellsworth
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Ellsworth is located in Pierce County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ellsworth
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,272 people
  • Spring Valley
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Wildwood
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Wildwood is located in Saint Croix County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wildwood
  • Beldenville
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
  • Ono
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Ono is located in Pierce County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ono
  • Elmwood
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
  • Moeville
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
  • Exile
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Exile is located in Pierce County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Exile
  • Trimbelle
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
  • Continue List   (15 more) ...
    • Esdaile
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Esdaile is located in Pierce County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Esdaile
    • Hatchville
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Hatchville is located in Dunn County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hatchville
    • Plum City
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Plum City is located in Pierce County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plum City
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 603 people

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

Newspapers Published in El Paso ...

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 184 newspapers that have been published in the area around El Paso.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of El Paso, there are papers which were published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for El Paso.

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 El Paso:

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