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 Gays Mills (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 Gays Mills. 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 Gays Mills ...
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 occur.
- A typical abbreviation for Gays Mills: Gays Mls. (or less commonly used: Gays Mlls.)
- While the name of this village is Gays Mills, be aware that it's the common practice of mapmakers to remove the apostrophe from possessive names<1>. So Gays Mills may originally have been Gay's Mills.
Sometimes the trailing 's' might be dropped altogether, in which case Gays Mills might be written as Gay Mills.
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 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.
Gays Mills 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 Gays Mills. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Gays Mills:
- Crawford County (The home county of Gays Mills)
- The following are listed by their distance from Gays Mills, with the one closest to Gays Mills listed first.
- Bell Center
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
- Bell Center is located in Crawford County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bell Center
- Population from the 2020 Census: 114 people
- Petersburg
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
- Petersburg is located in Crawford County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Petersburg
- Mount Sterling
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
- Mount Sterling is located in Crawford County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Sterling
- Population from the 2020 Census: 196 people
- Towerville
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
- Towerville is located in Crawford County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Towerville
- Soldiers Grove
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
- Soldiers Grove is located in Crawford County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Soldiers Grove
- Population from the 2020 Census: 535 people
- Rising Sun
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
- Rising Sun is located in Crawford County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rising Sun
- Steuben
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
- Steuben is located in Crawford County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Steuben
- Population from the 2020 Census: 121 people
- Ferryville
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
- Ferryville is located in Crawford County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ferryville
- Population from the 2020 Census: 173 people
- Freeman
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
- Freeman is located in Crawford County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Freeman
- Eastman
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
- Eastman is located in Crawford County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eastman
- Population from the 2020 Census: 404 people
- Boydtown
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
- Boydtown is located in Crawford County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Boydtown
- Wauzeka
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
- Wauzeka is located in Crawford County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wauzeka
- Population from the 2020 Census: 733 people
- Grant County
- The following are listed by their distance from Gays Mills, with the one closest to Gays Mills listed first.
- Boscobel
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
- Boscobel is located in Grant County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Boscobel
- Population from the 2020 Census: 3,134 people
- Woodman
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
- Woodman is located in Grant County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodman
- Population from the 2020 Census: 129 people
- Blue River
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
- Blue River is located in Grant County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blue River
- Population from the 2020 Census: 418 people
- Millville
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
- Millville is located in Grant County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Millville
- Werley
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
- Werley is located in Grant County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Werley
- Muscoda
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
- Muscoda is located in Grant County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Muscoda
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,236 people
- Mount Hope
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
- Mount Hope is located in Grant County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Hope
- Population from the 2020 Census: 216 people
- Mount Ida
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
- Mount Ida is located in Grant County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Ida
- Fennimore
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
- Fennimore is located in Grant County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fennimore
- Population from the 2020 Census: 2,469 people
- Patch Grove
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
- Patch Grove is located in Grant County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Patch Grove
- Population from the 2020 Census: 192 people
- Preston
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
- Preston is located in Grant County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Preston
- Bloomington
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
- Bloomington is located in Grant County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bloomington
- Population from the 2020 Census: 702 people
- Iowa County
- The following are listed by their distance from Gays Mills, with the one closest to Gays Mills listed first.
- Avoca
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
- Avoca is located in Iowa County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Avoca
- Population from the 2020 Census: 620 people
- Centreville ‑ Historic
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
- Centreville is located in Iowa County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Centreville
- Former name for Centreville:
- Dry Bone
- Highland
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
- Highland is located in Iowa County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Highland
- Population from the 2020 Census: 826 people
- Monroe County
- Cashton
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
- Cashton is located in Monroe County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cashton
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,111 people
- Richland County
- The following are listed by their distance from Gays Mills, with the one closest to Gays Mills listed first.
- Westport
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
- Westport is located in Richland County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Westport
- Viola
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
- Viola is located in Richland County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Viola
- Population from the 2020 Census: 665 people
- Boaz
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
- Boaz is located in Richland County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Boaz
- Population from the 2020 Census: 148 people
- Sabin
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
- Sabin is located in Richland County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sabin
- Balmoral
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
- Balmoral is located in Richland County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Balmoral
- Gillingham
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
- Gillingham is located in Richland County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gillingham
- Bloom City
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
- Bloom City is located in Richland County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bloom City
- Richland Center
(23 miles [37 km] to the east)
- Richland Center is located in Richland County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Richland Center
- Population from the 2020 Census: 4,949 people
- Woodstock
(23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
- Woodstock is located in Richland County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodstock
- Yuba
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
- Yuba is located in Richland County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Yuba
- Population from the 2020 Census: 69 people
- Hub City
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
- Hub City is located in Richland County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hub City
- Aubrey
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
- Aubrey is located in Richland County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Aubrey
- Vernon County
- The following are listed by their distance from Gays Mills, with the one closest to Gays Mills listed first.
- Readstown
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
- Readstown is located in Vernon County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Readstown
- Population from the 2020 Census: 414 people
- Fargo
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
- Fargo is located in Vernon County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fargo
- Liberty Pole
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
- Liberty Pole is located in Vernon County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Liberty Pole
- West Prairie
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
- West Prairie is located in Vernon County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Prairie
- Liberty
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
- Liberty is located in Vernon County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Liberty
- Retreat
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
- Retreat is located in Vernon County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Retreat
- Viroqua
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
- Viroqua is located in Vernon County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Viroqua
- Population from the 2020 Census: 4,394 people
- Purdy
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
- Purdy is located in Vernon County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Purdy
- La Farge
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
- La Farge is located in Vernon County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for La Farge
- Population from the 2020 Census: 763 people
- Newton
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
- Newton is located in Vernon County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Newton
- Westby
(23 miles [37 km] to the north)
- Westby is located in Vernon County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Westby
- Population from the 2020 Census: 2,254 people
- Genoa
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
- Genoa is located in Vernon County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Genoa
- Population from the 2020 Census: 260 people
- Allamakee County (IA)
- The following are listed by their distance from Gays Mills, with the one closest to Gays Mills listed first.
- Harpers Ferry
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
- Lansing
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
- Waukon Junction
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
- Waukon Junction is located in Allamakee County (IA)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Waukon Junction
- Dalby
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
- Dalby is located in Allamakee County (IA)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dalby
- Waterville
(23 miles [37 km] to the west)
- Waterville is located in Allamakee County (IA)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Waterville
- Population from the 2020 Census: 142 people
- Elon
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
- Elon is located in Allamakee County (IA)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elon
- New Albin
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
- Ion
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
- Ion is located in Allamakee County (IA)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ion
- Rossville
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
- Rossville is located in Allamakee County (IA)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rossville
- Lycurgus
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
- Lycurgus is located in Allamakee County (IA)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lycurgus
- Volney
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
- Volney is located in Allamakee County (IA)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Volney
- Clayton County (IA)
- The following are listed by their distance from Gays Mills, with the one closest to Gays Mills listed first.
- Marquette
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
- McGregor
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
- Watson
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
- Watson is located in Clayton County (IA)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Watson
- Beulah
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
- Beulah is located in Clayton County (IA)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beulah
- Houston County (MN)
- Reno
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
- Reno is located in Houston County (MN)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Reno
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Gays Mills, see our County-by-County Page for Gays Mills.
Cemeteries Near Gays Mills ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Gays Mills.
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 Gays Mills - one of the links might be able to help.
If not found below, our Cemetery List for Gays Mills covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Gays Mills, with the one closest to Gays Mills listed first.
- Gays Mills Cemetery
(Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
- Bell Center Cemetery
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
- Crow Hollow Cemetery
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
- Mt. Sterling Lutheran Cemetery
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
- Pioneer Cemetery
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
- Evergreen Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
- Whiteaker Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
- Yankeetown Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
- Utica Lutheran Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
- Haney Valley Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the south)
- Mook Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the east)
- Montgomeryville Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
- Continue List (228 more) ...
- St. Patricks Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
- Barnum Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
- Towerville Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
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 Gays Mills in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Gays Mills.
These communities are listed based on their distance from Gays Mills, with the one closest to Gays Mills listed first.
- Bell Center
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
- Bell Center is located in Crawford County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bell Center
- Population from the 2020 Census: 114 people
- Mount Sterling
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
- Mount Sterling is located in Crawford County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Sterling
- Population from the 2020 Census: 196 people
- Seneca
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
- Seneca is located in Crawford County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Seneca
- Towerville
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
- Towerville is located in Crawford County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Towerville
- Soldiers Grove
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
- Soldiers Grove is located in Crawford County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Soldiers Grove
- Population from the 2020 Census: 535 people
- North Clayton
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
- North Clayton is located in Crawford County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Clayton
- Folsom
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
- Folsom is located in Vernon County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Folsom
- Rising Sun
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
- Rising Sun is located in Crawford County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rising Sun
- Steuben
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
- Steuben is located in Crawford County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Steuben
- Population from the 2020 Census: 121 people
- Fargo
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
- Fargo is located in Vernon County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fargo
- Readstown
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
- Readstown is located in Vernon County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Readstown
- Population from the 2020 Census: 414 people
- Sugar Grove
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
- Sugar Grove is located in Vernon County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sugar Grove
- Continue List (14 more) ...
- Ferryville
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
- Ferryville is located in Crawford County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ferryville
- Population from the 2020 Census: 173 people
- Liberty Pole
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
- Liberty Pole is located in Vernon County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Liberty Pole
- Excelsior
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
- Excelsior is located in Richland County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Excelsior
We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Gays Mills. See our List of 1890's Communities around Gays Mills.
Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Gays Mills ...
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 141 newspapers that have been published in the area around Gays Mills.
We have organized these newspapers into two lists:
- A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Gays Mills. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Gays Mills and those printed in the larger area surrounding Gays Mills.
- An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<4> of Gays Mills.
Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...
When we do our genealogical research, we like to 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 Gays Mills:
- Websites specific to Wisconsin
- Pages specific to Crawford County
- Genealogy information for nearby counties
- Grant County
- Iowa County
- Monroe County
- Richland County
- Vernon County
- Allamakee County
- Clayton County
- Houston County
- Cemetery Information and Directories for Wisconsin
Footnotes ...
| <1> | It's generally believed that possessive apostrophes are removed to prevent confusion on maps where the apostrophe may be confused with a cartographic symbol. While this is generally true, it's not uncommon to find possessive apostrophes in administrative names (such as towns or counties). |
| <2> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <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 Gays Mills, 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 from Point A (ie- Gays Mills) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |