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 Iron 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 Iron 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 Iron 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.
For example, a typical abbreviation for Iron River: Iron Riv.
You might be interested in other communities that are also named Iron River. More information can be found on our Tidbits & Trivia Page for Iron River.
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 southeast corner of their home county. During their lives, most doctors and hospitals 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.
Iron River is located in Bayfield 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 Bayfield County: Ashland, Douglas, Sawyer & Washburn.
Below are the counties that are near Iron River. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Iron River:
- Bayfield County (The home county of Iron River)
- The following are listed by their distance from Iron River, with the one closest to Iron River listed first.
- Delta
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
- Delta is located in Bayfield County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Delta
- Sutherland
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
- Sutherland is located in Bayfield County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sutherland
- Moquah
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
- Moquah is located in Bayfield County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Moquah
- Benoit
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
- Benoit is located in Bayfield County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Benoit
- Mason
(18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
- Mason is located in Bayfield County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mason
- Population from the 2020 Census: 99 people
- Washburn
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
- Washburn is located in Bayfield County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Washburn
- Population from the 2020 Census: 2,049 people
- Cable
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
- Cable is located in Bayfield County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cable
- Ashland County
- The following are listed by their distance from Iron River, with the one closest to Iron River listed first.
- Ashland
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
- Ashland is located in Ashland County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ashland
- Population from the 2020 Census: 7,766 people
- White River
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
- White River is located in Ashland County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for White River
- Marengo
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
- Marengo is located in Ashland County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marengo
- Douglas County
- The following are listed by their distance from Iron River, with the one closest to Iron River listed first.
- Lake Nebagamon
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
- Lake Nebagamon is located in Douglas County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Nebagamon
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,064 people
- Cloverland
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
- Cloverland is located in Douglas County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cloverland
- Poplar
(18 miles [29 km] to the west)
- Poplar is located in Douglas County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Poplar
- Population from the 2020 Census: 613 people
- Hawthorne
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
- Hawthorne is located in Douglas County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hawthorne
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,157 people
- Bennett
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
- Bennett is located in Douglas County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bennett
- Sauntry
(23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
- Sauntry is located in Douglas County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sauntry
- Solon Springs
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
- Solon Springs is located in Douglas County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Solon Springs
- Population from the 2020 Census: 604 people
- South Range
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
- South Range is located in Douglas County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Range
- Sawyer County
- Seeley
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
- Seeley is located in Sawyer County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Seeley
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Iron River, see our County-by-County Page for Iron River.
Cemeteries Near Iron River ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Iron 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.
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 Iron River - one of the links might be able to help.
If not found below, our Cemetery List for Iron River covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Iron River, with the one closest to Iron River listed first.
- City Cemetery
(Less than 2 miles to the east)
- Valley View Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
- Pine Glade Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
- Hillcrest Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
- Pine Ridge Cemetery
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
- Oulu Cemetery
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
- Ever Rest Cemetery
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
- Hillside Cemetery
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
- Pike River Cemetery
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
- Rest Haven Cemetery
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
- Blueberry Cemetery
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
- Greenwood Cemetery
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
- Continue List (23 more) ...
- Highland Memorial Cemetery
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
- Barnes Cemetery
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
- St. Peters Cemetery
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
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.<1>
The Rand McNally Atlas shows that in 1895, Iron River had a post office and railroad service.
These communities are listed based on their distance from Iron River, with the one closest to Iron River listed first.
- Muskeg
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
- Muskeg is located in Bayfield County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Muskeg
- Topside
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
- Topside is located in Bayfield County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Topside
- Brule
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
- Brule is located in Douglas County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brule
- Pike River
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
- Pike River is located in Bayfield County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pike River
- Ino
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
- Ino is located in Bayfield County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ino
- Blueberry
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
- Blueberry is located in Douglas County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blueberry
- Maple
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
- Maple is located in Douglas County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maple
- Moquah
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
- Moquah is located in Bayfield County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Moquah
- Benoit
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
- Benoit is located in Bayfield County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Benoit
- Drummond
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
- Drummond is located in Bayfield County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Drummond
- Mason
(18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
- Mason is located in Bayfield County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mason
- Population from the 2020 Census: 99 people
- Poplar
(18 miles [29 km] to the west)
- Poplar is located in Douglas County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Poplar
- Population from the 2020 Census: 613 people
- Continue List (13 more) ...
- Ashland Junction
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
- Ashland Junction is located in Bayfield County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ashland Junction
- Hawthorne
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
- Hawthorne is located in Douglas County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hawthorne
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,157 people
- Sauntry
(23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
- Sauntry is located in Douglas County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sauntry
We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Iron River. See our List of 1890's Communities around Iron River.
Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Iron 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 32 newspapers that have been published in the area around Iron River.
We have organized these newspapers into two lists:
- A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Iron River. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Iron River and those printed in the larger area surrounding Iron River.
- An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 25 miles [40.2 km]<2> of Iron River.
Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...
When we do our genealogical research, we first turn to 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 Iron River:
- Websites specific to Wisconsin
- Pages specific to Bayfield County
- Genealogy information for nearby counties
- Ashland County
- Douglas County
- Sawyer County
- Cemetery Information and Directories for Wisconsin
Footnotes ...
| <1> | 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 Iron River, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <2> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or 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- Iron River) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |