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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 Laona (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 Laona. 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 southeast corner of their home county. During their lives, most hospitals and doctors 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.

Laona is located in Forest 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 Forest County: Iron (MI), Florence, Langlade, Marinette, Oconto, Oneida & Vilas.

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

  • Forest County     (The home county of Laona)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Laona, with the one closest to Laona listed first.
    • Padus
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Crandon
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Mole Lake
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
    • Hiles
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
      • 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
      (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Atkins. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Atkins
      • Atkins is located in Forest County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Atkins
      • From Laona to Atkins
  • Florence County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Laona, with the one closest to Laona listed first.
    • Fern ‑ Historic
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Fern. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fern
      • Fern is located in Florence County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Fern
      • From Laona to Fern
    • Tipler
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
  • Langlade County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Laona, with the one closest to Laona listed first.
    • Freeman
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Freeman. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Freeman
      • Freeman is located in Langlade County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Freeman
      • From Laona to Freeman
    • Lily
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Lily. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lily
      • Lily is located in Langlade County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Lily
      • From Laona to Lily
    • Post Lake
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Elcho
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
    • White Lake
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for White Lake have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for White Lake
      • White Lake is located in Langlade County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 353 people
    • Bryant
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Bryant. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bryant
      • Bryant is located in Langlade County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Bryant
      • From Laona to Bryant
    • Kempster
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Kempster. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kempster
      • Kempster is located in Langlade County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Kempster
      • From Laona to Kempster
  • Marinette County
  • Oconto County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Laona, with the one closest to Laona listed first.
    • Townsend
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
    • Mountain
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
    • Armstrong
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Armstrong came from an uncertain source and they still need to be verified:<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Armstrong
      • Armstrong is located in Oconto County
  • Oneida County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Laona, with the one closest to Laona listed first.
    • Jennings
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
    • Gagen
      (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Gagen. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gagen
      • Gagen is located in Oneida County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Gagen
      • From Laona to Gagen
    • Monico
      (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
    • Pelican Lake
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)

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

Cemeteries Near Laona ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Laona.

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

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

  • Laona Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Laona Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Laona Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • St. Ambrose Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Ambrose Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Ambrose Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Trinity Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Trinity Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Trinity Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Forest Hill Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Forest Hill Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Forest Hill Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Crandon Lakeside Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
  • Lakeview Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Lakeview Cemetery
    • 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.
  • Roseland Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Roseland Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Roseland Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Pine Hill Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Pine Hill Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Pine Hill Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • St. Marys Catholic Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
  • St. Marys Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Marys Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Marys Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Argonne Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Argonne Cemetery
    • 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.
  • Forest Home Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Forest Home Cemetery
    • 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.
  • Continue List   (27 more) ...
    • Crandon Cemetery
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
    • Glenwood Cemetery
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Glenwood Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Glenwood Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Hillside Cemetery
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Hillside Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Hillside Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.

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>

While we didn't find Laona in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Laona.

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

  • Cavour
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cavour have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cavour
    • Cavour is located in Forest County
  • Crandon
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
  • Armstrong Creek
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Armstrong Creek have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Armstrong Creek
    • Armstrong Creek is located in Forest County
  • Atkins
    (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Atkins. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Atkins
    • Atkins is located in Forest County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Atkins
    • From Laona to Atkins
  • Lily
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Lily. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lily
    • Lily is located in Langlade County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Lily
    • From Laona to Lily
  • Post Lake
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
  • Pelican Lake
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
  • Dunbar
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
  • Elcho
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
  • Continue List   (6 more) ...
    • Mountain
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
    • Summit Lake
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Summit Lake have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Summit Lake
      • Summit Lake is located in Langlade County
    • Koepenick
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Koepenick have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Koepenick
      • Koepenick is located in Langlade County
    • Bryant
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Bryant. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bryant
      • Bryant is located in Langlade County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Bryant
      • From Laona to Bryant
    • Elton
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Elton have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elton
      • Elton is located in Langlade County
    • Malvern
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
      • 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

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Laona ...

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 15 newspapers that have been published in the area around Laona.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Laona. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Laona and those printed in the larger area surrounding Laona.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 28 miles [45.1 km]<6> of Laona.

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 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 Laona:

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

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>An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace.
<3>If we found a location and have questions about the accuracy of our information, we will simply say that the marker is 'in the vicinity'. We are not confident about the location and the position of our marker is only a rough guide. If we have too many doubts about the location, we will not include it in our database.
<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 Laona, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<6>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Laona) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Laona. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 45.5635, Longitude: -88.6711    









 

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This page was last modified/updated: 29 Apr 2025