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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 Mather (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 Mather. 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 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.

Mather is located in Juneau 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 Juneau County: Adams, Columbia, Jackson, Monroe, Sauk, Vernon & Wood.

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

  • Juneau County     (The home county of Mather)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Mather, with the one closest to Mather listed first.
    • Sprague
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • New Miner
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
    • Necedah
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Camp Douglas
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
    • Hustler
      (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
    • New Lisbon
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
    • Mauston
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Mauston is located in Juneau County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mauston
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 4,358 people
    • Elroy
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
      • Elroy is located in Juneau County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elroy
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,306 people
    • Lemonweir
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
  • Adams County
  • Crawford County
    • Lynxville
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Lynxville is located in Crawford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lynxville
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 125 people
  • Jackson County
  • Monroe County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Mather, with the one closest to Mather listed first.
    • Shennington
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Valley Junction
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Wyeville
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
      • Wyeville is located in Monroe County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wyeville
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 141 people
    • Warrens
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
      • Warrens is located in Monroe County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Warrens
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 346 people
    • Oakdale
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
    • Tomah
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Tomah is located in Monroe County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tomah
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 9,363 people
    • Tunnel City
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Tunnel City is located in Monroe County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tunnel City
    • Clifton
      (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
    • Kendall
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
      • Kendall is located in Monroe County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kendall
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 472 people
    • Wilton
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Wilton is located in Monroe County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wilton
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 498 people
    • Angelo
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Norwalk
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
  • Vernon County
  • Wood County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Mather, with the one closest to Mather listed first.
    • Pittsville
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Pittsville is located in Wood County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pittsville
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 820 people
    • Nekoosa
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
    • Port Edwards
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Lindsey
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
    • Vesper
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Eight Corners
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Wisconsin Rapids
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Arpin
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Arpin is located in Wood County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Arpin
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 305 people

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

Cemeteries Near Mather ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Mather.

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 Mather - one of the links might be able to help.

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Mather, with the one closest to Mather 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.<2>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Mather had a population of 78 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service.

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

  • Norway Ridge
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Norway Ridge is located in Monroe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Norway Ridge
  • Meadow Valley
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Meadow Valley is located in Juneau County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadow Valley
  • Valley Junction
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
  • Wyeville
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Wyeville is located in Monroe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wyeville
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 141 people
  • Sprague
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
  • Warrens
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Warrens is located in Monroe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Warrens
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 346 people
  • Cloverdale
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Cloverdale is located in Juneau County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cloverdale
  • Kirby
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Kirby is located in Monroe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kirby
  • Oakdale
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
  • Lapham Junction
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
  • Tomah
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Tomah is located in Monroe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tomah
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 9,363 people
  • City Point
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...
    • Babcock
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Babcock is located in Wood County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Babcock
    • Tunnel City
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Tunnel City is located in Monroe County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tunnel City
    • Camp Douglas
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)

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

Newspapers Published in Mather ...

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 79 newspapers that have been published in the area around Mather.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Mather, there are papers which were published within 29 miles [46.7 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Mather.

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 helpful 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 Mather:

Footnotes ...

<1>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.
<2>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 Mather, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<3>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- Mather) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.