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 McKinley (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 McKinley. 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 doctors 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.
McKinley is located in Polk 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 Polk County: Chisago (MN), Washington (MN), Barron, Burnett, Dunn & Saint Croix.
Below are the counties that are near McKinley. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to McKinley:
- Polk County (The home county of McKinley)
- The following are listed by their distance from McKinley, with the one closest to McKinley listed first.
- Clam Falls
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clam Falls
- Clam Falls is located in Polk County
- Luck
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the west) - Frederic
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest) - Balsam Lake
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Balsam Lake have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Balsam Lake
- Balsam Lake is located in Polk County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 978 people
- Milltown
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the west) - Clayton
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the south) - Volga ‑ Historic
(18 miles [29 km] to the southwest) - Amery
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Amery
- Amery is located in Polk County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 2,799 people
- Centuria
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Centuria
- Centuria is located in Polk County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 905 people
- Atlas
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Atlas
- Atlas is located in Polk County
- Clear Lake
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clear Lake
- Clear Lake is located in Polk County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,099 people
- Deronda
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Deronda
- Deronda is located in Polk County
- Saint Croix Falls
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Saint Croix Falls have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saint Croix Falls
- Saint Croix Falls is located in Polk County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 2,059 people
- Barron County
- The following are listed by their distance from McKinley, with the one closest to McKinley listed first.
- Cumberland
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cumberland have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cumberland
- Cumberland is located in Barron County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 2,097 people
- Turtle Lake
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Turtle Lake
- Turtle Lake is located in Barron County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 990 people
- Almena
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast) - Poskin
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Poskin
- Poskin is located in Barron County
- Twin Town
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast) - Haugen
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the east) - Barron
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Barron
- Barron is located in Barron County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 3,235 people
- Rice Lake
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the east) - Cameron
(23 miles [37 km] to the southeast) - Prairie Farm
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Prairie Farm have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prairie Farm
- Prairie Farm is located in Barron County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 434 people
- Dallas
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast) - Chetek
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
- Burnett County
- The following are listed by their distance from McKinley, with the one closest to McKinley listed first.
- Bashaw
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the north) - Hertel
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hertel
- Hertel is located in Burnett County
- Siren
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Siren
- Siren is located in Burnett County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 780 people
- Alpha
(23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alpha
- Alpha is located in Burnett County
- Webster
(23 miles [37 km] to the northwest) - Grantsburg
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Grantsburg have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grantsburg
- Grantsburg is located in Burnett County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,296 people
- Webb Lake
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Webb Lake
- Webb Lake is located in Burnett County
- Dunn County
- Ridgeland
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
- Ridgeland
- Saint Croix County
- The following are listed by their distance from McKinley, with the one closest to McKinley listed first.
- Deer Park
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Deer Park
- Deer Park is located in Saint Croix County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 212 people
- Star Prairie
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Star Prairie have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Star Prairie
- Star Prairie is located in Saint Croix County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 549 people
- Washburn County
- The following are listed by their distance from McKinley, with the one closest to McKinley listed first.
- Shell Lake
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Shell Lake have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shell Lake
- Shell Lake is located in Washburn County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,318 people
- Spooner
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast) - Nobleton
(23 miles [37 km] to the east) - Madge
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Madge
- Madge is located in Washburn County
- Birchwood
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the east) - Earl
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Earl
- Earl is located in Washburn County
- Chisago County (MN)
- The following are listed by their distance from McKinley, with the one closest to McKinley listed first.
- Taylors Falls
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Taylors Falls have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Taylors Falls
- Taylors Falls is located in Chisago County (MN)
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,035 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Taylors Falls <3>
- Franconia
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Franconia
- Franconia is located in Chisago County (MN)
- Almelund
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Almelund have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Almelund
- Almelund is located in Chisago County (MN)
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Almelund <3>
- Shafer
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Shafer have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shafer
- Shafer is located in Chisago County (MN)
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,144 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Shafer <3>
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to McKinley, see our County-by-County Page for McKinley.
Newspapers Published in McKinley ...
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 80 newspapers that have been published in the area around McKinley.
Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of McKinley, there are papers which were published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for McKinley.
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 McKinley:
- Websites specific to Wisconsin
- Jump to Cyndi's List
- Jump to Family Search
- Jump to Genealogy Trails
- Website for the //www.wisconsinhistory.org/
- Pages specific to Polk County
- Jump to Cyndi's List
- Jump to Family Search
- Jump to Genealogy Trails
- Genealogy information for nearby counties
- Barron County
- Jump to Cyndi's List
- Jump to Family Search
- Jump to Genealogy Trails
- Burnett County
- Jump to Cyndi's List
- Jump to Family Search
- Jump to Genealogy Trails
- Dunn County
- Jump to Cyndi's List
- Jump to Family Search
- Jump to Genealogy Trails
- Saint Croix County
- Jump to Cyndi's List
- Jump to Family Search
- Jump to Genealogy Trails
- Washburn County
- Jump to Cyndi's List
- Jump to Family Search
- Jump to Genealogy Trails
- Chisago County
- Jump to Cyndi's List
- Jump to Family Search
- Jump to Genealogy Trails
- Barron County
- Cemetery Information and Directories for Wisconsin
- Cemetery Junction: Cemeteries of Wisconsin
- Cyndi's List
- Cemeteries of Wisconsin
- Cemeteries of Polk County
- FamilySearch.org: Cemeteries of Wisconsin
- Find-A-Grave: Home Page
- Interment.net
- Cemeteries of Wisconsin
- Cemeteries of Polk County
Cemeteries Near McKinley ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of McKinley.
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 McKinley covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from McKinley, with the one closest to McKinley listed first.
- Johnstown Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Johnstown Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Johnstown Cemetery
- Comstock Cemetery
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Comstock Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Comstock Cemetery
- St. Anthony Abbot Catholic Cemetery
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)- The St. Anthony Abbot Catholic Cemetery has also been known as:
- St. Anthony Catholic Cemetery
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Anthony Abbot Catholic Cemetery
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #1697291 <5>
- Lake Side Cemetery
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Lake Side Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Lake Side Cemetery
- Georgetown Cemetery
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Georgetown Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Georgetown Cemetery
- Zion Lutheran Cemetery
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Zion Lutheran Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Zion Lutheran Cemetery
- Lorain Cemetery
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Lorain Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Lorain Cemetery
- Lake View Cemetery
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Lake View Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Lake View Cemetery
- Bethany Cemetery
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Bethany Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Bethany Cemetery
- Lakeside Cemetery
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Lakeside Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Lakeside Cemetery
- Union Cemetery
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Union Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Union Cemetery
- East Cumberland Cemetery
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the East Cumberland Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the East Cumberland Cemetery
- Continue List (112 more) ...
- Mt. Hope Cemetery
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Mt. Hope Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Mt. Hope Cemetery
- St. Ann Cemetery
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Ann Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Ann Cemetery
- Sacred Heart Catholic Cemetery
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Sacred Heart Catholic Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Sacred Heart Catholic Cemetery
- Mt. Hope Cemetery
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.<6>
While we didn't find McKinley in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of McKinley.
These communities are listed based on their distance from McKinley, with the one closest to McKinley listed first.
- Cumberland
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cumberland have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cumberland
- Cumberland is located in Barron County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 2,097 people
- Comstock
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast) - Barronett
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast) - Clam Falls
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clam Falls
- Clam Falls is located in Polk County
- Bunyan
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest) - Turtle Lake
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Turtle Lake
- Turtle Lake is located in Barron County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 990 people
- Almena
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast) - Joel
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the south) - Bashaw
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the north) - Balsam Lake
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Balsam Lake have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Balsam Lake
- Balsam Lake is located in Polk County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 978 people
- West Denmark
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for West Denmark have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Denmark
- West Denmark is located in Polk County
- Richardson
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Richardson have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Richardson
- Richardson is located in Polk County
- Continue List (16 more) ...
- Clayton
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the south) - Shell Lake
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Shell Lake have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shell Lake
- Shell Lake is located in Washburn County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,318 people
- Volga ‑ Historic
(18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
- Clayton
We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around McKinley. See our List of 1890's Communities around McKinley.
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for McKinley. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for Polk County: www.co.polk.wi.us/
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> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <4> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- McKinley) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in McKinley. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 45.5713, Longitude: -92.1766 In this case, the coordinates for McKinley have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <5> | 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. |
| <6> | 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 McKinley, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |