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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 Melrose (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 Melrose. 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 and doctors 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.

Melrose is located in Jackson 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 Jackson County: Clark, Eau Claire, Juneau, La Crosse, Monroe, Trempealeau & Wood.

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

  • Jackson County     (The home county of Melrose)
  • Buffalo County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Melrose, with the one closest to Melrose listed first.
    • Marshland
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
      • Marshland is located in Buffalo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marshland
    • Bluff Siding
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
  • Clark County
  • Crawford County
    • Lynxville
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
      • Lynxville is located in Crawford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lynxville
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 125 people
  • La Crosse County
  • Monroe County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Melrose, with the one closest to Melrose listed first.
    • Angelo
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Sparta
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Tunnel City
      (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
      • Tunnel City is located in Monroe County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tunnel City
    • Warrens
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
      • Warrens is located in Monroe County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Warrens
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 346 people
    • Melvina
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Tomah
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
      • Tomah is located in Monroe County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tomah
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 9,363 people
    • Norwalk
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Cashton
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
      • Cashton is located in Monroe County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cashton
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,111 people
    • Valley Junction
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
  • Trempealeau County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Melrose, with the one closest to Melrose listed first.
    • Ettrick
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
      • Ettrick is located in Trempealeau County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ettrick
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 511 people
    • Blair
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Blair is located in Trempealeau County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blair
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,330 people
    • Frenchville
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
    • Galesville
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
    • Coral City
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Coral City is located in Trempealeau County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coral City
    • Pigeon Falls
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Whitehall
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Whitehall is located in Trempealeau County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Whitehall
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,565 people
    • Trempealeau
      (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
      • Trempealeau is located in Trempealeau County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Trempealeau
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,663 people
    • Wrights Corners
      (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
    • Independence
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Independence is located in Trempealeau County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Independence
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,291 people
    • New City ‑ Historic
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
      • New City is located in Trempealeau County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New City
    • Arcadia
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
  • Vernon County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Melrose, with the one closest to Melrose listed first.
    • Coon Valley
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
    • Newry
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
  • Houston County (MN)
  • Winona County (MN)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Melrose, with the one closest to Melrose listed first.
    • Dakota
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
      • Dakota is located in Winona County (MN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dakota
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 307 people
    • Lamoille
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
    • Nodine
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Homer
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
      • Homer is located in Winona County (MN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Homer

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

Cemeteries Near Melrose ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Melrose.

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

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

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

  • Oxbow Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
  • Irving Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
  • Evergreen Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
  • Sand Creek Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Olson Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
  • Cataract Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
  • Black Oak Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
  • Morken Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
  • Oak Grove Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
  • Carr Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
  • Stiehl Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
  • Farmington Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
  • Continue List   (154 more) ...
    • St. Columkille Cemetery
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Pioneer Cemetery
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Glasgow Cemetery
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)

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>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Melrose had a population of 162 people in 1895 with a post office and no railroad service. In 2020, Melrose had a population of 476 people.

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

  • Burr Oak
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Burr Oak is located in La Crosse County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Burr Oak
  • North Bend
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Irving
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Irving is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Irving
  • Cataract
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Cataract is located in Monroe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cataract
  • Mindoro
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
  • Shamrock
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Shamrock is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shamrock
  • Stevenstown
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Stevenstown is located in La Crosse County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stevenstown
  • Hegg
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Hegg is located in Trempealeau County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hegg
  • Burns
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
    • Burns is located in La Crosse County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Burns
  • Sheppard
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Sheppard is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sheppard
  • Black River Falls
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
  • Ettrick
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
    • Ettrick is located in Trempealeau County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ettrick
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 511 people
  • Continue List   (16 more) ...

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Melrose ...

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 133 newspapers that have been published in the area around Melrose.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Melrose. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Melrose and those printed in the larger area surrounding Melrose.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 29 miles [46.7 km]<4> of Melrose.

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 Melrose:

Footnotes ...

<1>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<2>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.
<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 Melrose, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<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- Melrose) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.