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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 Oshkosh (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 Oshkosh. 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 Oshkosh ...

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.

In past government published Postal Guides, Oshkosh was referred to as Oshkosh Courthouse.

You might be interested in other communities that are also named Oshkosh. More information can be found on our Tidbits & Trivia Page for Oshkosh.

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.

For more information about how community names might have been affected by the Board of Geographic Names (BGN), see our page about Placename Rules.

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 northeast corner of their home county. During their lives, most hospitals were in the next county to the east. 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 east 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.

Oshkosh is located in Winnebago County and is the County Seat.

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 Winnebago County: Calumet, Fond du Lac, Green Lake, Outagamie, Waupaca & Waushara.

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

  • Winnebago County     (The home county of Oshkosh)
  • Brown County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Oshkosh, with the one closest to Oshkosh listed first.
    • Askeaton
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Wrightstown
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Sniderville
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Sniderville is located in Brown County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sniderville
    • Greenleaf
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Calumet County
  • Dodge County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Oshkosh, with the one closest to Oshkosh listed first.
    • Brownsville
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
      • Brownsville is located in Dodge County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brownsville
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 585 people
    • Waupun
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
    • Lomira
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
  • Fond du Lac County
  • Green Lake County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Oshkosh, with the one closest to Oshkosh listed first.
    • Berlin
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
    • Green Lake
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
      • Green Lake is located in Green Lake County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Lake
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 959 people
    • Utley
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
  • Manitowoc County
  • Outagamie County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Oshkosh, with the one closest to Oshkosh listed first.
    • Appleton
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
    • Medina
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
    • Greenville
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
      • Greenville is located in Outagamie County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenville
    • Kimberly
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Combined Locks
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Little Chute
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Hortonville
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
    • Apple Creek
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
    • Freedom
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Shiocton
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
      • Shiocton is located in Outagamie County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shiocton
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 914 people
  • Sheboygan County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Oshkosh, with the one closest to Oshkosh listed first.
    • Elkhart Lake
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Elkhart Lake is located in Sheboygan County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elkhart Lake
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,013 people
    • Glenbeulah
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Glenbeulah is located in Sheboygan County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glenbeulah
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 467 people
  • Waupaca County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Oshkosh, with the one closest to Oshkosh listed first.
    • Fremont
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Gills Landing
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
    • New London
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
      • New London is located in Waupaca County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New London
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 7,065 people
    • Weyauwega
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Weyauwega is located in Waupaca County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Weyauwega
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,745 people
    • Ostrander
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Waushara County

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

Cemeteries Near Oshkosh ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Oshkosh.

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

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Oshkosh, with the one closest to Oshkosh 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 Oshkosh had a population of 22,836 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Oshkosh had a population of 66,495 people.

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

  • Winnebago
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Winnebago is located in Winnebago County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Winnebago
  • Fitzgerald
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
  • Zion
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Zion is located in Winnebago County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Zion
  • Black Wolf
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Black Wolf is located in Winnebago County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Black Wolf
  • Butte des Morts
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Butte des Morts is located in Winnebago County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Butte des Morts
  • Fisk
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
  • Allenville
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
  • Snells
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Snells is located in Winnebago County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Snells
  • Ring
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Ring is located in Winnebago County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ring
  • Van Dyne
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Van Dyne is located in Fond du Lac County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Van Dyne
  • Elo
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Elo is located in Winnebago County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elo
  • Omro
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...
    • Waukau
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
      • Waukau is located in Winnebago County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Waukau
    • Stockbridge
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
      • Stockbridge is located in Calumet County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stockbridge
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 619 people
    • Neenah
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Oshkosh ...

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 112 newspapers that have been published in the area around Oshkosh.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Oshkosh. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Oshkosh and those printed in the larger area surrounding Oshkosh.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 21 miles [33.8 km]<3> of Oshkosh.

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 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 Oshkosh:

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 Oshkosh, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<3>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Oshkosh) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.