RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Wisconsin >> Rusk County >> Port Arthur >> Genealogy HelperIndex...










Learn About
The Commemorative
Quarter for
Wisconsin

The Commemorative Quarter for Wisconsin





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 Port Arthur (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 Port Arthur. 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 Port Arthur ...

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.

Although we can't give a definitive list, hopefully the following will give you a feel for the variations that might have occurred.

For example, a typical abbreviation for Port Arthur: Prt. Arthur

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.

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.

Port Arthur is located in Rusk 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 Rusk County: Barron, Chippewa, Price, Sawyer, Taylor & Washburn.

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

  • Rusk County     (The home county of Port Arthur)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Port Arthur, with the one closest to Port Arthur listed first.
    • Ladysmith
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ladysmith have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ladysmith
      • Ladysmith is located in Rusk County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,054 people
    • Bruce
      (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bruce have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bruce
      • Bruce is located in Rusk County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 688 people
    • Conrath
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Conrath have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Conrath
      • Conrath is located in Rusk County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 90 people
    • Apollonia
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Tony
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Tony have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tony
      • Tony is located in Rusk County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 100 people
    • Weyerhaeuser
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Weyerhaeuser have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Weyerhaeuser
      • Weyerhaeuser is located in Rusk County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 210 people
    • Sheldon
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sheldon have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sheldon
      • Sheldon is located in Rusk County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 210 people
    • Glen Flora
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Glen Flora have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glen Flora
      • Glen Flora is located in Rusk County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 85 people
    • Ingram
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ingram have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ingram
      • Ingram is located in Rusk County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 70 people
    • Strickland
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
    • Hawkins
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hawkins have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hawkins
      • Hawkins is located in Rusk County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 275 people
  • Barron County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Port Arthur, with the one closest to Port Arthur listed first.
    • Chetek
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Chetek have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chetek
      • Chetek is located in Barron County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,094 people
    • Cameron
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cameron have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cameron
      • Cameron is located in Barron County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,798 people
    • Rice Lake
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rice Lake have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rice Lake
      • Rice Lake is located in Barron County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 8,498 people
  • Chippewa County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Port Arthur, with the one closest to Port Arthur listed first.
    • Cornell
      (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cornell have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cornell
      • Cornell is located in Chippewa County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,400 people
    • Estella
      (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Estella. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Estella
      • Estella is located in Chippewa County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 452 people
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Estella
      • From Port Arthur to Estella
    • New Auburn
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Drywood
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
    • Bloomer
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Eagleton
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
  • Price County
    • Kennan
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Kennan have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kennan
      • Kennan is located in Price County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 119 people
  • Sawyer County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Port Arthur, with the one closest to Port Arthur listed first.
    • Exeland
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Exeland have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Exeland
      • Exeland is located in Sawyer County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 190 people
    • Radisson
      (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Radisson have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Radisson
      • Radisson is located in Sawyer County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 232 people
    • Couderay
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Couderay have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Couderay
      • Couderay is located in Sawyer County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 86 people
    • Winter
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
  • Taylor County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Port Arthur, with the one closest to Port Arthur listed first.
    • Jump River
      (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
    • Gilman
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Hughey ‑ Historic
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Hughey. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hughey
      • Hughey is located in Taylor County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Hughey
      • From Port Arthur to Hughey
    • Polley
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Perkinstown
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Washburn County
    • Birchwood
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Birchwood have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Birchwood
      • Birchwood is located in Washburn County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 426 people

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

Cemeteries Near Port Arthur ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Port Arthur.

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

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

  • Servants of Mary Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Servants of Mary Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Servants of Mary Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Old Ladysmith Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Old Ladysmith Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Old Ladysmith Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Riverside Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Riverside Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Riverside Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Bruce Protestant Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Bruce Protestant Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Bruce Protestant Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Holy Trinity Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Holy Trinity Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Holy Trinity Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • St. Marys Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Apollonia Catholic Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Apollonia Catholic Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Apollonia Catholic Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Apollonia Protestant Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Apollonia Protestant Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Apollonia Protestant Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • St. Francis Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Francis Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Francis Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Tony Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Tony Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Tony Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Blue Hills Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Blue Hills Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Blue Hills Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Island Lake Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Island Lake Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Island Lake Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (72 more) ...
    • St. Anns Cemetery
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Anns Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Anns Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Woodlawn Cemetery
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Woodlawn Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Woodlawn Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Mud Lake Cemetery
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Mud Lake Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Mud Lake 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.<4>

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

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

  • Estella
    (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Estella. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Estella
    • Estella is located in Chippewa County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 452 people
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Estella
    • From Port Arthur to Estella
  • Lehigh
    (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lehigh have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lehigh
    • Lehigh is located in Barron County
  • Huron
    (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Huron have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Huron
    • Huron is located in Chippewa County
  • Canton
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Canton have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Canton
    • Canton is located in Barron County
  • Chetek
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Chetek have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chetek
    • Chetek is located in Barron County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,094 people
  • Drywood
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
  • Eagleton
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
  • Kennan
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Kennan have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kennan
    • Kennan is located in Price County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 119 people
  • Rice Lake
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rice Lake have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rice Lake
    • Rice Lake is located in Barron County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 8,498 people
  • Cameron
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cameron have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cameron
    • Cameron is located in Barron County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,798 people
  • Eagle Point
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Eagle Point have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eagle Point
    • Eagle Point is located in Chippewa County

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

Newspapers Published in Port Arthur ...

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 34 newspapers that have been published in the area around Port Arthur.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Port Arthur, there are papers which were published within 28 miles [45.1 km]<5>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Port Arthur.

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 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 Port Arthur:

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

The official website for Rusk County: www.ruskcounty.org/

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>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.
<4>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 Port Arthur, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<5>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Port Arthur) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Port Arthur. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 45.4290, Longitude: -91.1624    









 

Copyright 2025
All Rights Reserved

Thank you for visiting our website.

In closing, please keep in mind that we can not guarantee the accuracy or timeliness of the information on this website, so use with care. We encourage you to double-check the information that is critical to you.

If you've found an error or have additional information that you would like to share, please don't hesitate to write: Click here to contact us.

This page was last modified/updated: 29 Apr 2025