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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 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 occur.

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

You might be interested in other communities that are also named Port Arthur. More information can be found on our Tidbits & Trivia Page for Port 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 southeast 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 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 east 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 may 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)
    • Bruce
      (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
      • Bruce is located in Rusk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bruce
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 688 people
    • Conrath
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Conrath is located in Rusk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Conrath
      • 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)
      • Tony is located in Rusk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tony
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 100 people
    • Weyerhaeuser
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
      • Weyerhaeuser is located in Rusk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Weyerhaeuser
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 210 people
    • Sheldon
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Sheldon is located in Rusk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sheldon
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 210 people
    • Glen Flora
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
      • Glen Flora is located in Rusk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glen Flora
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 85 people
    • Ingram
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
      • Ingram is located in Rusk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ingram
      • 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)
      • Hawkins is located in Rusk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hawkins
      • 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)
      • Chetek is located in Barron County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chetek
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,094 people
    • Cameron
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
      • Cameron is located in Barron County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cameron
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,798 people
    • Rice Lake
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
      • Rice Lake is located in Barron County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rice Lake
      • 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)
      • Cornell is located in Chippewa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cornell
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,400 people
    • Estella
      (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
    • 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)
      • Kennan is located in Price County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kennan
      • 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)
      • Exeland is located in Sawyer County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Exeland
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 190 people
    • Radisson
      (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
      • Radisson is located in Sawyer County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Radisson
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 232 people
    • Couderay
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
      • Couderay is located in Sawyer County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Couderay
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 86 people
    • Winter
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
  • Taylor County
  • Washburn County
    • Birchwood
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
      • Birchwood is located in Washburn County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Birchwood
      • 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.

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 Port Arthur - one of the links might be able to help.

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.

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>

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)
  • Lehigh
    (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
    • Lehigh is located in Barron County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lehigh
  • Huron
    (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
    • Huron is located in Chippewa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Huron
  • Canton
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
    • Canton is located in Barron County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Canton
  • Chetek
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
    • Chetek is located in Barron County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chetek
    • 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)
    • Kennan is located in Price County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kennan
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 119 people
  • Rice Lake
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
    • Rice Lake is located in Barron County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rice Lake
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 8,498 people
  • Cameron
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
    • Cameron is located in Barron County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cameron
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,798 people
  • Eagle Point
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
    • Eagle Point is located in Chippewa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eagle Point

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]<1>. 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 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 Port Arthur:

Footnotes ...

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