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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 Edwards (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 Edwards. 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 Edwards ...

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.

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

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 northwest corner of their home county. During their lives, most doctors and hospitals 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.

Port Edwards is located in Wood 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 Wood County: Adams, Clark, Jackson, Juneau, Marathon & Portage.

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

  • Wood County     (The home county of Port Edwards)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Port Edwards, with the one closest to Port Edwards listed first.
    • Wisconsin Rapids
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Nekoosa
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Grand Rapids
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Lake Wazeecha
      (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
      • Lake Wazeecha is located in Wood County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Wazeecha
    • Biron
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Biron is located in Wood County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Biron
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 761 people
    • Eight Corners
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Rudolph
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
      • Rudolph is located in Wood County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rudolph
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 411 people
    • Vesper
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Pittsville
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Pittsville is located in Wood County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pittsville
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 820 people
    • Arpin
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Arpin is located in Wood County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Arpin
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 305 people
    • Sherry
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
    • Milladore
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
  • Adams County
  • Clark County
  • Jackson County
  • Juneau County
  • Marathon County
  • Portage County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Port Edwards, with the one closest to Port Edwards listed first.
    • Junction City
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
      • Junction City is located in Portage County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Junction City
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 439 people
    • Plover
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Plover is located in Portage County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plover
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 13,252 people
    • Whiting
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Whiting is located in Portage County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Whiting
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,704 people
    • Stevens Point
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
    • Park Ridge
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
      • Park Ridge is located in Portage County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Park Ridge
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 496 people
    • Arnott
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
    • Almond
      (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
    • Custer
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Ellis
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Torun
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Polonia
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Blaine
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
  • Waushara County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Port Edwards, with the one closest to Port Edwards listed first.
    • Plainfield
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Plainfield is located in Waushara County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plainfield
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 832 people
    • Hancock
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Hancock is located in Waushara County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hancock
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 402 people
    • Coloma
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Coloma is located in Waushara County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coloma
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 444 people

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

Cemeteries Near Port Edwards ...

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

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

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Port Edwards, with the one closest to Port Edwards 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>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Port Edwards had a population of 37 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Port Edwards had a population of 1,752 people.

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

  • Walker
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Walker is located in Wood County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Walker
  • New Rome ‑ Historic
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
  • Vesper
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
  • Rudolph
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Rudolph is located in Wood County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rudolph
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 411 people
  • Babcock
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
    • Babcock is located in Wood County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Babcock
  • Meehan
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Meehan is located in Portage County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meehan
  • Pittsville
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Pittsville is located in Wood County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pittsville
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 820 people
  • Veedum
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
    • Veedum is located in Wood County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Veedum
  • Monroe Center
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
    • Monroe Center is located in Adams County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Monroe Center
  • Sherry
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
  • Bancroft
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
    • Bancroft is located in Portage County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bancroft
  • Junction City
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
    • Junction City is located in Portage County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Junction City
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 439 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 Port Edwards. See our List of 1890's Communities around Port Edwards.

Newspapers Published in Port Edwards ...

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 48 newspapers that have been published in the area around Port Edwards.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Port Edwards, there are papers which were published within 29 miles [46.7 km]<1>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Port Edwards.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we begin 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 Port Edwards:

Footnotes ...

<1>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 drawn from Point A (ie- Port Edwards) 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 Edwards, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.