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 Wing (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 Wing. 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 Wing ...
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 Wing: Prt. Wing
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 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 Wing is located in Bayfield 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 Bayfield County: Ashland, Douglas, Sawyer & Washburn.
Below are the counties that are near Port Wing. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Port Wing:
- Bayfield County (The home county of Port Wing)
- The following are listed by their distance from Port Wing, with the one closest to Port Wing listed first.
- Moquah
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
- Moquah is located in Bayfield County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Moquah
- Delta
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
- Delta is located in Bayfield County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Delta
- Benoit
(23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
- Benoit is located in Bayfield County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Benoit
- Washburn
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
- Washburn is located in Bayfield County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Washburn
- Population from the 2020 Census: 2,049 people
- Sutherland
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
- Sutherland is located in Bayfield County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sutherland
- Bayfield
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
- Bayfield is located in Bayfield County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bayfield
- Population from the 2020 Census: 474 people
- Mason
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
- Mason is located in Bayfield County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mason
- Population from the 2020 Census: 99 people
- Ashland County
- The following are listed by their distance from Port Wing, with the one closest to Port Wing listed first.
- Ashland
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
- Ashland is located in Ashland County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ashland
- Population from the 2020 Census: 7,766 people
- La Pointe
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
- La Pointe is located in Ashland County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for La Pointe
- White River
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
- White River is located in Ashland County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for White River
- Douglas County
- The following are listed by their distance from Port Wing, with the one closest to Port Wing listed first.
- Cloverland
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
- Cloverland is located in Douglas County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cloverland
- Lake Nebagamon
(23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
- Lake Nebagamon is located in Douglas County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Nebagamon
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,064 people
- Poplar
(23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
- Poplar is located in Douglas County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Poplar
- Population from the 2020 Census: 613 people
- Hawthorne
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
- Hawthorne is located in Douglas County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hawthorne
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,157 people
- South Range
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
- South Range is located in Douglas County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Range
- Lake County (MN)
- The following are listed by their distance from Port Wing, with the one closest to Port Wing listed first.
- Two Harbors
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
- Knife River
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
- Stewart
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
- Stewart is located in Lake County (MN)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stewart
- Saint Louis County (MN)
- Clifton
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
- Clifton is located in Saint Louis County (MN)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clifton
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Port Wing, see our County-by-County Page for Port Wing.
Cemeteries Near Port Wing ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Port Wing.
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 Wing - one of the links might be able to help.
If not found below, our Cemetery List for Port Wing covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Port Wing, with the one closest to Port Wing listed first.
- Greenwood Cemetery
(Less than 2 miles to the south)
- Hillside Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the south)
- Herbster Cemetery
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
- Rest Haven Cemetery
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
- Oulu Cemetery
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
- Hillcrest Cemetery
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
- Valley View Cemetery
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
- Ever Rest Cemetery
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
- Pine Glade Cemetery
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
- Bell Cemetery
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
- City Cemetery
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
- Pine Ridge Cemetery
(18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
- Continue List (22 more) ...
- Blueberry Cemetery
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
- Lakeside Cemetery
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
- Pike River Cemetery
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
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>
While we didn't find Port Wing in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Port Wing.
These communities are listed based on their distance from Port Wing, with the one closest to Port Wing listed first.
- Muskeg
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
- Muskeg is located in Bayfield County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Muskeg
- Iron River
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
- Iron River is located in Bayfield County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Iron River
- Topside
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
- Topside is located in Bayfield County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Topside
- Brule
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
- Brule is located in Douglas County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brule
- Blueberry
(18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
- Blueberry is located in Douglas County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blueberry
- Ino
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
- Ino is located in Bayfield County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ino
- Maple
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
- Maple is located in Douglas County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maple
- Moquah
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
- Moquah is located in Bayfield County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Moquah
- Two Harbors
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
- Pike River
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
- Pike River is located in Bayfield County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pike River
- Poplar
(23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
- Poplar is located in Douglas County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Poplar
- Population from the 2020 Census: 613 people
- Benoit
(23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
- Benoit is located in Bayfield County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Benoit
- Continue List (9 more) ...
- Ashland Junction
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
- Ashland Junction is located in Bayfield County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ashland Junction
- Washburn
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
- Washburn is located in Bayfield County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Washburn
- Population from the 2020 Census: 2,049 people
- Clifton
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
- Clifton is located in Saint Louis County (MN)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clifton
We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Port Wing. See our List of 1890's Communities around Port Wing.
Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Port Wing ...
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 50 newspapers that have been published in the area around Port Wing.
We have organized these newspapers into two lists:
- A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Port Wing. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Port Wing and those printed in the larger area surrounding Port Wing.
- An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 28 miles [45.1 km]<3> of Port Wing.
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 Wing:
- Websites specific to Wisconsin
- Pages specific to Bayfield County
- Genealogy information for nearby counties
- Ashland County
- Douglas County
- Lake County
- Saint Louis County
- Cemetery Information and Directories for Wisconsin
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> | 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 Wing, 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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Port Wing) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |