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.

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 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 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)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Moquah
    • Moquah is located in Bayfield County
  • Delta
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Delta
    • Delta is located in Bayfield County
  • Benoit
    (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Benoit
    • Benoit is located in Bayfield County
  • Washburn
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Washburn
    • Washburn is located in Bayfield County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,049 people
  • Sutherland
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sutherland
    • Sutherland is located in Bayfield County
  • Bayfield
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bayfield
    • Bayfield is located in Bayfield County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 474 people
  • Mason
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mason have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mason
    • Mason is located in Bayfield County
    • 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)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ashland
    • Ashland is located in Ashland County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 7,766 people
  • La Pointe
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for La Pointe
    • La Pointe is located in Ashland County
• 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)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cloverland have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cloverland
    • Cloverland is located in Douglas County
  • Lake Nebagamon
    (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lake Nebagamon have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Nebagamon
    • Lake Nebagamon is located in Douglas County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,064 people
  • Poplar
    (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Poplar
    • Poplar is located in Douglas County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 613 people
  • Hawthorne
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hawthorne
    • Hawthorne is located in Douglas County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,157 people
  • South Range
    (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Range
    • South Range is located in Douglas County
• 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)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Two Harbors
    • Two Harbors is located in Lake County (MN)
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,508 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Two Harbors <2>
  • Knife River
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Knife River have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Knife River
    • Knife River is located in Lake County (MN)
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Knife River <2>
  • Stewart
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Stewart have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stewart
    • Stewart is located in Lake County (MN)

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

• Websites specific to Wisconsin
  • Jump to Cyndi's List
  • Jump to Family Search
  • Jump to Genealogy Trails
  • Website for the //www.wisconsinhistory.org/

• Pages specific to Bayfield County
  • Jump to Cyndi's List
  • Jump to Family Search
  • Jump to Genealogy Trails

• Genealogy information for nearby counties
  • Ashland County
    • Jump to Cyndi's List
    • Jump to Family Search
    • Jump to Genealogy Trails
  • Douglas County
    • Jump to Cyndi's List
    • Jump to Family Search
    • Jump to Genealogy Trails
  • Lake County
    • Jump to Cyndi's List
    • Jump to Family Search
    • Jump to Genealogy Trails

• Cemetery Information and Directories for Wisconsin
  • Cemetery Junction: Cemeteries of Wisconsin
  • Cyndi's List
  • Cemeteries of Wisconsin
  • Cemeteries of Bayfield County
  • FamilySearch.org: Cemeteries of Wisconsin
  • Find-A-Grave: Home Page
  • Interment.net
  • Cemeteries of Wisconsin

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.

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 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)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Greenwood Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Greenwood Cemetery
• Hillside Cemetery
  (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Hillside Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Hillside Cemetery
• Herbster Cemetery
  (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Herbster Cemetery
• Rest Haven Cemetery
  (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Rest Haven Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Rest Haven Cemetery
• Oulu Cemetery
  (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Oulu Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Oulu Cemetery
• Hillcrest Cemetery
  (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Hillcrest Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Hillcrest Cemetery
• Valley View Cemetery
  (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Valley View Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Valley View Cemetery
• Ever Rest Cemetery
  (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Ever Rest Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Ever Rest Cemetery
• Pine Glade Cemetery
  (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Pine Glade Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Pine Glade Cemetery
• Bell Cemetery
  (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Bell Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Bell Cemetery
• City Cemetery
  (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the City Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the City Cemetery
• Pine Ridge Cemetery
  (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Pine Ridge Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Pine Ridge Cemetery
• Continue List   (21 more) ...
  • Blueberry Cemetery
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Blueberry Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Blueberry Cemetery
  • Lakeside Cemetery
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Lakeside Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Lakeside Cemetery
  • Pike River Cemetery
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Pike River Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Pike River Cemetery

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 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)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Muskeg have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Muskeg
  • Muskeg is located in Bayfield County
• Iron River
  (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Iron River have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Iron River
  • Iron River is located in Bayfield County
• Topside
  (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Topside have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Topside
  • Topside is located in Bayfield County
• Brule
  (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Brule have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brule
  • Brule is located in Douglas County
• Blueberry
  (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Blueberry have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blueberry
  • Blueberry is located in Douglas County
• Ino
  (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ino have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ino
  • Ino is located in Bayfield County
• Maple
  (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Maple have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maple
  • Maple is located in Douglas County
• Moquah
  (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Moquah
  • Moquah is located in Bayfield County
• Two Harbors
  (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Two Harbors
  • Two Harbors is located in Lake County (MN)
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,508 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Two Harbors <2>
• Pike River
  (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Pike River have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pike River
  • Pike River is located in Bayfield County
• Poplar
  (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Poplar
  • Poplar is located in Douglas County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 613 people
• Benoit
  (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Benoit
  • Benoit is located in Bayfield County
• Continue List   (9 more) ...
  • Ashland Junction
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ashland Junction have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ashland Junction
    • Ashland Junction is located in Bayfield County
  • Washburn
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Washburn
    • Washburn is located in Bayfield County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,049 people
  • Clifton
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Clifton have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clifton
    • Clifton is located in Saint Louis County (MN)

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.

Off-the-Road Links ...

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

The official website for Bayfield County: www.bayfieldcounty.org/

The official website for State of Wisconsin: https://www.wisconsin.gov/