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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 Purdy (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 Purdy. 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.

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 and doctors 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.

Purdy is located in Vernon 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 Vernon County: Allamakee (IA), Houston (MN), Crawford, Juneau, La Crosse, Monroe, Richland & Sauk.

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

  • Vernon County     (The home county of Purdy)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Purdy, with the one closest to Purdy listed first.
    • West Prairie
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
      • West Prairie is located in Vernon County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Prairie
    • Newton
      (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Retreat
      (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Fargo
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Liberty Pole
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Viroqua
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
      • Viroqua is located in Vernon County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Viroqua
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 4,394 people
    • Genoa
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Chaseburg
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Coon Valley
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
    • Westby
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Stoddard
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Liberty
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
      • Liberty is located in Vernon County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Liberty
    • Readstown
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
      • Readstown is located in Vernon County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Readstown
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 414 people
  • Crawford County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Purdy, with the one closest to Purdy listed first.
    • Rising Sun
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Freeman
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
      • Freeman is located in Crawford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Freeman
    • De Soto
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Towerville
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Ferryville
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
      • Ferryville is located in Crawford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ferryville
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 173 people
    • Mount Sterling
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Mount Sterling is located in Crawford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Sterling
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 196 people
    • Gays Mills
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Gays Mills is located in Crawford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gays Mills
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 504 people
    • Soldiers Grove
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Soldiers Grove is located in Crawford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Soldiers Grove
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 535 people
    • Bell Center
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Petersburg
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Charme
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
      • Charme is located in Crawford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Charme
    • Eastman
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
      • Eastman is located in Crawford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eastman
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 404 people
    • Steuben
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
  • La Crosse County
  • Monroe County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Purdy, with the one closest to Purdy listed first.
    • Cashton
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Cashton is located in Monroe County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cashton
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,111 people
    • Melvina
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Oil City
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Oil City is located in Monroe County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oil City
    • Norwalk
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Richland County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Purdy, with the one closest to Purdy listed first.
    • Viola
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
    • Sabin
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
    • Bloom City
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
    • Boaz
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Westport
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Westport is located in Richland County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Westport
    • Gillingham
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
  • Allamakee County (IA)
  • Houston County (MN)

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

Cemeteries Near Purdy ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Purdy.

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

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Purdy, with the one closest to Purdy 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 Purdy had a population of 32 people in 1895 with a post office and no railroad service.

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

  • West Prairie
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • West Prairie is located in Vernon County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Prairie
  • Red Mound
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Red Mound is located in Vernon County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Red Mound
  • Retreat
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
  • Romance
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Romance is located in Vernon County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Romance
  • Newton
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
  • Fargo
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Liberty Pole
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
  • Springville
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Springville is located in Vernon County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Springville
  • Victory
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Victory is located in Vernon County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Victory
  • Rising Sun
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
  • Viroqua
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Viroqua is located in Vernon County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Viroqua
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 4,394 people
  • Esofea
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Esofea is located in Vernon County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Esofea
  • Continue List   (15 more) ...
    • De Soto
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Genoa
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Chaseburg
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)

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

Newspapers Published in Purdy ...

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 121 newspapers that have been published in the area around Purdy.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Purdy, there are papers which were published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Purdy.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we like to start with the websites from Cyndi's List, FamilySearch and Genealogy Trails. These professional and volunteer 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 Purdy:

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>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 Purdy, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>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 from Point A (ie- Purdy) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.