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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 Rockland (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 Rockland. 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 Rockland ...

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.

Another variation: Rock Land.

You might be interested in other communities that are also named Rockland. More information can be found on our Tidbits & Trivia Page for Rockland.

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 doctors and 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.

Rockland is primarily located in La Crosse County. A portion of Rockland extends into Monroe 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 La Crosse County: Houston (MN), Winona (MN), Jackson, Monroe, Trempealeau & Vernon.

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

  • La Crosse County     (The home county of Rockland)
  • Crawford County
    • Lynxville
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Lynxville is located in Crawford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lynxville
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 125 people
  • Jackson County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Rockland, with the one closest to Rockland listed first.
    • Melrose
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
    • North Bend
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Millston
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Black River Falls
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
    • Taylor
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
      • Taylor is located in Jackson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Taylor
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 473 people
  • Monroe County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Rockland, with the one closest to Rockland listed first.
    • Sparta
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Angelo
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Melvina
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Cashton
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
      • Cashton is located in Monroe County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cashton
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,111 people
    • Norwalk
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
    • Tunnel City
      (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
      • Tunnel City is located in Monroe County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tunnel City
    • Oil City
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
      • Oil City is located in Monroe County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oil City
    • Wilton
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
      • Wilton is located in Monroe County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wilton
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 498 people
    • Tomah
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
      • Tomah is located in Monroe County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tomah
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 9,363 people
    • Warrens
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Warrens is located in Monroe County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Warrens
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 346 people
    • Oakdale
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
    • Wyeville
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
      • Wyeville is located in Monroe County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wyeville
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 141 people
    • Valley Junction
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
  • Richland County
    • Viola
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Trempealeau County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Rockland, with the one closest to Rockland listed first.
    • Galesville
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Ettrick
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Ettrick is located in Trempealeau County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ettrick
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 511 people
    • Frenchville
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Trempealeau
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
      • Trempealeau is located in Trempealeau County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Trempealeau
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,663 people
    • Wrights Corners
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Vernon County
  • Houston County (MN)
  • Winona County (MN)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Rockland, with the one closest to Rockland listed first.
    • Dakota
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
      • Dakota is located in Winona County (MN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dakota
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 307 people
    • Nodine
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
    • Lamoille
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)

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

Cemeteries Near Rockland ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Rockland.

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

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Rockland, with the one closest to Rockland 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.<4>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Rockland had a population of 32 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Rockland had a population of 710 people.

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

  • Burns
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Burns is located in La Crosse County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Burns
  • Leon
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Leon is located in Monroe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leon
  • Sparta
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
  • Middle Ridge
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
  • Angelo
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
  • West Salem
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
  • Barre Mills
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
  • Saint Joseph
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
  • Melvina
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
  • Burr Oak
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Burr Oak is located in La Crosse County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Burr Oak
  • Mindoro
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Cashton
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Cashton is located in Monroe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cashton
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,111 people
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...
    • Saint Marys
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
      • Saint Marys is located in Monroe County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saint Marys
    • Cataract
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
      • Cataract is located in Monroe County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cataract
    • Medary
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
      • Medary is located in La Crosse County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Medary

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

Newspapers Published in Rockland ...

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 167 newspapers that have been published in the area around Rockland.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Rockland, there are papers which were published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<2>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Rockland.

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 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 Rockland:

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>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- Rockland) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>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.
<4>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 Rockland, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.