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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 Solon Springs (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 Solon Springs. 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 Solon Springs ...

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.

For example, a typical abbreviation for Solon Springs: Solon Spgs. (or less commonly used: Solon Spngs. or Solon Sprngs.)

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 southwest 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 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.

Solon Springs is located in Douglas 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 Douglas County: Carlton (MN), Pine (MN), Saint Louis (MN), Bayfield, Burnett, Sawyer & Washburn.

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

  • Douglas County     (The home county of Solon Springs)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Solon Springs, with the one closest to Solon Springs listed first.
    • Sauntry
      (Less than 2 miles to the north)
      • Sauntry is located in Douglas County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sauntry
    • Bennett
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
      • Bennett is located in Douglas County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bennett
    • Hawthorne
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
      • Hawthorne is located in Douglas County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hawthorne
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,157 people
    • Lake Nebagamon
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Lake Nebagamon is located in Douglas County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Nebagamon
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,064 people
    • Poplar
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
      • Poplar is located in Douglas County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Poplar
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 613 people
    • Moose Junction
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
      • Moose Junction is located in Douglas County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Moose Junction
    • South Range
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
      • South Range is located in Douglas County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Range
    • Dedham
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Dedham is located in Douglas County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dedham
    • Cloverland
      (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
      • Cloverland is located in Douglas County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cloverland
    • Saunders
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
      • Saunders is located in Douglas County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saunders
    • Superior Village
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Superior Village is located in Douglas County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Superior Village
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 713 people
    • Oliver
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Oliver is located in Douglas County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oliver
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 416 people
  • Bayfield County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Solon Springs, with the one closest to Solon Springs listed first.
    • Cable
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
      • Cable is located in Bayfield County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cable
    • Delta
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
      • Delta is located in Bayfield County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Delta
  • Burnett County
    • Webb Lake
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Webb Lake is located in Burnett County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Webb Lake
  • Sawyer County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Solon Springs, with the one closest to Solon Springs listed first.
    • Phipps
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Phipps is located in Sawyer County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Phipps
    • Seeley
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Seeley is located in Sawyer County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Seeley
    • Hayward
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Hayward is located in Sawyer County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hayward
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,352 people
  • Washburn County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Solon Springs, with the one closest to Solon Springs listed first.
    • Minong
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
      • Minong is located in Washburn County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Minong
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 506 people
    • Earl
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
      • Earl is located in Washburn County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Earl
  • Carlton County (MN)
    • Holyoke
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
      • Holyoke is located in Carlton County (MN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holyoke
  • Pine County (MN)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Solon Springs, with the one closest to Solon Springs listed first.
    • Kingsdale
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
      • Kingsdale is located in Pine County (MN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kingsdale
    • Cloverton
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Cloverton is located in Pine County (MN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cloverton
  • Saint Louis County (MN)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Solon Springs, with the one closest to Solon Springs listed first.
    • New Duluth
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
      • New Duluth is located in Saint Louis County (MN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Duluth
    • Gary
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Gary is located in Saint Louis County (MN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gary

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

Cemeteries Near Solon Springs ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Solon Springs.

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 Solon Springs - one of the links might be able to help.

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Solon Springs, with the one closest to Solon Springs listed first.

  • Evergreen Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
  • Bennett Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
  • Barnes Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
  • Highland Memorial Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
  • Parkview Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
  • Wascott Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
  • Riverhill Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
  • Poplar Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
  • Greenwood Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
  • Pine Ridge Cemetery
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
  • Blueberry Cemetery
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
  • Dairyland Cemetery
    (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
  • Continue List   (36 more) ...
    • Lakeside Cemetery
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
    • Forest Home Cemetery
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Chicog Cemetery
      (23 miles [37 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 Solon Springs in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Solon Springs.

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

  • Sauntry
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Sauntry is located in Douglas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sauntry
  • Hawthorne
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Hawthorne is located in Douglas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hawthorne
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,157 people
  • Poplar
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
    • Poplar is located in Douglas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Poplar
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 613 people
  • Minong
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
    • Minong is located in Washburn County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Minong
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 506 people
  • Blueberry
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Blueberry is located in Douglas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blueberry
  • Maple
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
    • Maple is located in Douglas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maple
  • Brule
    (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
    • Brule is located in Douglas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brule
  • South Range
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
    • South Range is located in Douglas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Range
  • Cutter
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
    • Cutter is located in Douglas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cutter
  • Muskeg
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Muskeg is located in Bayfield County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Muskeg
  • Boylston
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Boylston is located in Douglas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Boylston
  • Dedham
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Dedham is located in Douglas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dedham
  • Continue List   (13 more) ...
    • Itasca
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
      • Itasca is located in Douglas County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Itasca
    • Iron River
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
      • Iron River is located in Bayfield County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Iron River
    • South Superior
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
      • South Superior is located in Douglas County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Superior

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

Newspapers Published in Solon Springs ...

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 27 newspapers that have been published in the area around Solon Springs.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Solon Springs, there are papers which were published within 28 miles [45.1 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Solon Springs.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we first turn to 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 Solon Springs:

Footnotes ...

<1>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.
<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 Solon Springs, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<3>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Solon Springs) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.