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 Spooner (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 Spooner. 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 northwest 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 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.
Spooner is located in Washburn 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 Washburn County: Barron, Bayfield, Burnett, Douglas, Rusk & Sawyer.
Below are the counties that are near Spooner. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Spooner:
- Washburn County (The home county of Spooner)
- The following are listed by their distance from Spooner, with the one closest to Spooner listed first.
- Shell Lake
(5 miles [8 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Shell Lake have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shell Lake
- Shell Lake is located in Washburn County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,318 people
- Earl
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Earl
- Earl is located in Washburn County
- Madge
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Madge
- Madge is located in Washburn County
- Nobleton
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast) - Minong
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the north) - Birchwood
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
- Barron County
- The following are listed by their distance from Spooner, with the one closest to Spooner listed first.
- Haugen
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the south) - Cumberland
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cumberland have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cumberland
- Cumberland is located in Barron County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 2,097 people
- Rice Lake
(23 miles [37 km] to the south) - Poskin
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Poskin
- Poskin is located in Barron County
- Almena
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the south) - Barron
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Barron
- Barron is located in Barron County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 3,235 people
- Cameron
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
- Burnett County
- The following are listed by their distance from Spooner, with the one closest to Spooner listed first.
- Bashaw
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest) - Hertel
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hertel
- Hertel is located in Burnett County
- Webb Lake
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Webb Lake
- Webb Lake is located in Burnett County
- Webster
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the west) - Siren
(23 miles [37 km] to the west)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Siren
- Siren is located in Burnett County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 780 people
- Polk County
- The following are listed by their distance from Spooner, with the one closest to Spooner listed first.
- Clam Falls
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clam Falls
- Clam Falls is located in Polk County
- Frederic
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
- Sawyer County
- The following are listed by their distance from Spooner, with the one closest to Spooner listed first.
- Stone Lake
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stone Lake
- Stone Lake is located in Sawyer County
- Hayward
(23 miles [37 km] to the northeast) - Reserve
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Reserve
- Reserve is located in Sawyer County
- Chief Lake
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Chief Lake have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chief Lake
- Chief Lake is located in Sawyer County
- Little Round Lake
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Little Round Lake have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Little Round Lake
- Little Round Lake is located in Sawyer County
- Couderay
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the east) - Phipps
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Phipps
- Phipps is located in Sawyer County
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Spooner, see our County-by-County Page for Spooner.
Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Spooner ...
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 59 newspapers that have been published in the area around Spooner.
We have organized these newspapers into two lists:
- A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Spooner. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Spooner and those printed in the larger area surrounding Spooner.
- An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 29 miles [46.7 km]<2> of Spooner.
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 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 Spooner:
- 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 Washburn County
- Jump to Cyndi's List
- Jump to Family Search
- Jump to Genealogy Trails
- Genealogy information for nearby counties
- Barron County
- Jump to Cyndi's List
- Jump to Family Search
- Jump to Genealogy Trails
- Burnett County
- Jump to Cyndi's List
- Jump to Family Search
- Jump to Genealogy Trails
- Polk County
- Jump to Cyndi's List
- Jump to Family Search
- Jump to Genealogy Trails
- Sawyer County
- Jump to Cyndi's List
- Jump to Family Search
- Jump to Genealogy Trails
- Barron County
- Cemetery Information and Directories for Wisconsin
- Cemetery Junction: Cemeteries of Wisconsin
- Cyndi's List
- Cemeteries of Wisconsin
- Cemeteries of Washburn County
- FamilySearch.org: Cemeteries of Wisconsin
- Find-A-Grave: Home Page
- Interment.net
- Cemeteries of Wisconsin
Cemeteries Near Spooner ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Spooner.
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 Spooner covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Spooner, with the one closest to Spooner listed first.
- Rocky Ridge Cemetery
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Rocky Ridge Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Rocky Ridge Cemetery
- Shell Lake Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Shell Lake Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Shell Lake Cemetery
- Sarona Cemetery
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Sarona Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Sarona Cemetery
- Greendale Cemetery
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Greendale Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Greendale Cemetery
- Clam River Cemetery
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Clam River Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Clam River Cemetery
- Rosewood Cemetery
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Rosewood Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Rosewood Cemetery
- Lakeside Cemetery
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)- 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
- St. Lukes Cemetery
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Lukes Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Lukes Cemetery
- Lampson Cemetery
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Lampson Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Lampson Cemetery
- Sacred Hearts Cemetery
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Sacred Hearts Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Sacred Hearts Cemetery
- Chicog Cemetery
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Chicog Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Chicog Cemetery
- Bohemian National Cemetery
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Bohemian National Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Bohemian National Cemetery
- Continue List (56 more) ...
- Big Sand Lake Cemetery
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Big Sand Lake Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Big Sand Lake Cemetery
- Webb Lake Cemetery
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Webb Lake Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Webb Lake Cemetery
- Evergreen Cemetery
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Evergreen Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Evergreen Cemetery
- Big Sand Lake 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.<3>
The Rand McNally Atlas shows that in 1895, Spooner had a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Spooner had a population of 2,553 people.
These communities are listed based on their distance from Spooner, with the one closest to Spooner listed first.
- Shell Lake
(5 miles [8 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Shell Lake have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shell Lake
- Shell Lake is located in Washburn County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,318 people
- Bashaw
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest) - Barronett
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the south) - Nobleton
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast) - Haugen
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the south) - Minong
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the north) - Cumberland
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cumberland have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cumberland
- Cumberland is located in Barron County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 2,097 people
- Clam Falls
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clam Falls
- Clam Falls is located in Polk County
- Rice Lake
(23 miles [37 km] to the south) - Hayward
(23 miles [37 km] to the northeast) - Reserve
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Reserve
- Reserve is located in Sawyer County
- Comstock
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the south) - Continue List (6 more) ...
- Phipps
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Phipps
- Phipps is located in Sawyer County
- Almena
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the south) - Barron
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Barron
- Barron is located in Barron County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 3,235 people
- Phipps
We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Spooner. See our List of 1890's Communities around Spooner.
Off-the-Road Links ...
The official website for Spooner: https://cityofspoonerwi.gov/
The official website for Washburn County: www.co.washburn.wi.us/
The official website for State of Wisconsin: https://www.wisconsin.gov/
Footnotes ...
| <1> | The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required. |
| <2> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Spooner) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Spooner. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 45.8244, Longitude: -91.8938 In this case, the coordinates for Spooner have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <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 Spooner, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |