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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 Valley Junction (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 Valley Junction. 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 Valley Junction ...

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 Valley Junction: Valley Jct. (or less commonly used: Valley Jctn.)

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

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 northeast 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 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 east 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.

Valley Junction is located in 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 Monroe County: Jackson, Juneau, La Crosse & Vernon.

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

  • Monroe County     (The home county of Valley Junction)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Valley Junction, with the one closest to Valley Junction listed first.
    • Wyeville
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Wyeville is located in Monroe County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wyeville
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 141 people
    • Shennington
      (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Warrens
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Warrens is located in Monroe County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Warrens
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 346 people
    • Oakdale
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Tomah
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Tomah is located in Monroe County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tomah
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 9,363 people
    • Tunnel City
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
      • Tunnel City is located in Monroe County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tunnel City
    • Clifton
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
    • Wilton
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
      • Wilton is located in Monroe County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wilton
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 498 people
    • Kendall
      (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
      • Kendall is located in Monroe County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kendall
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 472 people
    • Norwalk
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
    • Angelo
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
    • Sparta
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
  • Adams County
  • Crawford County
    • Lynxville
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Lynxville is located in Crawford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lynxville
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 125 people
  • Jackson County
  • Juneau County
  • La Crosse County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Valley Junction, with the one closest to Valley Junction listed first.
    • Rockland
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
    • Bangor
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
      • Bangor is located in La Crosse County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bangor
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,442 people
  • Vernon County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Valley Junction, with the one closest to Valley Junction listed first.
    • Trippville
      (23 miles [37 km] to the south)
    • Mount Tabor
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
    • Ontario
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
      • Ontario is located in Vernon County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ontario
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 561 people
    • Hillsboro
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
    • White City
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
      • White City is located in Vernon County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for White City
  • Wood County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Valley Junction, with the one closest to Valley Junction listed first.
    • Nekoosa
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Pittsville
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Pittsville is located in Wood County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pittsville
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 820 people

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

Cemeteries Near Valley Junction ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Valley Junction.

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 Valley Junction - one of the links might be able to help.

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

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

  • Wood Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
  • St. Peters Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
  • Dannavang Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
  • St. Johns Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
  • LaGrange Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
  • Warren Mills Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Greenfield Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Boyonton Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
  • St. Marys Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Oak Grove Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
  • St. Marys Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Oakdale Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
  • Continue List   (135 more) ...
    • Pine Grove Cemetery
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Mt. Vernon Cemetery
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Sorenson Cemetery
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)

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.<1>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Valley Junction had a population of 42 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service.

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

  • Wyeville
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Wyeville is located in Monroe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wyeville
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 141 people
  • Tomah
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Tomah is located in Monroe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tomah
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 9,363 people
  • Oakdale
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
  • Norway Ridge
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Norway Ridge is located in Monroe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Norway Ridge
  • Warrens
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Warrens is located in Monroe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Warrens
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 346 people
  • Kirby
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Kirby is located in Monroe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kirby
  • Tunnel City
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Tunnel City is located in Monroe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tunnel City
  • Mather
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
  • Camp Douglas
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Cloverdale
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
    • Cloverdale is located in Juneau County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cloverdale
  • Clifton
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
  • Hustler
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
  • Continue List   (16 more) ...

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Valley Junction ...

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 90 newspapers that have been published in the area around Valley Junction.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Valley Junction. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Valley Junction and those printed in the larger area surrounding Valley Junction.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<2> of Valley Junction.

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 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 Valley Junction:

Footnotes ...

<1>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 Valley Junction, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<2>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Valley Junction) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.