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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 Vesper (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 Vesper. 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 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.

Vesper is located in Wood 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 Wood County: Adams, Clark, Jackson, Juneau, Marathon & Portage.

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

  • Wood County     (The home county of Vesper)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Vesper, with the one closest to Vesper listed first.
    • Eight Corners
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Arpin
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
      • Arpin is located in Wood County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Arpin
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 305 people
    • Sherry
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Rudolph
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
      • Rudolph is located in Wood County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rudolph
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 411 people
    • Pittsville
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
      • Pittsville is located in Wood County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pittsville
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 820 people
    • Blenker
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Biron
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
      • Biron is located in Wood County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Biron
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 761 people
    • Auburndale
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
      • Auburndale is located in Wood County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Auburndale
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 658 people
    • Milladore
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Port Edwards
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Wisconsin Rapids
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Grand Rapids
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Lake Wazeecha
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Lake Wazeecha is located in Wood County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Wazeecha
  • Adams County
  • Clark County
  • Jackson County
  • Juneau County
  • Marathon County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Vesper, with the one closest to Vesper listed first.
    • Rangeline
      (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
    • Rozellville
      (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
    • McMillan
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Moon
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Stratford
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
      • Stratford is located in Marathon County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stratford
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,571 people
    • Ashley
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Spencer
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Mosinee
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Mosinee is located in Marathon County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mosinee
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 4,195 people
    • Fenwood
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
      • Fenwood is located in Marathon County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fenwood
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 156 people
    • Wien
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
    • Evergreen
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Evergreen is located in Marathon County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Evergreen
    • Edgar
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
    • Kronenwetter
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Portage County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Vesper, with the one closest to Vesper listed first.
    • Junction City
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Junction City is located in Portage County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Junction City
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 439 people
    • Whiting
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
      • Whiting is located in Portage County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Whiting
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,704 people
    • Park Ridge
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
      • Park Ridge is located in Portage County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Park Ridge
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 496 people
    • Plover
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
      • Plover is located in Portage County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plover
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 13,252 people
    • Stevens Point
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
    • Torun
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Arnott
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
    • Custer
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
    • Ellis
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
    • Polonia
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
  • Waushara County
    • Plainfield
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Plainfield is located in Waushara County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plainfield
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 832 people

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

Cemeteries Near Vesper ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Vesper.

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

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Vesper, with the one closest to Vesper 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 Vesper had a population of 562 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Vesper had a population of 539 people.

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

  • Walker
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Walker is located in Wood County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Walker
  • Sherry
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
  • Pittsville
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Pittsville is located in Wood County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pittsville
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 820 people
  • Rudolph
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Rudolph is located in Wood County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rudolph
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 411 people
  • Blenker
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
  • Auburndale
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Auburndale is located in Wood County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Auburndale
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 658 people
  • Port Edwards
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
  • Milladore
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
  • Veedum
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Veedum is located in Wood County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Veedum
  • Junction City
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Junction City is located in Portage County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Junction City
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 439 people
  • Hewitt
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
  • Babcock
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Babcock is located in Wood County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Babcock
  • Continue List   (17 more) ...

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Vesper ...

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 44 newspapers that have been published in the area around Vesper.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Vesper. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Vesper and those printed in the larger area surrounding Vesper.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<1> of Vesper.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we begin 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 Vesper:

Footnotes ...

<1>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 drawn from Point A (ie- Vesper) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Vesper, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.