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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 Waterloo (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 Waterloo. 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 southwest corner of their home county. During their lives, most doctors and 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.

Waterloo is located in Jefferson 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 Jefferson County: Dane, Dodge, Rock, Walworth & Waukesha.

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

  • Jefferson County     (The home county of Waterloo)
  • Columbia County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Waterloo, with the one closest to Waterloo listed first.
    • Columbus
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Fall River
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
    • Keyeser
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Englewood
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
    • Otsego
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Doylestown
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
    • North Leeds
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Arlington
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Rio
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Rio is located in Columbia County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rio
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,047 people
    • Cambria
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
    • Poynette
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Wyocena
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Friesland
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
      • Friesland is located in Columbia County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Friesland
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 341 people
  • Dane County
  • Dodge County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Waterloo, with the one closest to Waterloo listed first.
    • Astico
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Reeseville
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Lowell
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
      • Lowell is located in Dodge County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lowell
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 322 people
    • Clyman
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Clyman is located in Dodge County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clyman
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 396 people
    • Beaver Dam
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
    • Juneau
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Hustisford
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Hustisford is located in Dodge County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hustisford
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,060 people
    • Ashippun
      (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
    • Minnesota Junction
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
    • Randolph
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
      • Randolph is located in Dodge County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Randolph
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,738 people
    • Neosho
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
    • Horicon
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Horicon is located in Dodge County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Horicon
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,680 people
    • Burnett
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
  • Rock County
  • Walworth County
  • Waukesha County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Waterloo, with the one closest to Waterloo listed first.
    • Monterey
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
    • Oconomowoc
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
      • Oconomowoc is located in Waukesha County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oconomowoc
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 17,160 people
    • Oconomowoc Lake
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
      • Oconomowoc Lake is located in Waukesha County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oconomowoc Lake
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 606 people
    • Summit Center
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
    • Summit
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
    • Okauchee Lake
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
      • Okauchee Lake is located in Waukesha County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Okauchee Lake
    • Okauchee
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
    • Dousman
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Dousman is located in Waukesha County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dousman
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,317 people
    • Stonebank
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
    • Chenequa
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
      • Chenequa is located in Waukesha County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chenequa
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 606 people
    • Nashotah
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
    • Waterville
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
    • Ottawa
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)

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

Cemeteries Near Waterloo ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Waterloo.

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

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Waterloo, with the one closest to Waterloo 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.<2>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Waterloo had a population of 862 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Waterloo had a population of 3,322 people.

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

  • Marshall
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
  • Hubbleton
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Hubbleton is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hubbleton
  • Deansville
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Deansville is located in Dane County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Deansville
  • Pierceville
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
  • Lake Mills
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Lake Mills is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Mills
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 6,014 people
  • London
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • London is located in Dane County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for London
  • Milford
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
  • Danville
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Danville is located in Dodge County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Danville
  • East Bristol
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Deerfield
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
  • Aztalan
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Aztalan is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Aztalan
  • Columbus
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
  • Continue List   (16 more) ...
    • Cambridge
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
      • Cambridge is located in Dane County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cambridge
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,538 people
    • Richwood
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
      • Richwood is located in Dodge County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Richwood
    • Reeseville
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Waterloo ...

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 145 newspapers that have been published in the area around Waterloo.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Waterloo. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Waterloo and those printed in the larger area surrounding Waterloo.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 23 miles [37 km]<3> of Waterloo.

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 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 Waterloo:

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 Waterloo, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<3>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or 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- Waterloo) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.