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A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
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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 West Allis (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 West Allis. 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 West Allis ...

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 West Allis: W. Allis

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 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.

West Allis is located in Milwaukee 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 Milwaukee County: Ozaukee, Racine, Washington & Waukesha.

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

  • Milwaukee County     (The home county of West Allis)
    • The following are listed by their distance from West Allis, with the one closest to West Allis listed first.
    • West Milwaukee
      (Less than 2 miles to the east)
      • West Milwaukee is located in Milwaukee County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Milwaukee
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 4,090 people
    • Wauwatosa
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Greenfield
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Milwaukee
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Greendale
      (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
      • Greendale is located in Milwaukee County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greendale
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 14,127 people
    • Hales Corners
      (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
      • Hales Corners is located in Milwaukee County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hales Corners
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 7,553 people
    • Shorewood
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Shorewood is located in Milwaukee County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shorewood
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 13,117 people
    • Saint Francis
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • West Granville
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Glendale
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
      • Glendale is located in Milwaukee County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glendale
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 12,775 people
    • Franklin
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
      • Franklin is located in Milwaukee County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Franklin
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 35,925 people
    • Saint Martins
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Cudahy
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
      • Cudahy is located in Milwaukee County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cudahy
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 18,077 people
  • Dodge County
  • Jefferson County
    • The following are listed by their distance from West Allis, with the one closest to West Allis listed first.
    • Lac La Belle
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
      • Lac La Belle is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lac La Belle
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 302 people
    • Lake Lac La Belle
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
      • Lake Lac La Belle is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Lac La Belle
    • Sullivan
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
      • Sullivan is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sullivan
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 666 people
    • Concord
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
      • Concord is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Concord
    • Palmyra
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
      • Palmyra is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Palmyra
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,746 people
  • Kenosha County
    • The following are listed by their distance from West Allis, with the one closest to West Allis listed first.
    • Brighton
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
    • Paris
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
    • Somers
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
      • Somers is located in Kenosha County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Somers
  • Ozaukee County
  • Racine County
    • The following are listed by their distance from West Allis, with the one closest to West Allis listed first.
    • Kneeland
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
    • Raymond
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
    • Caledonia
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
    • Wind Lake
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Franksville
      (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
      • Franksville is located in Racine County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Franksville
    • Yorkville
      (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
      • Yorkville is located in Racine County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Yorkville
    • Caldwell
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
    • North Bay
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
      • North Bay is located in Racine County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Bay
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 233 people
    • Wind Point
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Wind Point is located in Racine County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wind Point
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,685 people
    • Waterford
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Waterford is located in Racine County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Waterford
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 5,618 people
    • Mount Pleasant
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
      • Mount Pleasant is located in Racine County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Pleasant
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 27,048 people
    • Rochester
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Eagle Lake
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
      • Eagle Lake is located in Racine County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eagle Lake
  • Walworth County
  • Washington County
  • Waukesha County
    • The following are listed by their distance from West Allis, with the one closest to West Allis listed first.
    • Elm Grove
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • New Berlin
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Brookfield
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Brookfield is located in Waukesha County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brookfield
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 39,164 people
    • Calhoun
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
      • Calhoun is located in Waukesha County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Calhoun
    • Butler
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Butler is located in Waukesha County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Butler
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,795 people
    • Tess Corners
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Fussville
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
      • Fussville is located in Waukesha County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fussville
    • Prospect
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Durham
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
    • Muskego
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Muskego is located in Waukesha County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Muskego
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 25,317 people
    • Waukesha
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Lannon
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Lannon is located in Waukesha County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lannon
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,284 people
    • Menomonee Falls
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)

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

Cemeteries Near West Allis ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of West Allis.

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 West Allis - one of the links might be able to help.

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from West Allis, with the one closest to West Allis 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>

While we didn't find West Allis in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of West Allis.

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

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of West Allis ...

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 66 newspapers that have been published in the area around West Allis.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

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

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 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 West Allis:

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 West Allis, 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' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- West Allis) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.