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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 Westby (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 Westby. 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 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.

Westby is located in Vernon 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 Vernon County: Allamakee (IA), Houston (MN), Crawford, Juneau, La Crosse, Monroe, Richland & Sauk.

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

  • Vernon County     (The home county of Westby)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Westby, with the one closest to Westby listed first.
    • Newry
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Viroqua
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
      • Viroqua is located in Vernon County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Viroqua
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 4,394 people
    • Coon Valley
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Liberty Pole
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
    • Liberty
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Liberty is located in Vernon County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Liberty
    • Newton
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • La Farge
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Chaseburg
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
    • Ontario
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
      • Ontario is located in Vernon County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ontario
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 561 people
    • Purdy
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Fargo
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
    • Readstown
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
      • Readstown is located in Vernon County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Readstown
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 414 people
    • West Prairie
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
      • West Prairie is located in Vernon County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Prairie
  • Crawford County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Westby, with the one closest to Westby listed first.
    • Rising Sun
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
    • Towerville
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
    • Soldiers Grove
      (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
      • Soldiers Grove is located in Crawford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Soldiers Grove
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 535 people
    • Freeman
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Freeman is located in Crawford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Freeman
    • Gays Mills
      (23 miles [37 km] to the south)
      • Gays Mills is located in Crawford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gays Mills
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 504 people
    • Mount Sterling
      (23 miles [37 km] to the south)
      • Mount Sterling is located in Crawford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Sterling
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 196 people
    • De Soto
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
    • Ferryville
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
      • Ferryville is located in Crawford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ferryville
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 173 people
    • Bell Center
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
    • Petersburg
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
  • Juneau County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Westby, with the one closest to Westby listed first.
    • Elroy
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
      • Elroy is located in Juneau County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elroy
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,306 people
    • Union Center
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
  • La Crosse County
  • Monroe County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Westby, with the one closest to Westby listed first.
    • Cashton
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Cashton is located in Monroe County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cashton
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,111 people
    • Melvina
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Oil City
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Oil City is located in Monroe County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oil City
    • Norwalk
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Sparta
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
    • Wilton
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
      • Wilton is located in Monroe County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wilton
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 498 people
    • Angelo
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
    • Kendall
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
      • Kendall is located in Monroe County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kendall
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 472 people
    • Tomah
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Tomah is located in Monroe County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tomah
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 9,363 people
    • Tunnel City
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Tunnel City is located in Monroe County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tunnel City
    • Clifton
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Richland County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Westby, with the one closest to Westby listed first.
    • Viola
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Sabin
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Yuba
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
      • Yuba is located in Richland County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Yuba
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 69 people
    • Bloom City
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Woodstock
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Gillingham
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Boaz
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Hub City
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Hub City is located in Richland County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hub City
  • Allamakee County (IA)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Westby, with the one closest to Westby listed first.
    • New Albin
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Lansing
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Lansing is located in Allamakee County (IA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lansing
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 933 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Lansing <1>
  • Houston County (MN)
  • Winona County (MN)
    • Dakota
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Dakota is located in Winona County (MN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dakota
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 307 people

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

Cemeteries Near Westby ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Westby.

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

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Westby, with the one closest to Westby 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 Westby had a population of 216 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Westby had a population of 2,254 people.

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

  • Bloomingdale
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Bloomingdale is located in Vernon County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bloomingdale
  • Newry
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
  • Esofea
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Esofea is located in Vernon County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Esofea
  • Avalanche
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Avalanche is located in Vernon County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Avalanche
  • Springville
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Springville is located in Vernon County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Springville
  • Viroqua
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Viroqua is located in Vernon County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Viroqua
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 4,394 people
  • Cashton
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Cashton is located in Monroe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cashton
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,111 people
  • Coon Valley
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
  • Ross
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Ross is located in Vernon County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ross
  • Middle Ridge
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
  • Melvina
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
  • Newton
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Continue List   (18 more) ...

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Westby ...

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 160 newspapers that have been published in the area around Westby.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Westby. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Westby and those printed in the larger area surrounding Westby.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 29 miles [46.7 km]<4> of Westby.

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 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 Westby:

Footnotes ...

<1>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 Westby, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Westby) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.