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 Winchester (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 Winchester. 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.
Winchester is located in Vilas 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 Vilas County: Gogebic (MI), Iron (MI), Forest, Iron, Oneida & Price.
Below are the counties that are near Winchester. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Winchester:
- Vilas County (The home county of Winchester)
- The following are listed by their distance from Winchester, with the one closest to Winchester listed first.
- Katinka Village
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
- Katinka Village is located in Vilas County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Katinka Village
- Manitowish Waters
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
- Manitowish Waters is located in Vilas County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Manitowish Waters
- Lac du Flambeau
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
- Lac du Flambeau is located in Vilas County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lac du Flambeau
- Sayner
(23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
- Sayner is located in Vilas County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sayner
- Saint Germain
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
- Saint Germain is located in Vilas County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saint Germain
- Former names for Saint Germain:
- Farmington
- Lakewood
- Iron County
- The following are listed by their distance from Winchester, with the one closest to Winchester listed first.
- Manitowish
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
- Manitowish is located in Iron County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Manitowish
- Hurley
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
- Hurley is located in Iron County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hurley
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,424 people
- Gile
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
- Gile is located in Iron County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gile
- Montreal
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
- Montreal is located in Iron County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Montreal
- Population from the 2020 Census: 752 people
- Oneida County
- The following are listed by their distance from Winchester, with the one closest to Winchester listed first.
- Woodruff
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
- Woodruff is located in Oneida County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodruff
- Hazelhurst
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
- Hazelhurst is located in Oneida County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hazelhurst
- Gogebic County (MI)
- The following are listed by their distance from Winchester, with the one closest to Winchester listed first.
- Hartley
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
- Hartley is located in Gogebic County (MI)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hartley
- Hartley has also been known as:
- Hartleys
- Marenisco
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
- Ramsay
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
- Ramsay is located in Gogebic County (MI)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ramsay
- Wakefield
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
- Yale
(18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
- Yale is located in Gogebic County (MI)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Yale
- Bessemer
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
- Thomaston
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
- Thomaston is located in Gogebic County (MI)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Thomaston
- Gogebic
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
- Gogebic is located in Gogebic County (MI)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gogebic
- Ironwood
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
- White City
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
- White City is located in Gogebic County (MI)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for White City
- Connorville
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
- Connorville is located in Gogebic County (MI)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Connorville
- Hillcrest
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
- Hillcrest is located in Gogebic County (MI)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hillcrest
- Ontonagon County (MI)
- The following are listed by their distance from Winchester, with the one closest to Winchester listed first.
- Lake Gogebic
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
- Lake Gogebic is located in Ontonagon County (MI)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Gogebic
- Bergland
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Winchester, see our County-by-County Page for Winchester.
Cemeteries Near Winchester ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Winchester.
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 Winchester - one of the links might be able to help.
If not found below, our Cemetery List for Winchester covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Winchester, with the one closest to Winchester listed first.
- Winchester Memorial Cemetery
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
- Presque Isle Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
- Mercer Cemetery
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
- Pines Cemetery
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
- Marenisco Twp. Cemetery
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
- Presbyterian Church Cemetery
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
- Lakeside Cemetery
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
- Hillcrest Cemetery
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
- St. Marys Cemetery
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
- Riverside Cemetery
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Riverside Cemetery
- To give a relative sense of its location, the Riverside Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located in Ironwood (MI).
- The Riverside Cemetery has also been known as:
- Ironwood Cemetery
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #1499 <2>
- Plum Lake Cemetery
(23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
- Evergreen Cemetery
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Evergreen Cemetery
- To give a relative sense of its location, the Evergreen Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located outside and to the south of Woodruff.
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2145393 <2>
- Continue List (9 more) ...
- St. Patricks Catholic Cemetery
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for St. Patricks Catholic Cemetery
- To give a relative sense of its location, the St. Patricks Catholic Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located outside and to the south of Woodruff.
- The St. Patricks Catholic Cemetery has also been known as:
- St. Patricks Cemetery
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2236117 <2>
- Forest Garden Cemetery
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
- Hillside Cemetery
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
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>
While we didn't find Winchester in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Winchester.
These communities are listed based on their distance from Winchester, with the one closest to Winchester listed first.
- Mercer
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
- Mercer is located in Iron County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mercer
- Hartley
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
- Hartley is located in Gogebic County (MI)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hartley
- Hartley has also been known as:
- Hartleys
- Wellington
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
- Wellington is located in Gogebic County (MI)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wellington
- Ramsay
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
- Ramsay is located in Gogebic County (MI)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ramsay
- Wakefield
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
- Bessemer
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
- Jessieville
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
- Jessieville is located in Gogebic County (MI)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jessieville
- Siemens
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
- Siemens is located in Gogebic County (MI)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Siemens
- Ironwood
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
- Thomaston
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
- Thomaston is located in Gogebic County (MI)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Thomaston
- Hurley
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
- Hurley is located in Iron County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hurley
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,424 people
- Thayer
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
- Thayer is located in Gogebic County (MI)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Thayer
- Continue List (4 more) ...
- Woodruff
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
- Woodruff is located in Oneida County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodruff
- Minocqua
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
- Minocqua is located in Oneida County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Minocqua
- Lake Gogebic
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
- Lake Gogebic is located in Ontonagon County (MI)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Gogebic
We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Winchester. See our List of 1890's Communities around Winchester.
Newspapers Published in Winchester ...
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 46 newspapers that have been published in the area around Winchester.
Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Winchester, there are papers which were published within 25 miles [40.2 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Winchester.
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 helpful 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 Winchester:
- Websites specific to Wisconsin
- Pages specific to Vilas County
- Genealogy information for nearby counties
- Iron County
- Oneida County
- Gogebic County
- Ontonagon County
- Cemetery Information and Directories for Wisconsin
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 Winchester, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <4> | 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- Winchester) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |