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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 Windsor (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 Windsor. 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.

Windsor is located in Dane 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 Dane County: Columbia, Dodge, Green, Iowa, Jefferson, Rock & Sauk.

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

  • Dane County     (The home county of Windsor)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Windsor, with the one closest to Windsor listed first.
    • DeForest
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Morrisonville
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Mendota
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Waunakee
      (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
      • Waunakee is located in Dane County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Waunakee
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 14,188 people
    • Sun Prairie
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
      • Sun Prairie is located in Dane County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sun Prairie
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 35,119 people
    • Darwin ‑ Historic
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Burke
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • North Bristol
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Maple Bluff
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
      • Maple Bluff is located in Dane County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maple Bluff
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,307 people
    • Dane
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
      • Dane is located in Dane County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dane
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,134 people
    • East Bristol
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
    • Ashton Corners
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
  • Columbia County
  • Dodge County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Windsor, with the one closest to Windsor listed first.
    • Astico
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
    • Reeseville
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
    • Lowell
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
      • Lowell is located in Dodge County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lowell
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 322 people
    • Randolph
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Randolph is located in Dodge County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Randolph
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,738 people
    • Beaver Dam
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Green County
  • Iowa County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Windsor, with the one closest to Windsor listed first.
    • Cassell
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
    • Arena
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
  • Jefferson County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Windsor, with the one closest to Windsor listed first.
    • Waterloo
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
    • Lake Ripley
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Lake Mills
      (24 miles [38.6 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
    • Milford
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
    • Grellton
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
    • Carcajou
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Johnson Creek
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
    • Jefferson
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Jefferson is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jefferson
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 8,037 people
    • Lake Koshkonong
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Lake Koshkonong is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Koshkonong
  • Rock County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Windsor, with the one closest to Windsor listed first.
    • Cooksville
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
    • Union
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
    • Edgerton
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Evansville
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
      • Evansville is located in Rock County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Evansville
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 5,556 people
    • Fulton
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
  • Sauk County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Windsor, with the one closest to Windsor listed first.
    • Merrimac
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Merrimac is located in Sauk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Merrimac
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 441 people
    • Moon Valley
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Prairie du Sac village
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
    • Sauk City
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
      • Sauk City is located in Sauk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sauk City
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,498 people
    • Baraboo
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
    • West Baraboo
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
      • West Baraboo is located in Sauk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Baraboo
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,416 people
    • Witwen
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
    • Denzer
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)

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

Cemeteries Near Windsor ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Windsor.

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

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Windsor, with the one closest to Windsor 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 Windsor had a population of 185 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Windsor had a population of 7,810 people.

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

  • DeForest
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
  • Norway Grove
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Norway Grove is located in Dane County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Norway Grove
  • Morrisonville
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
  • Waunakee
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Waunakee is located in Dane County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Waunakee
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 14,188 people
  • Mendota
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
  • Darwin ‑ Historic
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
  • Burke
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Sun Prairie
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Sun Prairie is located in Dane County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sun Prairie
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 35,119 people
  • Leeds
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Leeds is located in Columbia County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leeds
  • North Bristol
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Keyeser
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Arlington
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...
    • North Leeds
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Dane
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
      • Dane is located in Dane County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dane
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,134 people
    • Pheasant Branch
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Pheasant Branch is located in Dane County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pheasant Branch

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

Newspapers Published in Windsor ...

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 255 newspapers that have been published in the area around Windsor.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Windsor, there are papers which were published within 24 miles [38.6 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Windsor.

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 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 Windsor:

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 Windsor, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<3>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- Windsor) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.