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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 Wisconsin Dells (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 Wisconsin Dells. 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 doctors 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.

Wisconsin Dells is primarily located in Columbia County. A portion of Wisconsin Dells extends into Sauk County, Adams County and Juneau 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 Columbia County: Adams, Dane, Dodge, Green Lake, Juneau, Marquette & Sauk.

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

  • Columbia County     (The home county of Wisconsin Dells)
  • Adams County
  • Dane County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Wisconsin Dells, with the one closest to Wisconsin Dells listed first.
    • Dane
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Dane is located in Dane County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dane
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,134 people
    • Marxville
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
  • Iowa County
  • Juneau County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Wisconsin Dells, with the one closest to Wisconsin Dells listed first.
    • Lyndon Station
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
      • Lyndon Station is located in Juneau County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lyndon Station
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 485 people
    • Lemonweir
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Mauston
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
      • Mauston is located in Juneau County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mauston
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 4,358 people
    • Wonewoc
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
      • Wonewoc is located in Juneau County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wonewoc
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 789 people
    • Union Center
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
    • New Lisbon
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Elroy
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
      • Elroy is located in Juneau County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elroy
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,306 people
    • Hustler
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Marquette County
  • Richland County
  • Sauk County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Wisconsin Dells, with the one closest to Wisconsin Dells listed first.
    • Lake Delton
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Baraboo
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
    • West Baraboo
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
      • West Baraboo is located in Sauk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Baraboo
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,416 people
    • North Freedom
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
      • North Freedom is located in Sauk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Freedom
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 690 people
    • Rock Springs
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Rock Springs is located in Sauk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rock Springs
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 361 people
    • Reedsburg
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
      • Reedsburg is located in Sauk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Reedsburg
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 9,500 people
    • Moon Valley
      (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
    • Merrimac
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
      • Merrimac is located in Sauk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Merrimac
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 441 people
    • Loganville
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
    • La Valle
      (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
    • Ironton
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
      • Ironton is located in Sauk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ironton
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 251 people
    • Denzer
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
    • Leland
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
  • Vernon County
  • Waushara County
    • Coloma
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Coloma is located in Waushara County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coloma
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 444 people

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

Cemeteries Near Wisconsin Dells ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Wisconsin Dells.

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 Wisconsin Dells - one of the links might be able to help.

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

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

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

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

  • Dell Prairie ‑ Historic
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Dell Prairie is located in Adams County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dell Prairie
  • Plainville
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
  • Big Spring
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Big Spring is located in Adams County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Big Spring
  • Lyndon Station
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Lyndon Station is located in Juneau County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lyndon Station
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 485 people
  • Briggsville
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Briggsville is located in Marquette County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Briggsville
  • Baraboo
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
  • Douglas Center
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
  • North Freedom
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
    • North Freedom is located in Sauk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Freedom
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 690 people
  • Reedsburg
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Reedsburg is located in Sauk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Reedsburg
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 9,500 people
  • White Creek
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
    • White Creek is located in Adams County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for White Creek
  • Oxford
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
  • Easton
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...

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

Newspapers Published in Wisconsin Dells ...

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 128 newspapers that have been published in the area around Wisconsin Dells.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Wisconsin Dells, there are papers which were published within 29 miles [46.7 km]<2>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Wisconsin Dells.

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 Wisconsin Dells:

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