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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 Rapids (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 Rapids. 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 Wisconsin Rapids ...

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 Wisconsin Rapids: Wisconsin Rpds.

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 southeast 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 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 east 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.

Wisconsin Rapids is located in Wood County and is the County Seat.

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 Wood County: Adams, Clark, Jackson, Juneau, Marathon & Portage.

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

  • Wood County     (The home county of Wisconsin Rapids)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Wisconsin Rapids, with the one closest to Wisconsin Rapids listed first.
    • Grand Rapids
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Lake Wazeecha
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
      • Lake Wazeecha is located in Wood County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Wazeecha
    • Port Edwards
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Biron
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Biron is located in Wood County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Biron
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 761 people
    • Nekoosa
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Rudolph
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
      • Rudolph is located in Wood County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rudolph
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 411 people
    • Eight Corners
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Vesper
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Sherry
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
    • Milladore
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
    • Arpin
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Arpin is located in Wood County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Arpin
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 305 people
    • Pittsville
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
      • Pittsville is located in Wood County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pittsville
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 820 people
  • Adams County
  • Jackson County
  • Juneau County
  • Marathon County
  • Portage County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Wisconsin Rapids, with the one closest to Wisconsin Rapids listed first.
    • Plover
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
      • Plover is located in Portage County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plover
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 13,252 people
    • Junction City
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
      • Junction City is located in Portage County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Junction City
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 439 people
    • Whiting
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Whiting is located in Portage County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Whiting
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,704 people
    • Stevens Point
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Park Ridge
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Park Ridge is located in Portage County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Park Ridge
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 496 people
    • Arnott
      (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
    • Almond
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
    • Custer
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Torun
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Ellis
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Polonia
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
    • Lake Emily ‑ Historic
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
  • Waupaca County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Wisconsin Rapids, with the one closest to Wisconsin Rapids listed first.
    • Cobb Town
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
      • Cobb Town is located in Waupaca County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cobb Town
    • Sheridan
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
  • Waushara County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Wisconsin Rapids, with the one closest to Wisconsin Rapids listed first.
    • Plainfield
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
      • Plainfield is located in Waushara County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plainfield
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 832 people
    • Hancock
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Hancock is located in Waushara County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hancock
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 402 people
    • Coloma
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
      • 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 Rapids, see our County-by-County Page for Wisconsin Rapids.

Cemeteries Near Wisconsin Rapids ...

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

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

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Wisconsin Rapids, with the one closest to Wisconsin Rapids 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 Rapids in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Wisconsin Rapids.

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

  • Port Edwards
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
  • Rudolph
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Rudolph is located in Wood County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rudolph
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 411 people
  • Walker
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Walker is located in Wood County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Walker
  • Meehan
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Meehan is located in Portage County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meehan
  • New Rome ‑ Historic
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
  • Vesper
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
  • Sherry
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
  • Junction City
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
    • Junction City is located in Portage County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Junction City
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 439 people
  • Babcock
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
    • Babcock is located in Wood County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Babcock
  • Bancroft
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
    • Bancroft is located in Portage County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bancroft
  • Stevens Point
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
  • Pittsville
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
    • Pittsville is located in Wood County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pittsville
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 820 people
  • Continue List   (13 more) ...

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Wisconsin Rapids ...

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 55 newspapers that have been published in the area around Wisconsin Rapids.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Wisconsin Rapids. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Wisconsin Rapids and those printed in the larger area surrounding Wisconsin Rapids.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<2> of Wisconsin Rapids.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we first turn to the websites from Cyndi's List, FamilySearch and Genealogy Trails. These professional and volunteer 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 Wisconsin Rapids:

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 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Wisconsin Rapids) 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 Rapids, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.