Douglas County, Wisconsin Genealogy

United States

Wisconsin

Douglas County

Guide to Douglas County, Wisconsin ancestry, genealogy and family history, birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, family history, and military records.

Wisconsin Online Genealogy Records

County Facts County seat: Superior Organized: February 9, 1854 Parent County(s): La Pointe Neighboring Counties Bayfield  • Burnett  • Carlton (MN)  • Pine (MN)  • St. Louis (MN)  • Sawyer  • Washburn See County Maps Courthouse Location Map Adoption This page is available for adoption

County Information

Description

The County was named for Stephen A. Douglas. The County is located in the northwest area of the state.

County Courthouse

Douglas County Courthouse
1313 Belknap Street
Superior, WI 54880-2769
Phone: 715-395-1341
Douglas County Website

Register of Deeds has birth, marriage and death records from 1878 and land records.
Clerk of Courts has divorce, probate and court records from 1878.

Douglas County, Wisconsin Record Dates

Information for this chart was taken from various sources, often containing conflicting dates. This information should be taken as a guide and should be verified by contacting the county and/or the state government agency.

Known Beginning Dates for Major County Records
Birth*	Marriage	Death*	Court	Land	Probate	Census
1878	1878	1878	1878	1854	1878	1820
Statewide registration for births and deaths began in 1907. General compliance year unknown.

Record Loss

There is no known history of courthouse disasters in this county.

Boundary Changes

1854--Douglas County was created 9 February 1854 from La Pointe County. County seat: Superior For animated maps illustrating Wisconsin County boundary changes, "Rotating Formation Wisconsin County Boundary Maps" (1790-1961) may be viewed for free at the MapofUS.org website.

Populated Places

For a complete list of populated places, including small neighborhoods and suburbs, visit Hometown Locator. The following are the most historically and genealogically relevant populated places in this county:

Cities
Superior (county seat)
Towns
Amnicon Bennett Brule Cloverland Dairyland Gordon	Hawthorne Highland Lakeside Maple Oakland	Parkland Solon Springs Summit Superior Wascott
Villages
Lake Nebagamon Oliver	Poplar Solon Springs	Superior
Unincorporated communities
Ambridge Amnicon Falls Anton Beebe Bellwood Bennett Black River Blueberry Borea Boylston Boylston Junction Carnegie Chaffey Cloverland Cozy Corner	Cutter Dairyland Dedham Dewey Dobie Four Corners Foxboro Hawthorne Hillcrest Hines Maple Middle River Moose Junction Parkland	Patzau Peyton Pokegama Riverview Rockmont Saunders Sauntry South Itasca South Range Sunnyside Waino Wascott Wentworth Winneboujou
Census-designated places
Brule	Gordon
Ghost towns
Merriam Millcrest Morrison (Allouez) New Bristol (Martinson)	Nutt Pokegama Junction Steele Troy	Walbridge Way Wiehe

Resources

Cemeteries

Cemeteries of Douglas County, Wisconsin online and in print
Tombstone Transcriptions Online	Findagrave.com WIGenWeb WIGenWeb Archives WITombstone Project Interment Billion Graves Index at FamilySearch
Tombstone Transcriptions in Print (Often more complete)	Family History Library WorldCat
List of Cemeteries in the County	Findagrave.com Billion Graves
See Wisconsin Cemeteries for more information

 

Census Records

Historical populations
Census	Pop.	%±
1860	812	—
1870	1,122	38.2%
1880	655	−41.6%
1890	13,468	1956.2%
1900	36,335	169.8%
1910	47,422	30.5%
1920	49,771	5.0%
1930	46,583	−6.4%
1940	47,119	1.2%
1950	46,715	−0.9%
1960	45,008	−3.7%
1970	44,657	−0.8%
1980	44,421	−0.5%
1990	41,758	−6.0%
2000	43,287	3.7%
2010	44,159	2.0%
Source: "Wikipedia.org".

For tips on accessing Douglas census records online, see: Wisconsin Census.

State Census

• 1855 - 1855 Wisconsin State Census This census includes name of head of family; other individuals in the household are identified by sex and race, number of deaf and dumb, blind, insane and foreign born.
• 1865 - 1865 Wisconsin State Census Name index and images of the 1865 State Census which names the head of household. Most records have been destroyed but schedules exist for the following counties: Dunn, Green, Jackson, Kewaunee, Ozaukee, and Sheboygan.
• 1875 - 1875 Wisconsin State Census Identifies head of household by name.
• 1885 - Wisconsin State Census, 1885 at FamilySearch — index and images. Search indexed census.Identifies by name of head of household. Other information is statistical and identifies the rest of the household by race, gender and country of birth.
• 1895 - Wisconsin State Census, 1895 at FamilySearch — index and images. Identifies head of household by name. Other information is statistical.
• 1905 - Wisconsin State Census, 1905 at FamilySearch — Name index and images of population. Enumerates by name all inhabitants.

Federal Census

• 1870 - Index of Douglas County, 1870 Federal Census USGenWeb Archives
• 1880 - Index of Douglas County, 1880 Federal Census USGenWeb Archives
• 1930 - Index of Douglas County, 1930 Federal Census WIGenWeb Project

Church Records

Church records and the information they provide vary significantly depending on the denomination and the record keeper. They may contain information about members of the congregation, such as age, date of baptism, christening, or birth; marriage information and maiden names; and death date. For general information about Wisconsin denominations, view the Wisconsin Church Records wiki page.

Lutheran

• Records of Zion Lutheran Church, Superior, in Evangelical Lutheran Church in America database at Archives.com ($).

List of Churches and Church Parishes

• FamilySearch Places
  

Land and Property Records

Land and property records can place an ancestor in a particular location, provide economic information, and reveal family relationships. Land records include: deeds, abstracts and indexes, mortgages, leases, grants and land patents.

See Wisconsin Land and Property for additional information about early Wisconsin land grants. After land was transferred to private ownership, subsequent transactions were usually recorded at the county courthouse and where records are currently housed.

• Wisconsin Land Patents Database, Douglas County - USGenWeb Archives

• Surnames A-C
• Surnames D-G
• Surnames H-K
• Surnames L-O
• Surnames P-S
• Surnames T-Z

Local Histories

• History of the Douglas County Area with links. WIGenWeb Project

Maps and Gazetteers

Click a neighboring county
for more resources

• Old Antique Atlases & Maps of Wisconsin

Military Records

Civil War

Regiments. Service men in Douglas served in various regiments. Men often joined a company (within a regiment) that originated in their county. Listed below are companies that were specifically formed in Douglas:

- 2nd Regiment, Wisconsin Cavalry, Company E

• 1883 list of Pensioners or dependents, Douglas Co. USGenWeb Archives

World War I

• Wisconsin Gold Star List, Douglas County WIGenWeb Project
• Douglas County WI Archives Military Records, Army Casualties, WWI - Rosters USGenWeb Archives

World War II

• World War II Casualties Databases. Acess Genealogy
• Army Enlistees, Douglas County - USGenWeb Archives

• Names: AAKEBERG ARTHUR J - BRAUN EDWARD A
• Names: BREDAHL HANS - DUNBAR GIFFORD G
• Names: DUNIGAN CHARLOTTE C - GUSTAFSON STANLEY E
• Names: GVORA JOHN G - JOHNSON WILLIAM M
• Names: JOHNSTAD HAROLD S - LINDQUIST THEODORE J
• Names: LINN VERNON V - NAJT CHARLES
• Names: NARWOOD AXEL W - POLLOCK ROBERT M
• Names: POTOSKY JOE G - SMILANICH ELI
• Names: SMITH BENJAMIN W - VERVILLE GLENN G

Obituaries

• Obituaries for the Douglas County area WIGenWeb Project

Probate Records

Probate records are held by the Douglas Clerk of Circuit Court and are housed at the Douglas Courthouse. See the wiki page Wisconsin Probate Records for information about how to use probate records.

Content: Probate records may give the decedent's date of death, names of his or her spouse, children, parents, siblings, in-laws, neighbors, associates, relatives, and their place of residence.

Record types: Wills, estates, guardianships, and adoptions.

Online Records

• 1800–1987 Wisconsin Wills and Probate Records 1800-1987 at Ancestry — images and index $
• 1848–1948 Wisconsin Probate Estate Files 1848-1948 at FamilySearch — images

Tax Records

Wisconsin tax records complement land records and can be used to supplement the years between censuses. Because only persons who owned property or other items that could be taxed were listed, some residents were not included in tax lists. There may also be gaps of several years in the tax records. For more information see the Wiki page, Wisconsin Taxation.

Vital Records

Vital records consist of birth, death, marriage and divorce records. Most counties started keeping records in the 1870s. In 1907, the counties began sending copies to the state.

For pre-1907 births, deaths, and marriages, search the Wisconsin Genealogy Index.

For additional information, see Wisconsin Vital Records.

Birth

• 1820-1907 Wisconsin, Birth Index, 1820-1907 at FamilySearch — index
• 1826-1908 Wisconsin, Births and Christenings Index, 1826-1908 at Ancestry — index $
• 1826-1926 Wisconsin, Births and Christenings, 1826-1926 at FamilySearch — index

Marriage

• 1836-1911 Wisconsin, County Marriages, 1836-1911 at FamilySearch — index
• 1836-1930 Wisconsin, Marriages, 1836-1930 at FamilySearch — index
• 1973-1997 Wisconsin, Marriage Index, 1973-1997 at FamilySearch — index
• 1973-1997 Wisconsin Marriages, 1973-1997 at Ancestry — index/images $

Death

• 1820-1907 Wisconsin, Death Index, 1820-1907 at FamilySearch — index
• 1835-1968 Wisconsin, Deaths and Burials, 1835-1968 at FamilySearch — index
• 1867-1907 Wisconsin, Death Records, 1867-1907 at FamilySearch — index
• 1959-1997 Wisconsin, Death Index, 1959-1997 at FamilySearch — index

Divorce

• 1965-1984 Wisconsin, Divorce Index, 1965-1984 at FamilySearch — index

Research Facilities

• Area Research Center
  Jim Dan Hill Library, University of Wisconsin, Superior
  Belknap and Catlin
  P.O. Box 2000
  907 N. 19th St.
  Superior, WI 54880
  Telephone: 715-394-8359
  archives@uwsuper.edu
  Website
  Facebook
  

Family History Centers

Family History Centers provide one-on-one assistance and free access to premium genealogical websites. In addition, many centers have free how-to genealogy classes.

• For current information about a center near you, go to the Family History Center Map

Libraries

• Jim Dan Hill Library, University of Wisconsin, Superior
  Area Research Center
  Belknap and Catlin
  P.O. Box 2000
  907 N. 19th St.
  Superior, WI 54880
  Telephone: 715-394-8359
  archives@uwsuper.edu
  Website
  Facebook
  

Societies

• Douglas County Historical Society
  1011 John Ave
  Superior, WI 54880
  Phone: 715-392-8449
  Website
  Website
  
• Gordon-Wascott Historical Society and Museum
  9672E Hwy Y
  Gordon, WI 54838
  Phone: 715-376-4249
  Email: deadskunk@centurytel.net
  
• Old-Brule Heritage Society, Inc
  PO Box 24
  Maple, WI 5485
  Website
  
• Solon Springs Historical Society
  10732 S Rocky Hill Rd
  Solon Springs, WI 54873
  Phone: 715-378-4296
  
• Twin Ports Genealogical Society
  PO Box 16895
  Duluth, MI 55816-0895
  Website

Websites

• Douglas County, WI History, Records, Facts and Genealogy
• Wisconsin Genealogy Network Group on Facebook
• Douglas County WIGenWeb Project
• Douglas County USGenWeb Archives
• FamilySearch Catalog - The FamilySearch catalog contains descriptions and access information for all genealogical materials (including books, online materials, microfilm, microfiche, and publications) in their collection.  Use Historical Records to search for specific individuals in genealogical records

Family History Library