Forest County, Wisconsin Genealogy

United States

Wisconsin

Forest County

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

County Facts County seat: Crandon Organized: April 11, 1885 Parent County(s): Langlade Neighboring Counties Florence  • Iron  • Langlade  • Marinette  • Oconto  • Oneida  • Vilas See County Maps Courthouse Location Map Adoption This page is available for adoption

County Information

Description

The County was named for the forests contained within its limit. The County is located in the northeast area of the state.

County Courthouse

Forest County Courthouse
200 E Madison Street
Crandon, WI 54520
Phone: 715-478-2422
Forest County Website

Register of Deeds has birth, marriage, death and land records from 1885.
Clerk of Circuit Court has divorce and court records.
Register in Probate has probate records.

Forest 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
1885	1885	1885	1885	1865	1887	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

1885--Forest County was created 11 April 1885 from Langlade County. County seat: Crandon 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
Crandon (county seat)
Towns
Alvin Argonne Armstrong Creek Blackwell Caswell	Crandon Freedom Hiles Laona Lincoln	Nashville Popple River Ross Wabeno
Unincorporated communities
Alvin Armstrong Creek Atkins Blackwell Blackwell Junction Bonneval	Carter Cavour Hiles Laona Junction Nashville Nelma	Padus Popple River Soperton Wisconsin Junction Woodlawn
Census-designated places
Argonne Laona	Mole Lake Newald	Wabeno
Ghost towns
Bagdad	Keith

Resources

Cemeteries

Cemeteries of Forest County, Wisconsin online and in print
Tombstone Transcriptions Online	Findagrave.com WIGenWeb WIGenWeb Archives 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 EPodunk
See Wisconsin Cemeteries for more information

 

Census Records

Historical populations
Census	Pop.	%±
1890	1,012	—
1900	1,396	37.9%
1910	6,782	385.8%
1920	9,850	45.2%
1930	11,118	12.9%
1940	11,805	6.2%
1950	9,437	−20.1%
1960	7,542	−20.1%
1970	7,691	2.0%
1980	9,044	17.6%
1990	8,776	−3.0%
2000	10,024	14.2%
2010	9,304	−7.2%
Source: "Wikipedia.org".

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

• 1905-1910 - 1905-1910 School Censuses WIGenWeb Project

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.

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.

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.

• General Land Office Records, Forest County. Listed alphabetically. Bureau of Land Management.

Maps and Gazetteers

Click a neighboring county
for more resources

Courtesy of the Crandon Public Library:

• Old Antique Atlases & Maps of Wisconsin
• 1940 Census Enumeration District Maps: Wisconsin, Forest County, ED21-1 - ED 21-19

Military Records

Civil War

Regiments. Service men in Forest 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 Forest:

• Civil War Vets in Forest County WIGenWeb Project

Newspapers

• Forest County Newspapers, Past and Present WIGenWeb Project

Obituaries

The Crandon Public Library in the city of Crandon has made an obituary database on its website. This index was begun by local and library volunteers and converted to an online database by the library. The index currently covers the years from 1909 – 1923, 2001 – 2003, and 2005. This is an ongoing project. There are nearly 1,800 records in the index. The data fields include last name, first name, age, newspaper, and date of publication. Click on the column header to sort the records.

Enter a surname in the search box to bring up a list of individuals with that name. You may request a copy of the obituary from the library for a small fee. As noted on the website, you may also request a copy of an obituary for someone who died in years not included in the index, if you have an approximate date of death.

Copies of the obituaries are available from the library. ($)

Probate Records

Probate records are held by the Forest Clerk of Circuit Court and are housed at the Forest 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

School Records

• Crandon High School Yearbooks: 1938, 1943, 1945-1948, 1950-1951, 1953, 1955, 1958-1961, 1963-1964
• School Census Records 1905, 1907, 1908, 1909, 1910 (Crandon and Wabeno) - WIGenWeb, Forest County

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
• Forest County Birth Records WIGenWeb Project

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 $
• Forest County Marriage Records WIGenWeb Project

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
• Forest County Death Records WIGenWeb Project

Divorce

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

Research Facilities

Archives

• History Center and Archives, Northern Great Lakes Visitor Center
  Wisconsin Historical Society
  29270 County Highway G
  Ashland, WI 54806-9339
  Phone: 715-685-2647
  Email: whsnorthwoods@whs.wisc.edu
  Website
  

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

Societies

• Forest County Historical and Genealogical Society
  103 W. Jackson Street
  PO Box 432
  Crandon, WI 54520
  Phone: 715-478-5900
  Email: forestctyhistory@gmail.com
  Website
  
• Forest History Association of Wisconsin
  403 McIndoe St
  Wausau, WI 54403-4746
  Phone: 715-848-6143
  Website

Websites

• Forest County, WI History, Records, Facts and Genealogy
• Wisconsin Genealogy Network Community on Google+
• Wisconsin Genealogy Network Group on Facebook
• Forest County WIGenWeb Project
• Forest 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

To access available information, first log into FamilySearch.

Family History Library