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Jefferson County

Home » Wisconsin Counties and Towns » Jefferson County

Established: 1836
County Seat: Jefferson
Parent: Milwaukee County

* Records before the establishment of the county may be in the parent records.

Neighboring Counties

From: Handbook of Wisconsin by S. Silas, 1855

JEFFERSON. Population 26,866; in 1850 15,000; increase 11,866 (1855).

pg. 76-78

This County lies on Rock River, is abundantly watered by that and its numerous branches, which also affords extensive water power. These are improved at Watertown, the best in the County, at Jefferson and at Fort Atkinson. It has but little prairie, and is more heavily timbered than the Southern Counties generally. There is a heavy belt of hard timber occupying most of the towns of Watertown, Farmington, Ixonia, Concord, and Hebron. The soil in the Southern part is inclined to sandy, but is good, and well adapted to the growth of fruit, and the cultivation of those products requiring a warm soil. There are no public lands to any amount in the County.

Watertown, on the northern line of the County, is a flourishing city, the water power there being the best and largest in that portion of the State. Its growth has been steady, and it is the centre of a heavy business. The Milwaukee and Watertown Rail Road is completed to this city. Since the Road has been commenced, Watertown has increased with almost unexampled rapidity, and now stands in population, including the township, second in size in the State, only to Milwaukee. The population of the five wards lying in the County of Jefferson is 6,283.

Fort Atkinson, Jefferson, Aztalan, Palmyra, and Lake Mills are places of activity. No County has so many prosperous villages, which indicates a prosperous country around them.

Besides the Watertown Rail Road, this County is traversed by the Milwaukee and Mississippi, the Wisconsin Central, and the Rock River Valley Rail Roads-the Milwaukee and Mississippi and Milwaukee and Watertown being the only ones completed.

General Genealogy and History Links

This section contains links to websites that have multiple databases or webpages with genealogical information.

Vital Records

Birth, Death, & Marriage Records:
Earliest Registration Dates*:
Births 1852
Deaths 1856
Marriages 1844

Jefferson Register of Deeds
320 S. Main St. (location)
P.O. Box 59 (mailing)
Jefferson, WI 53549
Telephone: (262) 674-7235

Cemetery and Obituary Links

Census Links

Censuses contain valuable information about families. This section contains links to transcribed censuses, census indexes or census images for the county.

Residents of the County

This section contains links to family tree websites, biographies and information about individuals that lived in the county.

Area History

This section contains links of published histories and historical information about the county, its villages, cities or towns. Sometimes within these histories is information about founders, or other people that settled in the area. It may also include ethnic or religious histories of the communities.

Maps and Atlases

Military

Societies, Libraries and Offline Resources