Genealogy & Local History

Our library hosts a large genealogy, family, and local history collection in our second floor Felker Family Foundation Genealogy & Local History Room. The library has informational material not only from Marshfield and surrounding communities, but also from communities, counties, and states across the United States with an emphasis on Wisconsin connections. Besides the standard and expected resources, we pride ourselves in collecting limited edition works. We have electronic or microfilm access to all historical and current Marshfield newspapers.

E-Mail Reference

The library accepts requests for obituary, birth, or marriage information via our electronic form. Information Desk staff will answer them as time permits. You may submit up to five requests at a time by using our online form at Make Marshfield Genealogy Requests.

We have a busy library, so staff are not able to provide in-depth research. However, we welcome you to visit our library to conduct research yourself. If in-depth research is required, we will gladly refer you to the Marshfield Area Genealogy Group at P.O. 337, Marshfield, WI 54449 or provide the names of individuals who are willing to do research for a fee.

Marshfield Public Library Online Genealogy Index

This special library owned database represents over 30 years of work by many individuals. Volunteers representing the Marshfield Area Genealogy Group and Marshfield Public Library culled through microfilm newspapers for records of births, deaths and marriages. Their efforts were complemented by the work of GreenThumb/Experience Works/SCET/CET workers, Hilly Weimert, Sherri Bullock, and Tom Watson, as well as UW-Marshfield/Wood County work-study students. This online index covers over 430,000 events reported in Marshfield, Wisconsin newspapers, and while it does not provide full-text articles online, it does point you to the title, date, page and column number where you can locate the article on our microfilm.

Marshfield Historical Business Directories

The Marshfield Historical Business Directories database results from a collaborative project between the North Wood County Historical Society and the Everett Roehl Marshfield Public Library. Historical society volunteers collected the business name, street address, and directory date from phonebooks and city directories held by the historical society and library dating between 1881 and 2009.

For convenient use, the all-inclusive database is sorted and saved as three documents.

1) alphabetical listing by name

2009-1881 Business Directory by Name then Year

2) street name and address listing

2009-1881 Business Directory by Street Location NSEW Number then Year

3) business listing on Central Avenue only

2009-1881 Business Directory on Central

Click on the links above to open, searches for a specific business are made easier with the “Search Bar” (click on the magnifying glass, or press “CTRL+F”) and then typing the business name into the search box. The dates listed indicate the year that the business name appeared in available phonebooks or directories, providing an approximate time frame for its operation, but not necessarily a complete time frame. The “Street Location” document provides the names of other businesses that might have occupied the same location over time. Volunteers who contributed to this project are Bob Apfel, Bob Kult, Sue Kult, Lorraine Rogers, and Don Schnitzler.

A word of caution - in January 1941, a new numbering system was implemented in the city. Installed first in the Central Avenue business district, new numbers were set every 11 feet instead of what previously was every 22 feet, changing address numbers. For example, the Thomas House building, at 101 South Central became 103 South Central, while at the other end of the block, the Adler Building, which had been 135 South Central, became 171 South Central.

Annuals (Yearbooks)

The Tiger is the yearbook for Marshfield High School / Marshfield Senior High. The digitized collection includes annuals from 1950 to 2019. Missing years include: 1967, 2005, 2013, and 2016. In our Felker Family Foundation Genealogy & Local History Room we do have physical copies dating from 1906 to the present of The Tiger and the Columbus Catholic High School annuals from 1950 to the present, along with various other historical annuals from our surrounding community.

Ancestry Library Edition

Ancestry Library Edition brings the world’s most popular consumer online genealogy resource to your library. It’s an unprecedented online collection of individuals from North America, the United Kingdom, Europe, Australia, and more. Find genealogy information, including census data, passenger lists, and more. Access available only in the library.

ProQuest Historical Newspapers: Wisconsin Collection

Utilize a database of 46 Wisconsin newspapers including the Marshfield Daily News from 1921-1927 and the Marshfield News-Herald from 1927-present. Access centuries of birth, death and marriage records, dig into the local and state news that’s critical for research, history and genealogy. Also includes USA Today 1982-present.

Newspapers.com Library Edition World Collection

Historical newspapers archive from the 1700s-2000s containing thousands of well-known regional, state, and small local newspapers in the United States and other countries.

Fold3

Discover your family’s military past with this database that provides convenient access to US military records, including the stories, photos, and personal documents of the men and women who served.

HeritageQuest

A comprehensive treasury of American genealogical sources—rich in unique primary sources, local and family histories, and finding aids. The database provides genealogical and historical sources for more than 60 countries, with coverage dating back as early as the 1700s. Genealogy records and books, including census data, local histories, tax rolls, cemetery lists, and more.

Clio

Clio is an electronic bookshelf with over 1,500 online digitized state and county history books. The collection contains digital scans of history books from Wisconsin and surrounding states such as Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, and Minnesota. Also included are titles from Colorado, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Ohio, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and Parish Registers of England. You may browse titles or search within all titles available.

US Newsstream

Current and archival to 1980s U.S. news featuring key national and regional sources including The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, Newsday, and Chicago Tribune as well as over 80 Gannett titles.

U.S. Newsstream Collection delivers over 1,300 sources of current national and regional news content plus deep archives, spanning print, digital, and broadcast sources. From breaking news to historical context, researchers gain insights into American society, politics, and developments through authoritative reporting.

WNA Archive of Wisconsin Newspapers

Full-text daily and weekly Wisconsin newspapers from 2005 to 60 days ago, plus newspapers from the 1800s and 1900s. For student and adult researchers.

Wisconsin Historical Society Family History Records

Family history research records from the Wisconsin Historical Society records available on Ancestry.com