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Office: Marquette County Emergency Management – 67 West Park Street, PO Box 630, Montello, WI 53949 | Non-Emergency: (608) 297-3042 | Fax: (608) 297-9045
Services: County-wide disaster preparedness, response, and recovery coordination
Notes: Marquette County EMS is a county-wide Paramedic service with 19 full-time and 16 part-time EMTs/Paramedics, based at 480 Underwood Ave, Montello, (608) 297-3125.
Roads & Utilities
ROADS & TRANSPORTATION
Roads: WI-22 and WI-23 serve Montello, the county seat
Transit: No dedicated fixed-route county transit identified; confirm current regional options directly with the county
Business & Permits
BUILDING & PERMITS
Office: Marquette County Planning, Zoning & Land Info. – (608) 297-3036
Services: County zoning permitting, sanitary and building permitting, plat books, tourist rooming house (short-term rental) licensing, rural address numbers, GIS mapping, comprehensive and farmland preservation planning
Notes: The Building Inspector’s office hours are Mon/Wed/Fri 8-9 AM. Confirm whether your property falls under county or a specific municipal jurisdiction.
Veterans Services
VETERANS SERVICES
County VSO: Marquette County Veterans Service Office – (608) 297-3182
Libraries
LIBRARIES
System: Montello Public Library – 128 Lake Court, Montello, WI 53949 | (608) 297-7544 | Email: [email protected] | Director: Andrea Klapper | Hours: Mon 10 AM–6 PM, Tue 10 AM–6 PM, Wed 10 AM–6 PM, Thu 10 AM–6 PM (some sources list 10-7:30), Fri 9 AM–5 PM, Sat 9 AM–1 PM (closed Sun)
Services: A member of the Winnefox Library System, serving Fond du Lac, Green Lake, Marquette, Waushara, and Winnebago counties; hosts Literacy Volunteers-Marquette County (LV-MC) providing free, confidential adult/family tutoring in reading, writing, and math; offers Shoutbomb text messaging account alerts
Related: Additional Marquette County branches serve Neshkoro, Oxford, Packwaukee, and Westfield (Ethel Everhard Memorial Library)
Parks & Recreation
PARKS & RECREATION
Key Assets: Marquette County is home to a genuinely extraordinary piece of American conservation history – FOUNTAIN LAKE FARM, near Montello, is where the family of pioneering conservationist JOHN MUIR settled after immigrating to the United States from Dunbar, Scotland, in 1849, when Muir was eleven years old; Muir lived on this farm from 1849-1856 and again 1860-1862, and it was here, exploring Fountain Lake (officially Ennis Lake) and the surrounding oak-opening wilderness, that the young Muir developed the deep appreciation of nature and conservation ethic that would later make him the “Father of the National Parks”; scholars have compared Fountain Lake Farm’s significance to Muir to what Walden Pond meant to Thoreau – Muir tried unsuccessfully to purchase the farm back on at least three occasions later in life, hoping to preserve it as “a sanctuary for the wildflowers that had gladdened his youth” (in the words of his spiritual heir Aldo Leopold); the site was designated a NATIONAL HISTORIC LANDMARK in 1990, and today the 125-acre John Muir Memorial County Park (established 1957, partly through Sierra Club fundraising) lets visitors walk a trail circling 30-acre Ennis Lake through seven distinct habitats, following the same wilderness paths Muir once explored as a boy; the Wisconsin Friends of John Muir, a local Montello-based nonprofit, works to maintain his legacy in the area; the 1918 Marquette County Courthouse (77 W. Park St.), a Beaux-Arts stone-and-brick building replacing an 1863 original, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places
Notes: Fountain Lake Farm’s genuine, National Historic Landmark-designated status as John Muir’s actual boyhood home – the literal birthplace of his conservation ethic – is an extraordinary and well-documented piece of American environmental history.
GIS & Maps
GIS & MAPS
GIS Portal: Marquette County GIS – accessible via marquettecountywi.gov
Parcel Search: Marquette County Register of Deeds – (608) 297-3025
Addressing/911: Coordinated through Marquette County Planning, Zoning & Land Info.
Animal Services
ANIMAL SERVICES
Facility: Little Orphan’s Animal Rescue, Inc. – PO Box 154, Montello, WI 53949
Services: Based in Marquette County, WI, with services extending into surrounding counties as well; maintains an active spay/neuter assistance program and works to ensure each adopted animal finds a genuine “forever” home; adoption process includes an application, reference check, and home visit
Notes: Contact Marquette County directly for current refuse collection and recycling program details.
NOTES
Marquette County holds an extraordinary place in American conservation history – Fountain Lake Farm near Montello is the genuine, National Historic Landmark-designated boyhood home of John Muir, where his lifelong love of wilderness first took root. Today’s John Muir Memorial County Park lets visitors walk the same trails Muir once explored as a child. All contact information above was sourced from official county, city, library, and shelter pages as of this writing; phone numbers and hours should be reconfirmed directly with the relevant office before a visit.
About Marquette County County
Marquette County is central Wisconsin’s Montello granite and Fox River lake county – the pink granite beneath Montello that forms the base of Grant’s tomb and the Fox River chain’s fishing and recreation define a county where Montello serves the surrounding agricultural and lake recreation communities in the central Wisconsin sand plain.
Montello (the county seat, population ~1,500) is Marquette County’s governmental hub on the Fox River, a central Wisconsin community whose granite heritage, Buffalo Lake access, and Fox River fishing anchor its identity.
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Marquette County Assessor at 77 W. Park Street, Montello, WI 53949, phone 608-297-3100. WI assessed at fair market value.
Courts & Legal
Marquette County Circuit Court at 77 W. Park Street, Montello, WI 53949, phone 608-297-3100, handles probate.
Marriage & Vital Records
Marriage licenses, divorce records, and birth & death certificates are handled by the following office(s):
COUNTY CLERK
77 W Park St, Montello, WI 53949
(608) 297-3003
Genealogy
County-level record sources
Marquette County Register in Probate, Montello (probate/estate case files – see Probate section above).
Local societies
No dedicated Marquette County genealogical society was confirmed in available directories.
Probate & Estate
Losing someone and having to deal with courts and paperwork at the same time is hard. This section won’t make that easier, but it should tell you what to expect, what it costs, and where to go – so at least you’re not walking in blind.
Where to go
Marquette County Register in Probate 77 West Park Street, Room 205, PO Box 749, Montello, WI 53949 (608) 297-3009
Marquette County is in Central Wisconsin, county seat Montello. Wisconsin has NOT adopted the Uniform Probate Code and has NO separate probate court – probate is handled by the CIRCUIT COURT (Probate Division) for the county where the decedent lived, administered day-to-day by that county’s REGISTER IN PROBATE. Wisconsin runs two main tracks: FORMAL administration, supervised directly by a circuit court judge, and INFORMAL administration, supervised by the Register in Probate without continuous judicial oversight. Informal administration is the default path for most straightforward estates.
Step 1: figure out which path applies
Wisconsin Statutes Chapters 851 through 882 govern probate. Wisconsin is also a MARITAL PROPERTY state (similar to community property) – under the Wisconsin Marital Property Act, most assets acquired during marriage are co-owned by both spouses, so a surviving spouse may already own half of all marital property outright; only the decedent’s half passes through the estate.
Transfer by Affidavit (Wis. Stat. §867.03) – available when the decedent’s ENTIRE probate estate (personal property only; real estate is not covered by this shortcut) has a gross value of $50,000 or less. Available 30 days after death to an heir, a trustee of a revocable trust, a beneficiary named in the will, or a guardian of the decedent.
Summary Settlement (Wis. Stat. §867.01) – geared toward estates of $50,000 or less where there is a surviving spouse, domestic partner, or minor children, or where the estate would otherwise be absorbed by allowances and expenses.
Summary Assignment – another shortcut for estates too small to pay debts in full.
Formal or Informal Administration – required for larger or more complex estates. Begins with a Petition for Administration (Form PR-1801) filed with the county Register in Probate to admit the will (if any) and appoint a personal representative.
Step 2: filing for administration
File a Petition for Administration (Form PR-1801) with the Marquette County Register in Probate.
Mail notice of the hearing to all heirs, beneficiaries, and interested parties at least 20 days before the hearing; publish notice in a newspaper of general circulation in the county for three successive weeks.
Once appointed, the personal representative inventories assets, and the court (for formal administration) or Register in Probate (for informal) sets a creditor claims deadline – generally 3 to 4 months from the date of the court’s order, with first publication of that notice required within 15 days of the order.
The personal representative pays valid debts and expenses, then distributes remaining assets to heirs/beneficiaries.
File a final accounting with the Circuit Court (Probate) showing all assets received, debts paid, and distributions made; once approved, the estate is closed.
Wisconsin Circuit Courts require attorneys to e-file; pro se (self-represented) filers are encouraged to use the Wisconsin Circuit Court eFiling system as well.
What it costs
Personal representative compensation: presumptive statutory rate of 2% of inventory value (Wis. Stat. §857.05), though the will or the parties can agree to a different amount.
Filing fees, publication costs, and (for real estate transfers under the small-estate process) an Affidavit of Heirship and Affidavit of Service, notarized and filed with the court.
Typical timeline: simple estates 6-12 months; complex or contested estates 18 months or longer.
Wisconsin does NOT impose a state estate tax or inheritance tax. Only the federal estate tax may apply, with a $15,000,000 per-person exemption for 2026 – meaning the vast majority of Wisconsin estates owe nothing.
Probate filings, estate administration, and guardianship matters are handled by the following office(s):
Public Safety & Arrests
Arrest records, inmate search, and law enforcement services are handled by the following office(s):
SHERIFF
480 Underwood Ave, Montello, WI 53949
(608) 297-3107
Elections & Voting
Voter registration, polling locations, and elections information are handled by the following office(s):
ELECTIONS
(608) 297-3003
Health & Human Services
Offices & Contacts
Health services, social services, and assistance programs are handled by the following office(s):
Health Department
Marquette County Health Department, 428 Underwood Ave, Montello, WI 53949
(608) 297-3135
Health & Human Services
Marquette County Health and Human Services, 428 Underwood Ave, Montello, WI 53949
(608) 297-3135
Public Health Information
PUBLIC HEALTH
Office: Marquette County Health Department – (608) 297-3141 (via UW Extension office)
Services: Immunizations, WIC, environmental health, vital records, soil and water testing
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Last verified June 2026
County Facts
County Seat: Montello
Population: 15,500
Public Records
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