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Our Genealogy Helper

Introduction ...

We have a couple of goals for our Gazetteer:

  • That it be a tool which helps us with planning our trips.
  • We're trying to shape our Gazetteer as a tool to help us understand the community in which our ancestors lived, the community that was part of their daily lives.
  • On our trips, we try to visit those places where our ancestors left their footprints.

By learning about Berwyn (and the surrounding area) during the time that our ancestors lived, we hope to have a better understanding of both their community and its relationship to their lifes. We hope that this tool helps to give us an insight into their world.

As we add data and organize our Gazetteer to help with our family research, we will be adding to this our Genealogical Helper for Berwyn. While we don't have information that is specific to any given person or family, we intend to expand our understanding about where and how people lived.

Neighboring Counties ...

When searching for family records, we have frequently made the mistake of not checking the neighboring counties.

For example, we have great-grandparents who lived in the northwest corner of their home county. During their lives, most doctors and hospitals were in the next county to the west. Almost all of the nearby churches and cemeteries were in the county to the north.

So when searching for records, we had our best success by looking in neighboring counties instead of the county in which they lived:  their home county contained property and probate records; the county to the west contained birth and death records; the county to the north contained their burial records. If we hadn't included the neighboring counties, we would have missed many valuable sources of information.

If you're in a similar situation, we hope that the following information helps.

Berwyn is located in Cook County.

To see how the shape of Illinois' counties may have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Cook County: DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry, Will, Lake (IN) & Berrien (MI).

Below are the counties that are near Berwyn. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Berwyn:

  • Cook County     (The home county of Berwyn)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Berwyn, with the one closest to Berwyn listed first.
    • Forest Park
      (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • LaVergne
      (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
      • LaVergne is located in Cook County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for LaVergne
    • Riverside
      (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • North Riverside
      (Less than 2 miles to the west)
      • North Riverside is located in Cook County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Riverside
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 6,346 people
    • Cicero
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Oak Park
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Stickney
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Lyons
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Hines
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Forest View
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Brookfield
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Broadview
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
  • DuPage County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Berwyn, with the one closest to Berwyn listed first.
    • Hinsdale
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • South Elmhurst
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Elmhurst
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Oak Brook
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Clarendon Hills
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Willowbrook
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Oak Brook Terrace
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
      • Oak Brook Terrace is located in DuPage County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oak Brook Terrace
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,094 people
    • Utopia
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Villa Park
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
      • Villa Park is located in DuPage County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Villa Park
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 21,291 people
    • Bensenville
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Westmont
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • York Center
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
      • York Center is located in DuPage County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for York Center
  • Kane County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Berwyn, with the one closest to Berwyn listed first.
    • Batavia
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
    • Geneva
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
    • Aurora
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
    • Coleman
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
    • Mooseheart
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
    • Saint Charles
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
    • Elgin
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
    • North Aurora
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
      • North Aurora is located in Kane County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Aurora
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 18,144 people
    • South Elgin
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
      • South Elgin is located in Kane County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Elgin
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 24,646 people
    • East Dundee
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Bonnie
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
      • Bonnie is located in Kane County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bonnie
      • Bonnie has also been known as:
      • Bonnie Valley
  • Kendall County
  • Lake County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Berwyn, with the one closest to Berwyn listed first.
    • Braeside
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
      • Braeside is located in Lake County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Braeside
    • Deerfield
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
    • Ravinia
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
      • Ravinia is located in Lake County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ravinia
    • Riverwoods
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
    • Buffalo Grove
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Bannockburn
      (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
    • Highland Park
      (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
    • Aptakisic
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
    • Highwood
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
    • Lincolnshire
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
    • Prairie View
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
    • Deer Park
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
  • Will County
  • Lake County (IN)

For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Berwyn, see our County-by-County Page for Berwyn.

Cemeteries Near Berwyn ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Berwyn.

This is a new section and is likely to have errors. If you find an error, such as a missing cemetery or we have the wrong name, please let us know. If you know of them, we would also appreciate learning about previous or alternate names.

Although we don't have the information ourselves, if you need information about a burial or interment, photos, transcripts, how to contact the cemetery or local authorities, please visit our list of websites on our Genealogy Helper Page for Berwyn - one of the links might be able to help.

If not found below, our Cemetery List for Berwyn covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Berwyn, with the one closest to Berwyn listed first.

Nearby Communities in 1895 ...

We've built the following list with information that came from an Atlas published by Rand McNally in 1895. The Atlas had details such as the population of the community (which appears to have come from the 1890 Census) and whether there was a post office and/or railroad service available. We also indicate if the community no longer exists and is now historic.<3>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that in 1895, Berwyn had a post office and no railroad service. In 2020, Berwyn had a population of 53,701 people.

These communities are listed based on their distance from Berwyn, with the one closest to Berwyn listed first.

  • Riverside
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
  • LaVergne
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • LaVergne is located in Cook County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for LaVergne
  • Clyde
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Clyde is located in Cook County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clyde
  • Lyons
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
  • Mandell
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Mandell is located in Cook County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mandell
  • Austin
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Austin is located in Cook County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Austin
  • Oak Park
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
  • Crawford
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Crawford is located in Cook County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crawford
  • Moreland
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
  • Maywood
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
  • Summit
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
  • Corwith
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Corwith is located in Cook County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Corwith
  • Continue List   (19 more) ...
    • Central Park
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Central Park is located in Cook County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Central Park
    • La Grange
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Elsdon
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
      • Elsdon is located in Cook County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elsdon

We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Berwyn. See our List of 1890's Communities around Berwyn.

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Berwyn ...

An ongoing effort between the Library of Congress and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) has resulted in the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP).

To share their results, the partnership has created the Chronicling America website. The goal of this partnership is to assemble a database about the current and historic newspapers of the United States. This includes a growing collection of scanned images from selected papers. All of it available to the public on their website.

Using information that we've taken from the Chronicling America website, we've identified 63 newspapers that have been published in the area around Berwyn.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Berwyn. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Berwyn and those printed in the larger area surrounding Berwyn.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 8 miles [12.9 km]<4> of Berwyn.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we first visit the websites from Cyndi's List, FamilySearch and Genealogy Trails. These helpful websites offer the information directly or else point to where you can find it. Their information is open to everyone.

To help you get started, the following links will take you to the pages that are relevant to Berwyn:

Footnotes ...

<1>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<2>The Find-a-Grave website is an excellent research tool with information about a cemetery's location and interments. They also offer a forum for their members which can provide additional help. More information about Find-a-Grave can be found on their website: findagrave.com.
<3>We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Berwyn, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Berwyn) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.