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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 Freeman (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 Freeman. 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 southeast corner of their home county. During their lives, most hospitals and doctors were in the next county to the east. Almost all of the nearby churches and cemeteries were in the county to the south.

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 east contained birth and death records; the county to the south 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.

Freeman is located in Kane 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 Kane County: Cook, DeKalb, DuPage, Kendall, McHenry & Will.

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

  • Kane County     (The home county of Freeman)
  • Boone County
  • Cook County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Freeman, with the one closest to Freeman listed first.
    • Barrington Hills
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
      • Barrington Hills is located in Cook County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Barrington Hills
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 4,152 people
    • South Barrington
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
      • South Barrington is located in Cook County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Barrington
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 4,976 people
    • Streamwood
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Barrington
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
    • Hoffman Estates
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
    • Inverness
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
    • Hanover Park
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Schaumburg
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
    • Plum Grove Village
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
      • Plum Grove Village is located in Cook County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plum Grove Village
    • Capri Village
      (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
      • Capri Village is located in Cook County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Capri Village
    • Fairfax Village
      (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
      • Fairfax Village is located in Cook County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fairfax Village
    • Palatine
      (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
    • Rolling Meadows
      (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
  • DeKalb County
  • DuPage County
  • Kendall County
  • Lake County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Freeman, with the one closest to Freeman listed first.
    • Fox River Valley Gardens
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Lake Barrington
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Lake Barrington is located in Lake County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Barrington
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 4,840 people
    • Port Barrington
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Port Barrington is located in Lake County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Port Barrington
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,481 people
      • Port Barrington has also been known as:
      • Port Barrington village
    • North Barrington
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
      • North Barrington is located in Lake County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Barrington
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,938 people
    • Tower Lakes
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Tower Lakes is located in Lake County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tower Lakes
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,219 people
    • Deer Park
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
    • Wauconda
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Lake Zurich
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
    • Forest Lake
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
    • Kildeer
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
    • Hawthorn Woods
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
    • Volo
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
    • Gilmer
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
  • McHenry County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Freeman, with the one closest to Freeman listed first.
    • Huntley
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Algonquin
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Lake-in-the-Hills
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Lakewood
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Crystal Lake
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Trout Valley
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
      • Trout Valley is located in McHenry County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Trout Valley
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 508 people
    • Ridgefield
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Cary
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Cary is located in McHenry County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cary
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 17,929 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Cary <1>
    • Fox River Grove
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Union
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Terra Cotta
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
    • Oakwood Hills
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Oakwood Hills is located in McHenry County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oakwood Hills
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,011 people
    • Barreville
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Winnebago County
  • Kenosha County (WI)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Freeman, with the one closest to Freeman listed first.
    • Powers Lake
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
      • Powers Lake is located in Kenosha County (WI)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Powers Lake
    • Twin Lakes
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
    • Benet Lake
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Camp Lake
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Camp Lake is located in Kenosha County (WI)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Camp Lake
    • Lake Shangrila
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Walworth County (WI)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Freeman, with the one closest to Freeman listed first.
    • Genoa City
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
      • Genoa City is located in Walworth County (WI)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Genoa City
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,981 people
    • Zenda
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
    • Big Foot Prairie
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Pell Lake
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
      • Pell Lake is located in Walworth County (WI)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pell Lake
    • Walworth
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
      • Walworth is located in Walworth County (WI)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Walworth
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,827 people
    • Fontana-on-Geneva Lake
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
      • Fontana-on-Geneva Lake is located in Walworth County (WI)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fontana-on-Geneva Lake
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,743 people

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

Cemeteries Near Freeman ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Freeman.

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 Freeman - one of the links might be able to help.

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Freeman, with the one closest to Freeman 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.<4>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that in 1895, Freeman had railroad service and no post office.

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

  • Gilberts
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
  • Pingree Grove
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
  • Huntley
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
  • McQueen
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • McQueen is located in Kane County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for McQueen
  • Udina
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Udina is located in Kane County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Udina
  • Almora
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Almora is located in Kane County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Almora
  • Carpentersville
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
  • Algonquin
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
  • Coyne
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Coyne is located in McHenry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coyne
  • North Plato
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Hampshire
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
  • Plato Center
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
  • Continue List   (15 more) ...
    • Elgin
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Crystal Lake
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Harmony
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
      • Harmony is located in McHenry County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harmony

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

Newspapers Published in Freeman ...

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 135 newspapers that have been published in the area around Freeman.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Freeman, there are papers which were published within 14 miles [22.5 km]<2>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Freeman.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we like to start with the websites from Cyndi's List, FamilySearch and Genealogy Trails. These 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 Freeman:

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>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Freeman) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>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.
<4>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 Freeman, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.