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 Harwood Heights (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 Harwood Heights. 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.
Name Variations for Harwood Heights ...
When searching records, keep in mind that names and their spelling can change over time. Our sources include documents like maps, railroad schedules, Travel, Express and Shipping Guides. Many of these documents date from the 1800's and it's common to find spelling differences.
For example, a typical abbreviation for Harwood Heights: Harwood Hts. (in Canada, 'Hgts.' is the more common abbreviation.)
You might be interested in other communities that are also named Harwood Heights. More information can be found on our Tidbits & Trivia Page for Harwood Heights.
If you have information about these names (such as the reason for the change, date of change, the origin of the name), please Contact Us.
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 southwest corner of their home county. During their lives, most hospitals and doctors were in the next county to the west. 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 west 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.
Harwood Heights 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 Harwood Heights. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Harwood Heights:
- Cook County (The home county of Harwood Heights)
- The following are listed by their distance from Harwood Heights, with the one closest to Harwood Heights listed first.
- Dunning
(Less than 2 miles to the south)
- Dunning is located in Cook County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dunning
- Norridge
(Less than 2 miles to the west)
- Jefferson Park
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
- Jefferson Park is located in Cook County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jefferson Park
- Elmwood Park
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
- Albany Park
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
- Albany Park is located in Cook County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Albany Park
- Grayland
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
- Grayland is located in Cook County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grayland
- Park Ridge
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
- Rosemont
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
- River Grove
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
- Schiller Park
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
- Cragin
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
- Cragin is located in Cook County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cragin
- Franklin Park
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
- DuPage County
- The following are listed by their distance from Harwood Heights, with the one closest to Harwood Heights listed first.
- Bensenville
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
- Elmhurst
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
- Wood Dale
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
- South Elmhurst
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
- South Elmhurst is located in DuPage County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Elmhurst
- Villa Park
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
- Villa Park is located in DuPage County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Villa Park
- Population from the 2020 Census: 21,291 people
- Addison
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
- Itasca
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
- Oak Brook Terrace
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
- 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
- Oak Brook
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
- Utopia
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
- Utopia is located in DuPage County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Utopia
- Hinsdale
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
- Lombard
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
- Kane County
- The following are listed by their distance from Harwood Heights, with the one closest to Harwood Heights listed first.
- East Dundee
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
- Coleman
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
- Coleman is located in Kane County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coleman
- Elgin
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
- Geneva
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
- Saint Charles
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
- South Elgin
(26 miles [41.8 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
- Carpentersville
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
- Batavia
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
- Sleepy Hollow
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
- Mooseheart
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
- Aurora
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
- Bonnie
(29 miles [46.7 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
- Lake County
- The following are listed by their distance from Harwood Heights, with the one closest to Harwood Heights listed first.
- Braeside
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
- Braeside is located in Lake County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Braeside
- Deerfield
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
- Ravinia
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
- Ravinia is located in Lake County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ravinia
- Riverwoods
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
- Highland Park
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
- Buffalo Grove
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
- Bannockburn
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
- Highwood
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
- Lincolnshire
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
- Aptakisic
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
- Aptakisic is located in Lake County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Aptakisic
- Prairie View
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
- Prairie View is located in Lake County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prairie View
- Long Grove
(18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
- McHenry County
- The following are listed by their distance from Harwood Heights, with the one closest to Harwood Heights listed first.
- Fox River Grove
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
- Trout Valley
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
- Trout Valley is located in McHenry County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Trout Valley
- Population from the 2020 Census: 508 people
- Algonquin
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
- Cary
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
- Island Lake
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
- Island Lake is located in McHenry County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Island Lake
- Population from the 2020 Census: 7,951 people
- Lake-in-the-Hills
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
- Oakwood Hills
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
- Oakwood Hills is located in McHenry County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oakwood Hills
- Population from the 2020 Census: 2,011 people
- Will County
- The following are listed by their distance from Harwood Heights, with the one closest to Harwood Heights listed first.
- Winston Village
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
- Winston Village is located in Will County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Winston Village
- Bolingbrook
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
- Colonial Village
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
- Colonial Village is located in Will County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Colonial Village
- Bloomfield Village
(23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
- Bloomfield Village is located in Will County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bloomfield Village
- Goodings Grove
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
- Goodings Grove is located in Will County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Goodings Grove
- Homer Glen
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
- Homer Glen is located in Will County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Homer Glen
- Population from the 2020 Census: 24,281 people
- Homer Glen has also been known as:
- Homer Glen village
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Homer Glen <1>
- Romeoville
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
- Lockport
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
- Frankfort Square
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
- Frankfort Square is located in Will County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Frankfort Square
- Mokena
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
- Normantown
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
- Normantown is located in Will County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Normantown
- Lake County (IN)
- The following are listed by their distance from Harwood Heights, with the one closest to Harwood Heights listed first.
- Whiting
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
- East Chicago
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
- Hammond
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Harwood Heights, see our County-by-County Page for Harwood Heights.
Cemeteries Near Harwood Heights ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Harwood Heights.
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 Harwood Heights - one of the links might be able to help.
If not found below, our Cemetery List for Harwood Heights covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Harwood Heights, with the one closest to Harwood Heights listed first.
- Westlawn Cemetery
(Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
- Westlawn Jewish Cemetery
(Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
- Acacia Park Cemetery
(Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
- Irving Park Cemetery
(Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Irving Park Cemetery
- To give a relative sense of its location, the Irving Park Cemetery is a very large cemetery that is located in Norridge.
- The Irving Park Cemetery has also been known as:
- Irving Park Boulevard Cemetery
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #106325 <2>
- Rosemont Park Cemetery
(Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rosemont Park Cemetery
- The Rosemont Park Cemetery has also been known as:
- Rosemont Cemetery
- B'nai Abraham Cemetery
(Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
- Mt. Isaiah Israel Cemetery
(Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
- Mt. Mayrw Cemetery
(Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mt. Mayrw Cemetery
- The Mt. Mayrw Cemetery has also been known as:
- Mt. Mayriv Cemetery
- Mt. Olive Cemetery
(Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
- Union Ridge Cemetery
(Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
- Immaculate Conception Monastery Cemetery
(Less than 2 miles to the north)
- St. Joseph Cemetery
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for St. Joseph Cemetery
- The St. Joseph Cemetery has also been known as:
- St. Joseph's Cemetery
- Continue List (321 more) ...
- Elmwood Memorial Cemetery
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elmwood Memorial Cemetery
- The Elmwood Memorial Cemetery has also been known as:
- Elmwood Cemetery
- Norwood Park Cemetery
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
- St. Adalbert Catholic Cemetery
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for St. Adalbert Catholic Cemetery
- The St. Adalbert Catholic Cemetery has also been known as:
- Old Bohemian Cemetery
- Old Polish Cemetery
- St. Adalbert Cemetery
- St. Stanislaus Cemetery
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #107817 <2>
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>
While we didn't find Harwood Heights in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Harwood Heights.
These communities are listed based on their distance from Harwood Heights, with the one closest to Harwood Heights listed first.
- Dunning
(Less than 2 miles to the south)
- Dunning is located in Cook County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dunning
- Mont Clare
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
- Mont Clare is located in Cook County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mont Clare
- Jefferson Park
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
- Jefferson Park is located in Cook County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jefferson Park
- River Grove
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
- Galewood
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
- Galewood is located in Cook County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Galewood
- Grayland
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
- Grayland is located in Cook County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grayland
- Irving Park
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
- Irving Park is located in Cook County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Irving Park
- Mayfair
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
- Mayfair is located in Cook County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mayfair
- Park Ridge
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
- Franklin Park
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
- Cragin
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
- Cragin is located in Cook County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cragin
- Hermosa
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
- Hermosa is located in Cook County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hermosa
- Continue List (18 more) ...
- Niles
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
- Oak Park
(5 miles [8 km] to the south)
- Austin
(5 miles [8 km] to the south)
- Austin is located in Cook County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Austin
We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Harwood Heights. See our List of 1890's Communities around Harwood Heights.
Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Harwood Heights ...
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 87 newspapers that have been published in the area around Harwood Heights.
We have organized these newspapers into two lists:
- A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Harwood Heights. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Harwood Heights and those printed in the larger area surrounding Harwood Heights.
- An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 9 miles [14.5 km]<4> of Harwood Heights.
Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...
When we do our genealogical research, we begin 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 Harwood Heights:
- Websites specific to Illinois
- Pages specific to Cook County
- Genealogy information for nearby counties
- DuPage County
- Kane County
- Lake County
- McHenry County
- Will County
- Lake County
- Cemetery Information and Directories for Illinois
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 Harwood Heights, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <4> | 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- Harwood Heights) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |