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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 Lake Forest (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 Lake Forest. 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 Lake Forest ...

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 Lake Forest: Lk. Forest

You might be interested in other communities that are also named Lake Forest. More information can be found on our Tidbits & Trivia Page for Lake Forest.

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 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.

Lake Forest is located in Lake 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 Lake County: Cook, McHenry, Allegan (MI), Berrien (MI), Van Buren (MI) & Kenosha (WI).

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

  • Lake County     (The home county of Lake Forest)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Lake Forest, with the one closest to Lake Forest listed first.
    • Lake Bluff
      (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Great Lakes
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Highwood
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • North Chicago
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Green Oaks
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Bannockburn
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Mettawa
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Highland Park
      (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Lincolnshire
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Deerfield
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Ravinia
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Ravinia is also located in Lake County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ravinia
    • Libertyville
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
  • Cook County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Lake Forest, with the one closest to Lake Forest listed first.
    • Northbrook
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Colonial Village
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
      • Colonial Village is located in Cook County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Colonial Village
    • Covenant Village
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
      • Covenant Village is located in Cook County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Covenant Village
    • Techny
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Glencoe
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Wheeling
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • The Grove
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
      • The Grove is located in Cook County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for The Grove
    • Northfield
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
    • Prospect Heights
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
    • Winnetka
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Glenview
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
    • Capri Village
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Capri Village is located in Cook County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Capri Village
  • DuPage County
  • Kane County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Lake Forest, with the one closest to Lake Forest listed first.
    • East Dundee
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
    • Carpentersville
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
    • Sleepy Hollow
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Elgin
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
    • West Dundee
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
    • Gilberts
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
    • Freeman
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
    • Coleman
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
    • South Elgin
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
      • South Elgin is located in Kane County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Elgin
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 24,646 people
  • McHenry County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Lake Forest, with the one closest to Lake Forest listed first.
    • Island Lake
      (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
      • Island Lake is located in McHenry County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Island Lake
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 7,951 people
    • Fox River Grove
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
    • Lakemoor
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
    • Holiday Hills
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
      • Holiday Hills is located in McHenry County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holiday Hills
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 574 people
    • Oakwood Hills
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
      • Oakwood Hills is located in McHenry County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oakwood Hills
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,011 people
    • Pistakee Highlands
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Pistakee Highlands is located in McHenry County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pistakee Highlands
    • Sunnyside
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Sunnyside is located in McHenry County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunnyside
    • Barreville
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
    • Cary
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
      • 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>
    • Prairie Grove
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
      • Prairie Grove is located in McHenry County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prairie Grove
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,920 people
    • Trout Valley
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
      • Trout Valley is located in McHenry County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Trout Valley
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 508 people
    • Johnsburg
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
  • Kenosha County (WI)
  • Racine County (WI)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Lake Forest, with the one closest to Lake Forest listed first.
    • Elmwood Park
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
    • Sturtevant
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
  • Walworth County (WI)
    • Genoa City
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Genoa City is located in Walworth County (WI)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Genoa City
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,981 people

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

Cemeteries Near Lake Forest ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Lake Forest.

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 Lake Forest - one of the links might be able to help.

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Lake Forest, with the one closest to Lake Forest 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 Lake Forest had a population of 1,203 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Lake Forest had a population of 19,379 people.

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

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Lake Forest ...

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 58 newspapers that have been published in the area around Lake Forest.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Lake Forest. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Lake Forest and those printed in the larger area surrounding Lake Forest.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 9 miles [14.5 km]<4> of Lake Forest.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we first turn to 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 Lake Forest:

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 Lake Forest, 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 from Point A (ie- Lake Forest) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.