RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Indiana >> LaPorte County >> Otis >> Genealogy HelperIndex...

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 Otis (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 Otis. 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 southwest 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 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.

Otis is located in LaPorte County.

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

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of LaPorte County: Jasper, Porter, Saint Joseph, Starke & Berrien (MI).

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

  • LaPorte County     (The home county of Otis)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Otis, with the one closest to Otis listed first.
    • Holmesville
      (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Westville
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Waterford
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Alida
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Door Village
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
      • Door Village is located in LaPorte County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Door Village
    • Michigan City
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Trail Creek
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
      • Trail Creek is located in LaPorte County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Trail Creek
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,985 people
    • Haskell
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Pottawattamie Park
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
      • Pottawattamie Park is located in LaPorte County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pottawattamie Park
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 221 people
    • La Porte
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Union Mills
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Long Beach
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Kingsbury
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Kingsbury is located in LaPorte County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kingsbury
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 239 people
  • Jasper County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Otis, with the one closest to Otis listed first.
    • Tefft
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
      • Tefft is located in Jasper County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tefft
    • Wheatfield
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
    • Stoutsburg
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
  • Lake County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Otis, with the one closest to Otis listed first.
    • Deep River
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
      • Deep River is located in Lake County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Deep River
    • Duneland Village of Gary
      (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
    • Duneland Village
      (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
      • Duneland Village is located in Lake County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Duneland Village
    • Hobart
      (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
    • Lake Station
      (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
    • New Chicago
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
      • New Chicago is located in Lake County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Chicago
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,937 people
    • Lakes of the Four Seasons
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Liverpool
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
    • Green Acres
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
    • Winfield
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Winfield is located in Lake County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Winfield
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 6,265 people
    • Gary
      (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
    • Merrillville
      (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
    • Lottaville
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
  • Marshall County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Otis, with the one closest to Otis listed first.
    • Donaldson
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Donaldson is located in Marshall County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Donaldson
    • Tyner
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Porter County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Otis, with the one closest to Otis listed first.
    • Town-of-Pines
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Town-of-Pines is located in Porter County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Town-of-Pines
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 688 people
    • Suman
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Tratebas Mill
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Beverly Shores
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Chesterton
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Porter
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Babcock
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Dune Acres
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
      • Dune Acres is located in Porter County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dune Acres
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 182 people
    • Valparaiso
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Burns Harbor
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • South Haven
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
      • South Haven is located in Porter County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Haven
    • Ogden Dunes
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
      • Ogden Dunes is located in Porter County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ogden Dunes
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,083 people
    • Portage
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
  • Saint Joseph County
  • Starke County
  • Berrien County (MI)

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

Cemeteries Near Otis ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Otis.

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

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

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

  • Beattys Corner Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
  • Eight Square Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
  • Eaheart Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
  • Quakerdom Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
  • Sharp Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
  • Clinton Chapel Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
  • Cross Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
  • Carter Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Lows Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Furnessville Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Dillingham Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Swan Lake Memorial Gardens
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Continue List   (135 more) ...
    • St. Stanislaus Cemetery
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Greenwood Cemetery
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Chesterton Cemetery
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)

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.<2>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Otis had a population of 236 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service.

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

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

Newspapers Published in Otis ...

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 72 newspapers that have been published in the area around Otis.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Otis, there are papers which were published within 21 miles [33.8 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Otis.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we start with the websites from Cyndi's List, FamilySearch and Genealogy Trails. These professional and volunteer 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 Otis:

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