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The Commemorative Quarter for Michigan





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 Allegan (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 Allegan. 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.

Allegan is located in Allegan County and is the County Seat.

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

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Allegan County: Barry, Kalamazoo, Kent, Ottawa & Van Buren.

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

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

Cemeteries Near Allegan ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Allegan.

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.

If you need information about a burial or interment, photos, transcripts, how to contact the cemetery or local authorities, please visit our selection of Genealogy Websites (see below).

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

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

  • Oakwood Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
  • Hudson Corners Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Hudson Corners Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Hudson Corners Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jewett Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Jewett Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Jewett Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Mallory Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
  • Blackman Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
  • Allegan County Poor Farm Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Allegan County Poor Farm Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Allegan County Poor Farm Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Immanuel Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Immanuel Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Immanuel Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Millgrove Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
  • Rowe Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Rowe Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Rowe Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Miner Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Miner Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Miner Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Trowbridge Methodist Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Sacred Heart Catholic Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Sacred Heart Catholic Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Sacred Heart Catholic Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (263 more) ...
    • Poplar Hill Cemetery
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Poplar Hill Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Poplar Hill Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Lindsley Cemetery
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Lindsley Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Lindsley Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Brookside Cemetery
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Brookside Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Brookside Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.

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.<7>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Allegan had a population of 2,669 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Allegan had a population of 5,016 people.

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

  • Millgrove
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Millgrove have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Millgrove
    • Millgrove is located in Allegan County
    • Millgrove has also been known as:
    • Mill Grove
  • South Monterey
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
  • Watson
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
  • Dunningville
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Dunningville have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dunningville
    • Dunningville is located in Allegan County
  • Hopkins
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hopkins have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hopkins
    • Hopkins is located in Allegan County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 605 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Hopkins <3>
  • Otsego
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
  • Diamond Springs
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
  • Martin
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
  • Berlamont
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Berlamont have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Berlamont
    • Berlamont is located in Van Buren County
  • Gobles
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
  • Kendall
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
  • Shelbyville
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Continue List   (16 more) ...
    • Hilliards
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Pine Grove
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Pine Grove have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine Grove
      • Pine Grove is located in Van Buren County
    • Plainwell
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Allegan ...

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 133 newspapers that have been published in the area around Allegan.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Allegan. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Allegan and those printed in the larger area surrounding Allegan.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 24 miles [38.6 km]<6> of Allegan.

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 either 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 Allegan:

Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Allegan. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.

The official website for Allegan County: www.allegancounty.org/

The official website for State of Michigan: https://www.michigan.gov/

Footnotes ...

<1>An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace.
<2>The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required.
<3>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<4>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.
<5>To help visualize the location of the cemetery, we've drawn a straight line between the communities of Allegan and Otsego. The cemetery can be found near that line and roughly halfway between the two communities. Remember that this is just an approximate location.
<6>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 drawn from Point A (ie- Allegan) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Allegan. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.5293, Longitude: -85.8552    
<7>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 Allegan, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 28 Apr 2025