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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 Bear Town (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 Bear Town. 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 northwest corner of their home county. During their lives, most doctors 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.

Bear Town is located in Baraga County.

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

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Baraga County: Houghton, Iron & Marquette.

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

  • Baraga County     (The home county of Bear Town)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Bear Town, with the one closest to Bear Town listed first.
    • Baraga
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Keweenaw Bay
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
      • Keweenaw Bay is located in Baraga County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Keweenaw Bay
    • L'Anse
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Pequaming
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
      • Pequaming is located in Baraga County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pequaming
    • Pelkie
      (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Alberta
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
      • Alberta is located in Baraga County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alberta
    • Skanee
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
    • Covington
      (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
    • Vermilac
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
      • Vermilac is located in Baraga County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vermilac
    • Watton
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
    • Nestoria
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Nestoria is located in Baraga County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nestoria
  • Houghton County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Bear Town, with the one closest to Bear Town listed first.
    • Elo
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Elo is located in Houghton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elo
    • Hazel
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
      • Hazel is located in Houghton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hazel
    • Jacobsville
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
      • Jacobsville is located in Houghton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jacobsville
    • Portage Entry
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
      • Portage Entry is located in Houghton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Portage Entry
    • White City
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
      • White City is located in Houghton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for White City
    • Nisula
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
      • Nisula is located in Houghton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nisula
    • Chassell
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
    • Champion Mine
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Champion Mine is located in Houghton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Champion Mine
    • Painesdale
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Painesdale is located in Houghton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Painesdale
    • Toivola
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Lake Roland
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
      • Lake Roland is located in Houghton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Roland
    • Baltic
      (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
      • Baltic is located in Houghton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Baltic
  • Marquette County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Bear Town, with the one closest to Bear Town listed first.
    • Michigamme
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Dodge City
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
      • Dodge City is located in Marquette County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dodge City
  • Ontonagon County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Bear Town, with the one closest to Bear Town listed first.
    • Rousseau
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
      • Rousseau is located in Ontonagon County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rousseau
    • Wasas
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
      • Wasas is located in Ontonagon County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wasas
    • Wainola
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
      • Wainola is located in Ontonagon County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wainola
    • Greenland
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
    • Mass City
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)

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

Cemeteries Near Bear Town ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Bear Town.

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 Bear Town - one of the links might be able to help.

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

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

  • Assinins Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
  • Baraga Village Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
  • Keweenaw Bay Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
  • L'Anse Twp. Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
  • Pelkie Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
  • Pinery Indian Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
  • Pequaming Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Askel Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Kargi Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
  • Elo Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
  • Aura Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
  • Alston Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
  • Continue List   (34 more) ...
    • Herman Cemetery
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
    • St. Henrys Cemetery
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for St. Henrys Cemetery
      • To give a relative sense of its location, the St. Henrys Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located outside and to the east of Nisula.
      • The St. Henrys Cemetery has also been known as:
      • Nisula Lutheran Cemetery
      • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2273104 <2>
    • Old Skanee Cemetery
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)

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 Bear Town in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Bear Town.

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

  • Baraga
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
  • L'Anse
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
  • Pequaming
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Pequaming is located in Baraga County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pequaming
  • Skanee
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
  • Chassell
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
  • Vermilac
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
    • Vermilac is located in Baraga County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vermilac
  • Atlantic Mine
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
    • Atlantic Mine is located in Houghton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Atlantic Mine
  • Nestoria
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Nestoria is located in Baraga County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nestoria
  • Dollar Bay
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
  • Houghton
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
  • Sidnaw
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
  • Ripley
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
    • Ripley is located in Houghton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ripley
  • Continue List   (10 more) ...
    • Hancock
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
    • Pori
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
      • Pori is located in Houghton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pori
    • Boston
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
      • Boston is located in Houghton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Boston

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

Newspapers Published in Bear Town ...

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 Bear Town.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Bear Town, there are papers which were published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Bear Town.

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 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 Bear Town:

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