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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 Belknap (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 Belknap. 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 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.

Belknap is located in Presque Isle 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 Presque Isle County: Alpena, Cheboygan & Montmorency.

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

  • Presque Isle County     (The home county of Belknap)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Belknap, with the one closest to Belknap listed first.
    • Hagensville
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
      • Hagensville is also located in Presque Isle County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hagensville
    • Hawks
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Hawks is also located in Presque Isle County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hawks
    • Metz
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Metz is also located in Presque Isle County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Metz
    • Liske
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
      • Liske is also located in Presque Isle County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Liske
    • Calcite
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
      • Calcite is also located in Presque Isle County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Calcite
    • Rogers City
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Moltke
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Moltke is also located in Presque Isle County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Moltke
    • Posen
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
      • Posen is also located in Presque Isle County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Posen
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 221 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Posen <1>
    • Millersburg
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Polaski
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Polaski is also located in Presque Isle County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Polaski
    • Ocqueoc
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
      • Ocqueoc is also located in Presque Isle County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ocqueoc
    • Huron Beach
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Huron Beach is also located in Presque Isle County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Huron Beach
    • Leroy
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Leroy is also located in Presque Isle County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leroy
  • Alpena County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Belknap, with the one closest to Belknap listed first.
    • Long Rapids
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Long Rapids is located in Alpena County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Long Rapids
    • Lachine
      (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
    • Cathro
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
      • Cathro is located in Alpena County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cathro
    • Flanders
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
      • Flanders is located in Alpena County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flanders
    • Herron
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
      • Herron is located in Alpena County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Herron
    • McHarg
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
      • McHarg is located in Alpena County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for McHarg
    • Alpena Junction
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Alpena Junction is located in Alpena County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alpena Junction
    • Alpena
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
  • Cheboygan County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Belknap, with the one closest to Belknap listed first.
    • Black Lake
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
      • Black Lake is located in Cheboygan County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Black Lake
    • Tower
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
      • Tower is located in Cheboygan County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tower
    • Fingerboard Corner
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
      • Fingerboard Corner is located in Cheboygan County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fingerboard Corner
  • Montmorency County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Belknap, with the one closest to Belknap listed first.
    • Royston
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
      • Royston is located in Montmorency County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Royston
    • Hillman
      (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
    • Canada Creek Ranch
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Canada Creek Ranch is located in Montmorency County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Canada Creek Ranch
    • Atlanta
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Big Rock ‑ Historic
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Big Rock was located in Montmorency County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Big Rock

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

Cemeteries Near Belknap ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Belknap.

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

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Belknap, with the one closest to Belknap 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>

While we didn't find Belknap in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Belknap.

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

  • Hagensville
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Hagensville is also located in Presque Isle County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hagensville
  • Rogers City
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
  • Posen
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Posen is also located in Presque Isle County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Posen
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 221 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Posen <1>
  • Ocqueoc
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Ocqueoc is also located in Presque Isle County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ocqueoc
  • Long Rapids
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Long Rapids is located in Alpena County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Long Rapids
  • Bolton
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Bolton is located in Alpena County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bolton
  • Presque Isle
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
  • Hillman
    (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
  • Onaway
    (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
    • Onaway is also located in Presque Isle County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Onaway
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 831 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Onaway <1>
  • Continue List   (6 more) ...
    • Flanders
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
      • Flanders is located in Alpena County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flanders
    • Bell ‑ Historic
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
      • Bell was located in Presque Isle County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bell
    • Atlanta
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Alpena
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Manning
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Manning is located in Cheboygan County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Manning
    • Big Rock ‑ Historic
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Big Rock was located in Montmorency County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Big Rock

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

Newspapers Published in Belknap ...

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 46 newspapers that have been published in the area around Belknap.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Belknap, there are papers which were published within 27 miles [43.5 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Belknap.

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 Belknap:

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 Belknap, 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- Belknap) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.