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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 Benton Harbor (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 Benton Harbor. 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 Benton Harbor ...

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.

Although we can't give a definitive list, hopefully the following will give you a feel for the variations that might have occurred.

For example, a typical abbreviation for Benton Harbor: Benton Hbr. (or less commonly used: Benton Harb. or Benton Hrbr.)

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 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.

Benton Harbor is located in Berrien County.

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 Berrien County: LaPorte (IN), Saint Joseph (IN), Cass & Van Buren.

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

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

Cemeteries Near Benton Harbor ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Benton Harbor.

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 Benton Harbor covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.

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

  • Morton Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Morton Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Morton Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Lakeview Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Lakeview Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Lakeview Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Resurrection Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Resurrection Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Resurrection Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Crystal Springs Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
  • B'nai Sholom Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
  • Riverview Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Riverview Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Riverview Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Brown School Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
  • Bethel Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Bethel Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Bethel Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Pearl Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Pearl Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Pearl Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Lake Shore Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Lake Shore Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Lake Shore Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Scottdale Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Scottdale Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Scottdale Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Brant Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Brant Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Brant Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (176 more) ...
    • Millburg Cemetery
      (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Millburg Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Millburg Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Stevensville Cemetery
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Stevensville Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Stevensville Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jerome Cemetery
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Jerome Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Jerome Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> 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.<5>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Benton Harbor had a population of 3,692 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Benton Harbor had a population of 9,692 people.

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

  • Saint Joseph
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
  • Vineland
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Vineland have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vineland
    • Vineland is located in Berrien County
  • Twelve Corners
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
  • Glenlord
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
  • Millburg
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Millburg have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Millburg
    • Millburg is located in Berrien County
  • Riverside
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
  • Sodus
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sodus have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sodus
    • Sodus is located in Berrien County
  • Stevensville
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Derby
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Derby have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Derby
    • Derby is located in Berrien County
  • Hollywood
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hollywood have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hollywood
    • Hollywood is located in Berrien County
  • Spinks Corners
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Spinks Corners have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spinks Corners
    • Spinks Corners is located in Berrien County
  • Hartman
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Hartman. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hartman
    • Hartman is located in Berrien County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Hartman
    • From Benton Harbor to Hartman
  • Continue List   (15 more) ...
    • Coloma
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Hinchman
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
    • Livingston
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Livingston have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Livingston
      • Livingston is located in Berrien County

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Benton Harbor ...

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 91 newspapers that have been published in the area around Benton Harbor.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Benton Harbor. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Benton Harbor and those printed in the larger area surrounding Benton Harbor.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 29 miles [46.7 km]<6> of Benton Harbor.

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 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 Benton Harbor:

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

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

Footnotes ...

<1>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.
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<3>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.
<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>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 Benton Harbor, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<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 from Point A (ie- Benton Harbor) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Benton Harbor. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.1160, Longitude: -86.4552    









 

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In closing, please keep in mind that we can not guarantee the accuracy or timeliness of the information on this website, so use with care. We encourage you to double-check the information that is critical to you.

If you've found an error or have additional information that you would like to share, please don't hesitate to write: Click here to contact us.

This page was last modified/updated: 28 Apr 2025