RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Michigan >> Keweenaw County >> Betsy >> 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 Betsy (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 Betsy. 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.

Betsy is located in Keweenaw County.

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

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

  • Keweenaw County     (The home county of Betsy)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Betsy, with the one closest to Betsy listed first.
    • Gay
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Gay is located in Keweenaw County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gay
    • Wyoming
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
      • Wyoming is located in Keweenaw County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wyoming
    • Bete Grise
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
      • Bete Grise is located in Keweenaw County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bete Grise
    • Mandan
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
      • Mandan is located in Keweenaw County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mandan
    • Snowshoe
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Snowshoe is located in Keweenaw County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Snowshoe
    • Central
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Central is located in Keweenaw County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Central
    • Traverse
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
      • Traverse is located in Keweenaw County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Traverse
    • Eagle Harbor
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Phoenix
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Phoenix is located in Keweenaw County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Phoenix
    • Copper Harbor
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Fulton
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
      • Fulton is located in Keweenaw County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fulton
    • Mohawk
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
    • Ahmeek
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
  • Baraga County
  • Houghton County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Betsy, with the one closest to Betsy listed first.
    • Traverse Bay
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Traverse Bay is located in Houghton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Traverse Bay
    • Copper City
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
      • Copper City is located in Houghton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Copper City
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 180 people
    • Kearsarge
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
    • Wolverine
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
      • Wolverine is located in Houghton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wolverine
    • Lake Linden
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Centennial
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
      • Centennial is located in Houghton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Centennial
    • Calumet
      (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
    • Centennial Heights
      (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
      • Centennial Heights is located in Houghton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Centennial Heights
    • Laurium
      (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
    • Hubbell
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Lakeview
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
      • Lakeview is located in Houghton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lakeview
      • Lakeview has also been known as:
      • Lake View
    • Tamarack
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
      • Tamarack is located in Houghton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tamarack
    • Dreamland
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Dreamland is located in Houghton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dreamland

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

Cemeteries Near Betsy ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Betsy.

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

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

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

  • Pine Grove Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Cliff Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Cliff Catholic Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Evergreen Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
  • Copper Harbor Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
  • Ft. Wilkins Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
  • Maple Hill Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
  • Ahmeek Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ahmeek Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Ahmeek Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located less than 2 miles<3> to the northwest of Ahmeek.
    • The Ahmeek Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Calvary Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #12 <2>
  • Calvary Cemetery
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
  • Centennial Cemetery
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
  • Hecla Cemetery
    (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
  • Lake View Cemetery
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
  • Continue List   (11 more) ...
    • Waasa Cemetery
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
    • Forest Hill Cemetery
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
    • American Legion Cemetery
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)

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.<4>

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

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

  • Eagle Harbor
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Phoenix
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Phoenix is located in Keweenaw County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Phoenix
  • Eagle River
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
  • Allouez
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
  • Lake Linden
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
  • Swedetown
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
    • Swedetown is located in Houghton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Swedetown
  • Osceola
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
    • Osceola is located in Houghton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Osceola
  • Tamarack
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
    • Tamarack is located in Houghton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tamarack
  • Boston
    (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
    • Boston is located in Houghton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Boston
  • Continue List   (6 more) ...
    • Dollar Bay
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Ripley
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Ripley is located in Houghton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ripley
    • Houghton
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Hancock
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Oskar
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
      • Oskar is located in Houghton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oskar
    • Chassell
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)

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

Newspapers Published in Betsy ...

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 50 newspapers that have been published in the area around Betsy.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Betsy, there are papers which were published within 27 miles [43.5 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Betsy.

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 Betsy:

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>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 from Point A (ie- Betsy) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<4>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 Betsy, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.