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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 Butternut (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 Butternut. 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.

Butternut is located in Montcalm 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 Montcalm County: Clinton, Gratiot, Ionia, Isabella, Kent, Mecosta & Newaygo.

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

  • Montcalm County     (The home county of Butternut)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Butternut, with the one closest to Butternut listed first.
    • Vickeryville
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Carson City
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Carson City have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carson City
      • Carson City is located in Montcalm County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,105 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Carson City <2>
    • Crystal
      (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Fenwick
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Sheridan
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Amsden
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Stanton
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Stanton have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stanton
      • Stanton is located in Montcalm County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,420 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Stanton <2>
    • Sidney
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sidney have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sidney
      • Sidney is located in Montcalm County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Sidney <2>
    • McBride
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for McBride have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for McBride
      • McBride is located in Montcalm County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 203 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for McBride <2>
    • Vestaburg
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
    • Eureka Place
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
    • Cedar Lake
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cedar Lake have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Lake
      • Cedar Lake is located in Montcalm County
  • Clinton County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Butternut, with the one closest to Butternut listed first.
    • Maple Rapids
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Maple Rapids have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maple Rapids
      • Maple Rapids is located in Clinton County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 671 people
    • Fowler
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Westphalia
      (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
    • Eureka
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Eureka have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eureka
      • Eureka is located in Clinton County
    • Saint Johns
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Saint Johns have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saint Johns
      • Saint Johns is located in Clinton County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 7,904 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Saint Johns <2>
    • Duplain
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
    • Eagle
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
    • Elsie
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
    • Shepardsville
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Price
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Price. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Price
      • Price is located in Clinton County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Price
      • From Butternut to Price
    • De Witt
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
    • East DeWitt
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Eaton County
  • Gratiot County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Butternut, with the one closest to Butternut listed first.
    • Sumner
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Middleton
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
    • Perrinton
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
    • Elm Hall
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Elm Hall have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elm Hall
      • Elm Hall is located in Gratiot County
    • Riverdale
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Riverdale have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Riverdale
      • Riverdale is located in Gratiot County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Riverdale <2>
    • Pompeii
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
    • Elwell
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Ithaca
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ithaca have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ithaca
      • Ithaca is located in Gratiot County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,744 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Ithaca <2>
    • Alma
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Alma have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alma
      • Alma is located in Gratiot County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 8,807 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Alma <2>
    • North Star
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
    • Forest Hill
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Saint Louis
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
  • Ionia County
  • Isabella County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Butternut, with the one closest to Butternut listed first.
    • Strickland
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Strickland. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Strickland
      • Strickland is located in Isabella County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Strickland
      • From Butternut to Strickland
    • Winn
      (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Winn have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Winn
      • Winn is located in Isabella County
    • Blanchard
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Blanchard have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blanchard
      • Blanchard is located in Isabella County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Blanchard <2>
    • Crawford
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
    • Coe
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Coe have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coe
      • Coe is located in Isabella County
    • Shepherd
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Mount Pleasant
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
  • Kent County
  • Mecosta County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Butternut, with the one closest to Butternut listed first.
    • Millbrook
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Millbrook have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Millbrook
      • Millbrook is located in Mecosta County
    • Halls Corner
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Remus
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
  • Midland County
  • Saginaw County

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

Cemeteries Near Butternut ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Butternut.

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

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

  • Bloomer Twp. Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
  • Burke Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Burke Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Burke Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Crystal Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Crystal Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Crystal Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Carson City Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
  • St. Marys Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Marys Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Marys Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Vickeryville Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Vickeryville Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Vickeryville Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Dalton Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Dalton Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Dalton Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Sunny Hill Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Sunny Hill Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Sunny Hill Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Palo Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Palo Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Palo Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Woodward Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Woodward Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Woodward Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • West Side Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the West Side Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the West Side Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • St. Johns Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Johns Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Johns Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (230 more) ...
    • Hubbardston East Cemetery
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Hubbardston East Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Hubbardston East Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Spencer Cemetery
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Spencer Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Spencer Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Evergreen Cemetery
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Evergreen Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Evergreen 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.<6>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Butternut had a population of 35 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service.

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

  • Vickeryville
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
  • Carson City
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Carson City have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carson City
    • Carson City is located in Montcalm County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,105 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Carson City <2>
  • Crystal
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
  • Palo
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Hubbardston
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hubbardston have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hubbardston
    • Hubbardston is located in Ionia County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 402 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Hubbardston <2>
  • Sethton
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sethton have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sethton
    • Sethton is located in Gratiot County
  • Fenwick
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
  • Matherton
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
  • Brice
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Brice have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brice
    • Brice is located in Gratiot County
  • New Haven Center
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for New Haven Center have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Haven Center
    • New Haven Center is located in Gratiot County
  • Sheridan
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
  • Sumner
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
  • Continue List   (16 more) ...

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

Newspapers Published in Butternut ...

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 257 newspapers that have been published in the area around Butternut.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Butternut, 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 Butternut.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we like to start with the websites from Cyndi's List, FamilySearch and Genealogy Trails. These professional and volunteer 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 Butternut:

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

The official website for Montcalm County: www.montcalm.org/

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>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- Butternut) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Butternut. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 43.1837, Longitude: -84.9157    
<5>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.
<6>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 Butternut, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 28 Apr 2025