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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 Coleman (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 Coleman. 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 northeast corner of their home county. During their lives, most hospitals were in the next county to the east. 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 east 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.

Coleman is located in Midland 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 Midland County: Bay, Clare, Gladwin, Gratiot, Isabella & Saginaw.

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

  • Midland County     (The home county of Coleman)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Coleman, with the one closest to Coleman listed first.
    • Alamando
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Alamando. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alamando
      • Alamando is located in Midland County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Alamando
      • From Coleman to Alamando
    • North Bradley
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Edenville
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Edenville have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Edenville
      • Edenville is located in Midland County
    • Oil City
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Oil City have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oil City
      • Oil City is located in Midland County
    • Sanford
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Hope
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hope have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hope
      • Hope is located in Midland County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Hope <3>
    • Averill
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Averill. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Averill
      • Averill is located in Midland County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Averill
      • From Coleman to Averill
    • Porter
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
    • Redstone
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
    • Midland
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Ryan
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ryan have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ryan
      • Ryan is located in Midland County
  • Bay County
  • Clare County
  • Gladwin County
  • Gratiot County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Coleman, with the one closest to Coleman listed first.
    • North Wheeler
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for North Wheeler have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Wheeler
      • North Wheeler is located in Gratiot County
    • Forest Hill
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Forest Hill. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Forest Hill
      • Forest Hill is located in Gratiot County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Forest Hill
      • From Coleman to Forest Hill
    • Breckenridge
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Breckenridge have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Breckenridge
      • Breckenridge is located in Gratiot County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,265 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Breckenridge <3>
    • Saint Louis
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
    • Wheeler
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Wheeler have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wheeler
      • Wheeler is located in Gratiot County
    • Alma
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Alma have been provided by the GNIS.<2> 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 <3>
    • Elwell
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
    • Riverdale
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Riverdale have been provided by the GNIS.<2> 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 <3>
    • Elm Hall
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Elm Hall have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elm Hall
      • Elm Hall is located in Gratiot County
  • Isabella County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Coleman, with the one closest to Coleman listed first.
    • Loomis
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Jordan
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Jordan. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jordan
      • Jordan is located in Isabella County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Jordan
      • From Coleman to Jordan
    • Rosebush
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Vernon City
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Vernon City have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vernon City
      • Vernon City is located in Isabella County
    • Alembic
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
    • Mount Pleasant
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Shepherd
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
    • Beal City
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Beal City have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beal City
      • Beal City is located in Isabella County
    • Crawford
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
    • Coe
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Coe have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coe
      • Coe is located in Isabella County
    • Weidman
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Weidman have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Weidman
      • Weidman is located in Isabella County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Weidman <3>
    • Brinton
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
  • Mecosta County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Coleman, with the one closest to Coleman listed first.
    • Barryton
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Barryton have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Barryton
      • Barryton is located in Mecosta County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 357 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Barryton <3>
    • Millbrook
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Millbrook have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Millbrook
      • Millbrook is located in Mecosta County
    • Remus
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
  • Montcalm County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Coleman, with the one closest to Coleman listed first.
    • Vestaburg
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Wyman
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Saginaw County

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

Cemeteries Near Coleman ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Coleman.

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

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

  • Warren Twp. Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Warren Twp. Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Warren Twp. Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Wise Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Wise Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Wise Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • River Lawn Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the River Lawn Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the River Lawn Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Geneva Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Geneva Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Geneva Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Geneva Community Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Geneva Community Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Geneva Community Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • East Colonville Amish Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Bissing Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Bissing Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Bissing Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Elm Grove Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Elm Grove Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Elm Grove Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Vernon Twp. Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Vernon Twp. Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Vernon Twp. Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • St. Henrys Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Henrys Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Henrys Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Kelly Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Kelly Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Kelly Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Beaverton City Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Beaverton City Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Beaverton City Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (156 more) ...

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 Coleman had a population of 540 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Coleman had a population of 1,206 people.

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

  • Wise
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Wise have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wise
    • Wise is located in Isabella County
  • Alamando
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Alamando. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alamando
    • Alamando is located in Midland County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Alamando
    • From Coleman to Alamando
  • Loomis
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
  • North Bradley
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
  • Delwin
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Delwin have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Delwin
    • Delwin is located in Isabella County
  • Leaton
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Leaton have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leaton
    • Leaton is located in Isabella County
  • Jordan
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Jordan. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jordan
    • Jordan is located in Isabella County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Jordan
    • From Coleman to Jordan
  • Clare
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Edenville
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Edenville have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Edenville
    • Edenville is located in Midland County
  • Beaverton
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
  • Alembic
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
  • Sanford
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Continue List   (15 more) ...
    • Hope
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hope have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hope
      • Hope is located in Midland County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Hope <3>
    • Dover
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Saint Elmo
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Saint Elmo have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saint Elmo
      • Saint Elmo is located in Midland County

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Coleman ...

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 120 newspapers that have been published in the area around Coleman.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Coleman. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Coleman and those printed in the larger area surrounding Coleman.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<6> of Coleman.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we start 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 Coleman:

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

The official website for Midland County: www.co.midland.mi.us/

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

Footnotes ...

<1>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.
<2>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.
<3>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 Coleman, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<6>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- Coleman) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Coleman. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 43.7565, Longitude: -84.5865    









 

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This page was last modified/updated: 28 Apr 2025