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 Eagle River (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 Eagle River. 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 Eagle River ...
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 occur.
- A typical abbreviation for Eagle River: Eagle Riv.
- In past government published Postal Guides, Eagle River was referred to as Eagle River Courthouse.
You might be interested in other communities that are also named Eagle River. More information can be found on our Tidbits & Trivia Page for Eagle River.
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.
For more information about how community names might have been affected by the Board of Geographic Names (BGN), see our page about Placename Rules.
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 and 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.
Eagle River is located in Keweenaw County and is the County Seat.
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 Eagle River. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Eagle River:
- Keweenaw County (The home county of Eagle River)
- The following are listed by their distance from Eagle River, with the one closest to Eagle River listed first.
- Phoenix
(Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
- Phoenix is located in Keweenaw County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Phoenix
- Central
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
- Central is located in Keweenaw County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Central
- Eagle Harbor
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
- Fulton
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
- Fulton is located in Keweenaw County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fulton
- Mohawk
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
- Wyoming
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
- Wyoming is located in Keweenaw County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wyoming
- Ahmeek
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
- Traverse
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
- Traverse is located in Keweenaw County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Traverse
- Allouez
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
- Mandan
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
- Mandan is located in Keweenaw County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mandan
- Snowshoe
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
- Snowshoe is located in Keweenaw County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Snowshoe
- Gay
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
- Gay is located in Keweenaw County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gay
- Bete Grise
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
- Bete Grise is located in Keweenaw County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bete Grise
- Houghton County
- The following are listed by their distance from Eagle River, with the one closest to Eagle River listed first.
- Copper City
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
- Copper City is located in Houghton County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Copper City
- Population from the 2020 Census: 180 people
- Kearsarge
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
- Wolverine
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
- Wolverine is located in Houghton County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wolverine
- Centennial Heights
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
- Centennial Heights is located in Houghton County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Centennial Heights
- Centennial
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
- Centennial is located in Houghton County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Centennial
- Lakeview
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
- Lakeview is located in Houghton County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lakeview
- Lakeview has also been known as:
- Lake View
- Calumet
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
- Tamarack
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
- Tamarack is located in Houghton County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tamarack
- Laurium
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
- Traverse Bay
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
- Traverse Bay is located in Houghton County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Traverse Bay
- Lake Linden
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
- Hubbell
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
- Boston
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
- Boston is located in Houghton County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Boston
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Eagle River, see our County-by-County Page for Eagle River.
Cemeteries Near Eagle River ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Eagle River.
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 Eagle River - one of the links might be able to help.
If not found below, our Cemetery List for Eagle River covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Eagle River, with the one closest to Eagle River listed first.
- Evergreen Cemetery
(Less than 2 miles to the south)
- Cliff Cemetery
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cliff Cemetery
- The Cliff Cemetery has also been known as:
- Hillside Cemetery
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #722 <2>
- Cliff Catholic Cemetery
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
- Pine Grove Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
- Ahmeek Cemetery
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
- 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>
- Centennial Cemetery
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
- Lake View Cemetery
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
- Hecla Cemetery
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
- Calvary Cemetery
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
- Maple Hill Cemetery
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
- Waasa Cemetery
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
- Copper Harbor Cemetery
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
- Continue List (12 more) ...
- Ft. Wilkins Cemetery
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ft. Wilkins Cemetery
- The Ft. Wilkins Cemetery has also been known as:
- Ft. Wilkins State Park Cemetery
- Post Cemetery
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2269497 <2>
- Oskar Cemetery
(23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
- American Legion Cemetery
(23 miles [37 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>
The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Eagle River had a population of 200 people in 1895 with a post office and no railroad service.
These communities are listed based on their distance from Eagle River, with the one closest to Eagle River listed first.
- Phoenix
(Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
- Phoenix is located in Keweenaw County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Phoenix
- Eagle Harbor
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
- Allouez
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
- Tamarack
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
- Tamarack is located in Houghton County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tamarack
- Swedetown
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
- Swedetown is located in Houghton County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Swedetown
- Osceola
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
- Osceola is located in Houghton County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Osceola
- Lake Linden
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
- Boston
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
- Boston is located in Houghton County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Boston
- Dollar Bay
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
- Oskar
(23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
- Oskar is located in Houghton County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oskar
- Houghton
(23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
- Ripley
(23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
- Ripley is located in Houghton County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ripley
- Continue List (4 more) ...
- Hancock
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
- Atlantic Mine
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
- Atlantic Mine is located in Houghton County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Atlantic Mine
- Chassell
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Eagle River. See our List of 1890's Communities around Eagle River.
Newspapers Published in Eagle River ...
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 Eagle River.
Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Eagle River, there are papers which were published within 24 miles [38.6 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Eagle River.
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 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 Eagle River:
- Websites specific to Michigan
- Pages specific to Keweenaw County
- Genealogy information for nearby counties
- Cemetery Information and Directories for Michigan
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 'straight-line' (or 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- Eagle River) 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 Eagle River, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |