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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 East Cooper (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 East Cooper. 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 East Cooper ...

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 East Cooper: E. Cooper

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 southeast 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 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 east 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.

East Cooper is located in Kalamazoo 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 Kalamazoo County: Allegan, Barry, Branch, Calhoun, Cass, Saint Joseph & Van Buren.

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

  • Kalamazoo County     (The home county of East Cooper)
    • The following are listed by their distance from East Cooper, with the one closest to East Cooper listed first.
    • Parchment
      (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Parchment have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Parchment
      • Parchment is located in Kalamazoo County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,825 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Parchment <2>
    • Eastwood
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Eastwood have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eastwood
      • Eastwood is located in Kalamazoo County
    • Comstock
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Comstock have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Comstock
      • Comstock is located in Kalamazoo County
    • Kalamazoo
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Richland
      (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Richland have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Richland
      • Richland is located in Kalamazoo County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 847 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Richland <2>
    • Westwood
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Westwood have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Westwood
      • Westwood is located in Kalamazoo County
    • Milwood
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Yorkville
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Yorkville. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Yorkville
      • Yorkville is located in Kalamazoo County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Yorkville
      • From East Cooper to Yorkville
    • Highland Park
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Galesburg
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • South Gull Lake
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for South Gull Lake have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Gull Lake
      • South Gull Lake is located in Kalamazoo County
    • Oshtemo
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Alamo
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
  • Allegan County
  • Barry County
  • Branch County
  • Calhoun County
    • The following are listed by their distance from East Cooper, with the one closest to East Cooper listed first.
    • Fort Custer
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Fort Custer. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fort Custer
      • Fort Custer is located in Calhoun County
      • Former name for Fort Custer:
      • Camp Custer
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Fort Custer
      • From East Cooper to Fort Custer
    • Level Park
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
    • Oak Park
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Oak Park. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oak Park
      • Oak Park is located in Calhoun County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Oak Park
      • From East Cooper to Oak Park
    • Bedford
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bedford have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bedford
      • Bedford is located in Calhoun County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Bedford <2>
    • Springfield
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Springfield have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Springfield
      • Springfield is located in Calhoun County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 5,184 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Springfield <2>
    • West Leroy
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Sonoma
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Sonoma. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sonoma
      • Sonoma is located in Calhoun County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Sonoma
      • From East Cooper to Sonoma
    • Battle Creek
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
    • Brownlee Park
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Brownlee Park have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brownlee Park
      • Brownlee Park is located in Calhoun County
    • Verona Park
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
    • Joppa
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Beadle Lake
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
    • East Leroy
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for East Leroy have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Leroy
      • East Leroy is located in Calhoun County
  • Cass County
    • The following are listed by their distance from East Cooper, with the one closest to East Cooper listed first.
    • Marcellus
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Wakelee
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Wakelee. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wakelee
      • Wakelee is located in Cass County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Wakelee
      • From East Cooper to Wakelee
  • Eaton County
    • Bellevue
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bellevue have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bellevue
      • Bellevue is located in Eaton County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,299 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Bellevue <2>
  • Kent County
    • The following are listed by their distance from East Cooper, with the one closest to East Cooper listed first.
    • Caledonia
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
    • Corinth
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Corinth. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Corinth
      • Corinth is located in Kent County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Corinth
      • From East Cooper to Corinth
    • North Dorr
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for North Dorr have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Dorr
      • North Dorr is located in Kent County
  • Saint Joseph County
    • The following are listed by their distance from East Cooper, with the one closest to East Cooper listed first.
    • Chamberlain
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Parkville
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
    • Factoryville
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
    • Mendon
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mendon have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mendon
      • Mendon is located in Saint Joseph County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 848 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Mendon <2>
    • Leonidas
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Fairfax
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
    • Three Rivers
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Three Rivers have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Three Rivers
      • Three Rivers is located in Saint Joseph County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 7,600 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Three Rivers <2>
    • Wasepi
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
    • Centreville
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
    • Colon
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Colon have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Colon
      • Colon is located in Saint Joseph County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,155 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Colon <2>
    • Nottawa
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
  • Van Buren County

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

Cemeteries Near East Cooper ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of East Cooper.

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

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

  • East Cooper Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
  • Mt. Olivet Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Mt. Olivet Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Mt. Olivet Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Gate of Heaven Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Gate of Heaven Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Gate of Heaven Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Riverside Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
  • Cooper Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Cooper Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Cooper Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jewish Mountain Home Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Jewish Mountain Home Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Jewish Mountain Home Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Mountain Home Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Mountain Home Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Mountain Home Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Comstock Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Comstock Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Comstock Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Grand Prairie Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
  • Mt. Ever-Rest Memorial Park North
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
  • Westnedge Park Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Westnedge Park Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Westnedge Park Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Prairie Home Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Prairie Home Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Prairie Home Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (286 more) ...
    • Maple Grove Cemetery
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Maple Grove Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Maple Grove Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Kalamazoo County Poor Farm Cemetery
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Kalamazoo County Poor Farm Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Kalamazoo County Poor Farm Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Cressey Cemetery
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Cressey Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Cressey 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 in 1895, East Cooper had railroad service and no post office.

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

  • Cooper
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cooper have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cooper
    • Cooper is located in Kalamazoo County
  • Kalamazoo
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
  • Comstock
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Comstock have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Comstock
    • Comstock is located in Kalamazoo County
  • Richland Junction
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Richland Junction have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Richland Junction
    • Richland Junction is located in Kalamazoo County
  • Richland
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Richland have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Richland
    • Richland is located in Kalamazoo County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 847 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Richland <2>
  • Cressey
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cressey have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cressey
    • Cressey is located in Barry County
  • Galesburg
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Yorkville
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Yorkville. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Yorkville
    • Yorkville is located in Kalamazoo County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Yorkville
    • From East Cooper to Yorkville
  • Doster
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Doster. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Doster
    • Doster is located in Barry County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Doster
    • From East Cooper to Doster
  • Plainwell
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Oshtemo
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
  • Alamo
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
  • Continue List   (19 more) ...

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

Newspapers Published in East Cooper ...

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 115 newspapers that have been published in the area around East Cooper.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of East Cooper, there are papers which were published within 27 miles [43.5 km]<6>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for East Cooper.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we first visit 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 East Cooper:

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

The official website for Kalamazoo County: www.kalcounty.com/

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 East Cooper, 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 drawn from Point A (ie- East Cooper) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in East Cooper. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.3497, Longitude: -85.5511       In this case, the coordinates for East Cooper have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 28 Apr 2025