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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 DeWitt (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 DeWitt. 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 DeWitt ...

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 DeWitt: E. Dewitt

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 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.

East DeWitt is located in Clinton 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 Clinton County: Eaton, Gratiot, Ingham, Ionia, Montcalm, Saginaw & Shiawassee.

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

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

Cemeteries Near East DeWitt ...

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

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

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

  • DeWitt City Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
  • Wilsey Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Wilsey Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Wilsey Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Gunnisonville Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Gunnisonville Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Gunnisonville Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Alward Lake Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Alward Lake Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Alward Lake Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Hurd Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Hurd Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Hurd Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Merihew Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Merihew Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Merihew Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Pleasant Hill Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Pleasant Hill Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Pleasant Hill Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • South Riley Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the South Riley Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the South Riley Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Chapel Hill Memorial Gardens
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Chapel Hill Memorial Gardens
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Chapel Hill Memorial Gardens have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Reed Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Reed Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Reed Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Hillside Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
  • St. Joseph Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Joseph Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Joseph Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (262 more) ...
    • Stilson Cemetery
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Stilson Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Stilson Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Georgia Cemetery
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Georgia Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Georgia Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • South Bingham Cemetery
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the South Bingham Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the South Bingham Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> 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>

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

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

  • De Witt
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
  • Gunnisonville
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
  • Bath
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bath have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bath
    • Bath is located in Clinton County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Bath <1>
  • Price
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • 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 East DeWitt to Price
  • North Lansing
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
  • South Riley
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for South Riley have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Riley
    • South Riley is located in Clinton County
  • Wacousta
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Wacousta have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wacousta
    • Wacousta is located in Clinton County
  • Lansing
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
  • Riley
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Riley have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Riley
    • Riley is located in Clinton County
  • Okemos
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
  • Laingsburg
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Laingsburg have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Laingsburg
    • Laingsburg is located in Shiawassee County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,283 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Laingsburg <1>
  • Saint Johns
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Saint Johns have been provided by the GNIS.<2> 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 <1>
  • Continue List   (13 more) ...
    • Millett
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Millett have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Millett
      • Millett is located in Eaton County
      • Millett has also been known as:
      • Milletts
    • Shepardsville
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Eagle
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)

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

Newspapers Published in East DeWitt ...

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 146 newspapers that have been published in the area around East DeWitt.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of East DeWitt, there are papers which were published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<6>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for East DeWitt.

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 DeWitt:

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

The official website for Clinton County: www.clinton-county.org/

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

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 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>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 DeWitt, 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 from Point A (ie- East DeWitt) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in East DeWitt. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.8540, Longitude: -84.5429    









 

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This page was last modified/updated: 14 Jul 2025