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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 Eaton Rapids (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 Eaton Rapids. 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 Eaton Rapids ...

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 Eaton Rapids: Eaton Rpds.

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 southwest 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 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.

Eaton Rapids is located in Eaton 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 Eaton County: Barry, Calhoun, Clinton, Ingham, Ionia & Jackson.

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

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

Cemeteries Near Eaton Rapids ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Eaton Rapids.

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

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

  • Rosehill Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
  • Oakwood Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Oakwood Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Oakwood Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Bentley Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Bentley Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Bentley Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Brickyard Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
  • Plains Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
  • Fowler Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Fowler Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Fowler Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Bunker Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Bunker Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Bunker Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Munger Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Munger Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Munger Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • South Center Eaton Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
  • Fox Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Fox Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Fox Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Green Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Green Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Green Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Griffith Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Griffith Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Griffith Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (289 more) ...
    • Onondaga Cemetery
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Onondaga Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Onondaga Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Greenwood Cemetery
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Greenwood Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Greenwood Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Perry Cemetery
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Perry Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Perry Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> 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.<7>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Eaton Rapids had a population of 1,970 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Eaton Rapids had a population of 5,222 people.

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

  • Charlesworth
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
  • Kingsland
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Kingsland. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kingsland
    • Kingsland is located in Eaton County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Kingsland
    • From Eaton Rapids to Kingsland
  • Onondaga
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Aurelius
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Aurelius have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Aurelius
    • Aurelius is located in Ingham County
  • North Aurelius
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for North Aurelius have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Aurelius
    • North Aurelius is located in Ingham County
  • Brookfield
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Brookfield have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brookfield
    • Brookfield is located in Eaton County
  • Duck Lake
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
  • West Windsor
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
  • Springport
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
  • Potterville
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Dimondale
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
  • Charlotte
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
  • Continue List   (16 more) ...
    • Tompkins
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Tompkins have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tompkins
      • Tompkins is located in Jackson County
    • Berryville
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Eden
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Eden have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eden
      • Eden is located in Ingham County

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Eaton Rapids ...

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 61 newspapers that have been published in the area around Eaton Rapids.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

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

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 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 Eaton Rapids:

The official website for Eaton Rapids: www.ci.eaton-rapids.mi.us/

The official website for Eaton County: www.eatoncounty.org/

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>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<3>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.
<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>To help visualize the location of the cemetery, we've drawn a straight line between the communities of Charlotte and Eaton Rapids. The cemetery can be found near that line and roughly halfway between the two communities. Remember that this is just an approximate location.
<6>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Eaton Rapids) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Eaton Rapids. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.5093, Longitude: -84.6560    
<7>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 Eaton Rapids, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 28 Apr 2025