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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 Germfask (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 Germfask. 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 and doctors 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.

Germfask is located in Schoolcraft County.

To see how the shape of Michigan's counties may have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Schoolcraft County: Alger, Delta, Luce & Mackinac.

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

  • Schoolcraft County     (The home county of Germfask)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Germfask, with the one closest to Germfask listed first.
    • Seney
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Walsh
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
      • Walsh is located in Schoolcraft County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Walsh
    • Blaney Junction
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
      • Blaney Junction is located in Schoolcraft County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blaney Junction
    • Parkington ‑ Historic
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
      • Parkington is located in Schoolcraft County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Parkington
    • Gulliver
      (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
    • Creighton
      (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
      • Creighton is located in Schoolcraft County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Creighton
    • Copenhagen Beach
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Copenhagen Beach is located in Schoolcraft County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Copenhagen Beach
    • Manistique
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Steuben
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
      • Steuben is located in Schoolcraft County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Steuben
    • Minor Beach
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Minor Beach is located in Schoolcraft County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Minor Beach
    • Elkhorn
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Elkhorn is located in Schoolcraft County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elkhorn
  • Alger County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Germfask, with the one closest to Germfask listed first.
    • Shingleton
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
    • Melstrand
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Melstrand is located in Alger County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Melstrand
    • Grand Marais
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
    • Doty
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
      • Doty is located in Alger County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Doty
  • Luce County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Germfask, with the one closest to Germfask listed first.
    • Carpenter Landing
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
      • Carpenter Landing is located in Luce County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carpenter Landing
    • Danaher
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Danaher is located in Luce County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Danaher
    • Helmer
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
      • Helmer is located in Luce County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Helmer
    • Laketon
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Laketon is located in Luce County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Laketon
    • McMillan
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Dollarville
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
      • Dollarville is located in Luce County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dollarville
    • Newberry
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
    • Roberts Corner
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
      • Roberts Corner is located in Luce County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roberts Corner
    • Lencel
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
      • Lencel is located in Luce County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lencel
  • Mackinac County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Germfask, with the one closest to Germfask listed first.
    • Curtis
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Huntspur
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
      • Huntspur is located in Mackinac County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Huntspur
      • Huntspur has also been known as:
      • Hunt Spur
    • Gould City
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Port Inland
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
      • Port Inland is located in Mackinac County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Port Inland
    • Engadine
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Naubinway
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)

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

Cemeteries Near Germfask ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Germfask.

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 Germfask - one of the links might be able to help.

If not found below, our Cemetery List for Germfask covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.

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

  • Germfask Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
  • Old Germfask Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
  • Blaney Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
  • Boot Hill Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
  • West Lakefield Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
  • Curtis Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
  • East Lakefield Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
  • Old East Lakefield Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
  • Sandtown Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
  • Columbus Twp. Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Woods Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
  • Bethlehem Lutheran Cemetery
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
  • Continue List   (12 more) ...
    • Byers Cemetery
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
    • Hiawatha Cemetery
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
    • Polly Family Cemetery
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)

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 in 1895, Germfask had a post office and no railroad service.

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

  • Seney
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
  • McMillan
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Corinne
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Corinne is located in Mackinac County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Corinne
  • Gould City
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
  • Gulliver
    (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
  • Creighton
    (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
    • Creighton is located in Schoolcraft County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Creighton
  • Dollarville
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
    • Dollarville is located in Luce County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dollarville
  • Newberry
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
  • Manistique
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
  • Naubinway
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
  • Gilchrist
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
    • Gilchrist is located in Mackinac County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gilchrist
  • Shingleton
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
  • Grand Marais
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)

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

Newspapers Published in Germfask ...

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 27 newspapers that have been published in the area around Germfask.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Germfask, there are papers which were published within 29 miles [46.7 km]<2>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Germfask.

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 Germfask:

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>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- Germfask) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>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.
<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 Germfask, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.