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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 Grand 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 Grand 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 Grand 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 Grand Rapids: Grand 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 northeast corner of their home county. During their lives, most 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.

Grand Rapids is located in Ontonagon 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 Ontonagon County: Gogebic, Houghton, Iron, Cook (MN) & Ashland (WI).

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

  • Ontonagon County     (The home county of Grand Rapids)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Grand Rapids, with the one closest to Grand Rapids listed first.
    • Rockland
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rockland have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rockland
      • Rockland is located in Ontonagon County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Rockland <2>
    • Firesteel
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Firesteel
      • Firesteel is located in Ontonagon County
    • Ontonagon
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Greenland
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Mass City
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mass City have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mass City
      • Mass City is located in Ontonagon County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Mass City <2>
    • Silver City
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Silver City have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Silver City
      • Silver City is located in Ontonagon County
    • White Pine
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
    • Rousseau
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rousseau
      • Rousseau is located in Ontonagon County
    • Ewen
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ewen have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ewen
      • Ewen is located in Ontonagon County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Ewen <2>
    • Bruce Crossing
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
    • Nonesuch
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Nonesuch have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nonesuch
      • Nonesuch is located in Ontonagon County
    • Gem
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Gem have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gem
      • Gem is located in Ontonagon County
    • Bergland
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bergland have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bergland
      • Bergland is located in Ontonagon County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Bergland <2>
  • Baraga County
    • Pelkie
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Pelkie have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pelkie
      • Pelkie is located in Baraga County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Pelkie <2>
  • Gogebic County
    • White City
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for White City have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for White City
      • White City is located in Gogebic County
  • Houghton County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Grand Rapids, with the one closest to Grand Rapids listed first.
    • Lake Roland
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Roland
      • Lake Roland is located in Houghton County
    • Nisula
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nisula
      • Nisula is located in Houghton County
    • Hazel
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hazel have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hazel
      • Hazel is located in Houghton County
    • Kenton
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kenton
      • Kenton is located in Houghton County
    • Toivola
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)

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

Newspapers Published in Grand 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 11 newspapers that have been published in the area around Grand Rapids.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Grand Rapids, there are papers which were published within 15 miles [24.1 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Grand 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 Grand Rapids:

Cemeteries Near Grand Rapids ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Grand 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 Grand Rapids covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.

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

  • Old Indian Burial Grounds
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Old Indian Burial Grounds have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Old Indian Burial Grounds
  • Woodawn Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Woodawn Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Woodawn Cemetery
  • Irish Hollow Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Irish Hollow Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Irish Hollow Cemetery
  • Methodist Rose Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Methodist Rose Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Methodist Rose Cemetery
  • Holy Family Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Holy Family Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Holy Family Cemetery
  • Riverside Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Riverside Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Riverside Cemetery
  • Evergreen Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Evergreen Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Evergreen Cemetery
  • Norwich Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Norwich Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Norwich Cemetery
  • Maple Grove Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • 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.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Maple Grove Cemetery
  • Maple Grove Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • 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.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Maple Grove Cemetery
  • Methodist Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Methodist Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Methodist Cemetery
  • Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Cemetery
  • Continue List   (19 more) ...
    • Ewen Cemetery
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Ewen Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Ewen Cemetery
    • Rousseau Cemetery
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Rousseau Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Rousseau Cemetery
    • Bruce Crossing Cemetery
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
      • To give a relative sense of its location, the Bruce Crossing Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located less than 2 miles<3> to the northwest of Bruce Crossing.
      • The Bruce Crossing Cemetery has also been known as:
      • Hillside Cemetery
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Bruce Crossing Cemetery
      • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #190 <4>

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 Grand Rapids in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Grand Rapids.

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

  • Rockland
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rockland have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rockland
    • Rockland is located in Ontonagon County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Rockland <2>
  • Ontonagon
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
  • Greenland
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
  • Matchwood
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Matchwood have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Matchwood
    • Matchwood is located in Ontonagon County
  • Ewen
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ewen have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ewen
    • Ewen is located in Ontonagon County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Ewen <2>
  • Bruce Crossing
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
  • Pori
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Pori have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pori
    • Pori is located in Houghton County
  • Paynesville
    (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Paynesville
    • Paynesville is located in Ontonagon County
  • Lake Gogebic
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Gogebic
    • Lake Gogebic is located in Ontonagon County
  • Trout Creek
    (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
  • Robbins
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Robbins have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Robbins
    • Robbins is located in Ontonagon County
  • Kenton
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kenton
    • Kenton is located in Houghton County
  • Tula
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Tula have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tula
    • Tula is located in Gogebic County

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

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

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>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- Grand Rapids) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Grand Rapids. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 46.7658, Longitude: -89.2757       In this case, the coordinates for Grand Rapids have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<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 Grand Rapids, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024