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The Commemorative Quarter for Michigan





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 Hamilton (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 Hamilton. 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 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.

Hamilton is located in Allegan 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 Allegan County: Barry, Kalamazoo, Kent, Ottawa & Van Buren.

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

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

Cemeteries Near Hamilton ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Hamilton.

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

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

  • Riverside Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Riverside Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Riverside Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Junction Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Junction Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Junction Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • New Overisel Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the New Overisel Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the New Overisel Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Old Overisel Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Old Overisel Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Old Overisel Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Brookside Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Brookside Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Brookside Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Dowd Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Dowd Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Dowd Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Diamond Springs Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Diamond Springs Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Diamond Springs Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Manlius Twp. Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
  • Bentheim Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Bentheim Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Bentheim Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Valley Twp. Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Valley Twp. Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Valley Twp. Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • East Holland Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the East Holland Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the East Holland Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Overisel Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Overisel Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Overisel Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (222 more) ...
    • Van Dam Family Cemetery
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Van Dam Family Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Van Dam Family Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • East Saugatuck Cemetery
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the East Saugatuck Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the East Saugatuck Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Oak Grove Cemetery
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Oak Grove Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Oak Grove 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.<5>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Hamilton had a population of 204 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service.

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

  • Fillmore
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
  • Overisel
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Overisel have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Overisel
    • Overisel is located in Allegan County
  • East Saugatuck
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for East Saugatuck have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Saugatuck
    • East Saugatuck is located in Allegan County
  • New Richmond
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for New Richmond have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Richmond
    • New Richmond is located in Allegan County
  • Dunningville
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Dunningville have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dunningville
    • Dunningville is located in Allegan County
  • Diamond Springs
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
  • Oakland
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Oakland have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oakland
    • Oakland is located in Allegan County
  • Fennville
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Drenthe
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Drenthe. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Drenthe
    • Drenthe is located in Ottawa County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Drenthe
    • From Hamilton to Drenthe
  • Graafschap
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
  • Millgrove
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Millgrove have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Millgrove
    • Millgrove is located in Allegan County
    • Millgrove has also been known as:
    • Mill Grove
  • South Monterey
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
  • Continue List   (19 more) ...
    • Vriesland
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Vriesland have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vriesland
      • Vriesland is located in Ottawa County
    • Holland
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Zeeland
      (9 miles [14.5 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 Hamilton. See our List of 1890's Communities around Hamilton.

Newspapers Published in Hamilton ...

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 92 newspapers that have been published in the area around Hamilton.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Hamilton, there are papers which were published within 25 miles [40.2 km]<6>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Hamilton.

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 websites either 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 Hamilton:

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

The official website for Allegan County: www.allegancounty.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>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.
<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>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 Hamilton, 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' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Hamilton) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Hamilton. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.6762, Longitude: -86.0046    









 

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This page was last modified/updated: 28 Apr 2025