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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 Harrison (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 Harrison. 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 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.

Harrison is located in Clare County and is the County Seat.

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 Clare County: Gladwin, Isabella, Mecosta, Midland, Missaukee & Roscommon.

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

  • Clare County     (The home county of Harrison)
  • Gladwin County
  • Isabella County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Harrison, with the one closest to Harrison listed first.
    • Vernon City
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Vernon City have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vernon City
      • Vernon City is located in Isabella County
    • Loomis
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Brinton
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Rosebush
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
    • Beal City
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Beal City have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beal City
      • Beal City is located in Isabella County
    • Weidman
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Weidman have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Weidman
      • Weidman is located in Isabella County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Weidman <2>
    • Sherman City ‑ Historic
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Jordan
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Jordan. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jordan
      • Jordan is located in Isabella County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Jordan
      • From Harrison to Jordan
    • Lake Isabella
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
    • Alembic
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
    • Mount Pleasant
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
  • Mecosta County
    • Barryton
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Barryton have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Barryton
      • Barryton is located in Mecosta County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 357 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Barryton <2>
  • Midland County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Harrison, with the one closest to Harrison listed first.
    • Coleman
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Alamando
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Alamando. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alamando
      • Alamando is located in Midland County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Alamando
      • From Harrison to Alamando
    • Edenville
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Edenville have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Edenville
      • Edenville is located in Midland County
    • North Bradley
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Hope
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hope have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hope
      • Hope is located in Midland County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Hope <2>
    • Oil City
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Oil City have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oil City
      • Oil City is located in Midland County
  • Missaukee County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Harrison, with the one closest to Harrison listed first.
    • Vogel Center
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Falmouth
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Falmouth have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Falmouth
      • Falmouth is located in Missaukee County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Falmouth <2>
    • Merritt
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
    • McBain
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
    • Star City
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Star City have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Star City
      • Star City is located in Missaukee County
    • Stoney Corner
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Lucas
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Lake City
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Osceola County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Harrison, with the one closest to Harrison listed first.
    • Marion
      (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
    • Sears
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sears have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sears
      • Sears is located in Osceola County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Sears <2>
    • Park Lake
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Avondale
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Avondale. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Avondale
      • Avondale is located in Osceola County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Avondale
      • From Harrison to Avondale
    • Evart
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Evart have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Evart
      • Evart is located in Osceola County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,886 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Evart <2>
    • Highland
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
    • Dighton
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
  • Roscommon County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Harrison, with the one closest to Harrison listed first.
    • Houghton Lake
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Houghton Lake have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Houghton Lake
      • Houghton Lake is located in Roscommon County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Houghton Lake <2>
    • Prudenville
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Prudenville have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prudenville
      • Prudenville is located in Roscommon County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Prudenville <2>
    • Houghton Lake Heights
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Houghton Lake Heights have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Houghton Lake Heights
      • Houghton Lake Heights is located in Roscommon County
    • Nellsville
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
    • Hillcrest
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
    • Saint Helen
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)

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

Cemeteries Near Harrison ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Harrison.

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

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

  • Maple Grove Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Maple Grove Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Maple Grove Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • St. Athanasius Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Athanasius Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Athanasius Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Pleasant Plains Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Pleasant Plains Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Pleasant Plains Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Greenwood Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • 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.
  • Ott Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Ott Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Ott Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Hamilton Cedar Crest Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
  • Frost Twp. Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Frost Twp. Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Frost Twp. Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Hatton Twp. Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
  • Lincoln Twp. Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Lincoln Twp. Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Lincoln Twp. Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Wilson Grove Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Wilson Grove Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Wilson Grove Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Arthur Twp. Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
  • St. John's Lutheran Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. John's Lutheran Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. John's Lutheran Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (118 more) ...
    • Hamilton Cemetery
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Summerfield Cemetery
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Summerfield Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Summerfield Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Wood Cemetery
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Wood Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Wood 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.<6>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Harrison had a population of 752 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Harrison had a population of 2,062 people.

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

  • Hatton
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Hatton. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hatton
    • Hatton is located in Clare County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Hatton
    • From Harrison to Hatton
  • Lake George
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
  • Dover
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
  • Temple
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Temple have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Temple
    • Temple is located in Clare County
  • Meredith
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Farwell
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
  • Clare
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
  • Lake
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
  • Gladwin
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
  • Moddersville
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Moddersville have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Moddersville
    • Moddersville is located in Missaukee County
  • Loomis
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Vogel Center
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...
    • Beaverton
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
    • McClure
      (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for McClure have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for McClure
      • McClure is located in Gladwin County
    • Butman
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Butman. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Butman
      • Butman is located in Gladwin County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Butman
      • From Harrison to Butman

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Harrison ...

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 73 newspapers that have been published in the area around Harrison.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Harrison. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Harrison and those printed in the larger area surrounding Harrison.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 29 miles [46.7 km]<5> of Harrison.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we first turn to 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 Harrison:

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

The official website for Clare County: www.clareco.net/

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>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Harrison) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Harrison. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 44.0190, Longitude: -84.8005    
<6>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 Harrison, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 28 Apr 2025