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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 Hills Corners (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 Hills Corners. 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 Hills Corners ...

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.

  • A typical abbreviation for Hills Corners: Hills Cors.
  • While the name of this community is Hills Corners, be aware that it's the common practice of mapmakers to remove the apostrophe from possessive names<1>. So Hills Corners may originally have been Hill's Corners.

    Sometimes the trailing 's' might be dropped altogether, in which case Hills Corners might be written as Hill Corners.

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 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.

Hills Corners is located in Berrien 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 Berrien County: LaPorte (IN), Saint Joseph (IN), Cass & Van Buren.

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

  • Berrien County     (The home county of Hills Corners)
  • Cass County
  • Van Buren County
  • Elkhart County (IN)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Hills Corners, with the one closest to Hills Corners listed first.
    • Simonton Lake
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Simonton Lake have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Simonton Lake
      • Simonton Lake is located in Elkhart County (IN)
    • Jamestown
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Elkhart
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
  • LaPorte County (IN)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Hills Corners, with the one closest to Hills Corners listed first.
    • Hesston
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Smith
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Rolling Prairie
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Michiana Shores
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Michiana Shores have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Michiana Shores
      • Michiana Shores is located in LaPorte County (IN)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 296 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Michiana Shores <3>
    • Long Beach
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Long Beach have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Long Beach
      • Long Beach is located in LaPorte County (IN)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,139 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Long Beach <3>
    • La Porte
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Stillwell
      (23 miles [37 km] to the south)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Stillwell. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stillwell
      • Stillwell is located in LaPorte County (IN)
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Stillwell
      • From Hills Corners to Stillwell
    • Pottawattamie Park
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Pottawattamie Park have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pottawattamie Park
      • Pottawattamie Park is located in LaPorte County (IN)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 221 people
    • Trail Creek
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Trail Creek have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Trail Creek
      • Trail Creek is located in LaPorte County (IN)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,985 people
    • Michigan City
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Waterford
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Waterford. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Waterford
      • Waterford is located in LaPorte County (IN)
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Waterford
      • From Hills Corners to Waterford
    • Kankakee
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Kankakee. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kankakee
      • Kankakee is located in LaPorte County (IN)
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Kankakee
      • From Hills Corners to Kankakee
    • Door Village
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Door Village have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Door Village
      • Door Village is located in LaPorte County (IN)
  • Marshall County (IN)
  • Porter County (IN)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Hills Corners, with the one closest to Hills Corners listed first.
    • Town-of-Pines
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Town-of-Pines have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Town-of-Pines
      • Town-of-Pines is located in Porter County (IN)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 688 people
    • Beverly Shores
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Beverly Shores have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beverly Shores
      • Beverly Shores is located in Porter County (IN)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 595 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Beverly Shores <3>
  • Saint Joseph County (IN)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Hills Corners, with the one closest to Hills Corners listed first.
    • New Carlisle
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for New Carlisle have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Carlisle
      • New Carlisle is located in Saint Joseph County (IN)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,150 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for New Carlisle <3>
    • Zeigler
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
    • Georgetown
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Georgetown have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Georgetown
      • Georgetown is located in Saint Joseph County (IN)
    • Roseland
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Roseland have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roseland
      • Roseland is located in Saint Joseph County (IN)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 635 people
    • Indian Village
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Indian Village have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian Village
      • Indian Village is located in Saint Joseph County (IN)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 134 people
    • Crumstown
      (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Crumstown. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crumstown
      • Crumstown is located in Saint Joseph County (IN)
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Crumstown
      • From Hills Corners to Crumstown
    • South Bend
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
    • Granger
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Mishawaka
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Gulivoire Park
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Nutwood
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Nutwood. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nutwood
      • Nutwood is located in Saint Joseph County (IN)
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Nutwood
      • From Hills Corners to Nutwood
    • North Liberty
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for North Liberty have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Liberty
      • North Liberty is located in Saint Joseph County (IN)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,909 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for North Liberty <3>
    • Osceola
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Osceola have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Osceola
      • Osceola is located in Saint Joseph County (IN)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,486 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Osceola <3>

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

Cemeteries Near Hills Corners ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Hills Corners.

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

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

  • Glendora Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Glendora Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Glendora Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Boyle Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Boyle Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Boyle Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Stevens Farm Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Stevens Farm Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Stevens Farm Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Hinman Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Hinman Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Hinman Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Colvin Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Colvin Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Colvin Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Burke Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Burke Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Burke Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Oak Grove Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • 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.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • California School Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the California School Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the California School Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • New Troy Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the New Troy Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the New Troy Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Sherwood Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Sherwood Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Sherwood Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Salem Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Salem Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Salem Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Bridgman Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Bridgman Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Bridgman Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (204 more) ...
    • Ruggles Cemetery
      (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Ruggles Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Ruggles Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Germinder & Ward Graves
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Germinder & Ward Graves
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Germinder & Ward Graves have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Galien Twp. Cemetery
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)

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>

While we didn't find Hills Corners in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Hills Corners.

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

  • Glendora
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
  • New Troy
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
  • Galien
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
  • Bridgman
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
  • Sawyer
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
  • Dayton
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Dayton. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dayton
    • Dayton is located in Berrien County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Dayton
    • From Hills Corners to Dayton
  • Livingston
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Livingston have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Livingston
    • Livingston is located in Berrien County
  • Hinchman
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
  • Avery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Avery. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Avery
    • Avery is located in Berrien County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Avery
    • From Hills Corners to Avery
  • Buchanan
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Harbert
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Harbert have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harbert
    • Harbert is located in Berrien County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Harbert <3>
  • Derby
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Derby have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Derby
    • Derby is located in Berrien County
  • Continue List   (16 more) ...
    • Berrien Springs
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Berrien Springs have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Berrien Springs
      • Berrien Springs is located in Berrien County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,718 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Berrien Springs <3>
    • Hollywood
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hollywood have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hollywood
      • Hollywood is located in Berrien County
    • Three Oaks
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Three Oaks have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Three Oaks
      • Three Oaks is located in Berrien County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,540 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Three Oaks <3>

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

Newspapers Published in Hills Corners ...

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 64 newspapers that have been published in the area around Hills Corners.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Hills Corners, there are papers which were published within 24 miles [38.6 km]<7>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Hills Corners.

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 Hills Corners:

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

The official website for State of Michigan: https://www.michigan.gov/

Footnotes ...

<1>It's generally believed that possessive apostrophes are removed to prevent confusion on maps where the apostrophe may be confused with a cartographic symbol. While this is generally true, it's not uncommon to find possessive apostrophes in administrative names (such as towns or counties).
<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>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<4>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.
<5>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.
<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 Hills Corners, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<7>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Hills Corners) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Hills Corners. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 41.8852, Longitude: -86.4751    









 

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This page was last modified/updated: 28 Apr 2025