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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 Lake Fenton (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 Lake Fenton. 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 Lake Fenton ...

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 Lake Fenton: Lk. Fenton

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 southwest corner of their home county. During their lives, most hospitals and doctors were in the next county to the west. 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 west 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.

Lake Fenton is located in Genesee 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 Genesee County: Lapeer, Livingston, Oakland, Saginaw, Shiawassee & Tuscola.

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

  • Genesee County     (The home county of Lake Fenton)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Lake Fenton, with the one closest to Lake Fenton listed first.
    • Bayport Park
      (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Lakeside
      (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Fenton
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Fenton have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fenton
      • Fenton is located in Genesee County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 11,374 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Fenton <2>
    • Linden
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Linden have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Linden
      • Linden is located in Genesee County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,954 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Linden <2>
    • Grand Blanc
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Argentine
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Argentine have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Argentine
      • Argentine is located in Genesee County
    • Swartz Creek
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Swartz Creek have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Swartz Creek
      • Swartz Creek is located in Genesee County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 5,491 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Swartz Creek <2>
    • Burton
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Atlas
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Atlas have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Atlas
      • Atlas is located in Genesee County
    • Gaines
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Flint
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
    • Goodrich
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Duffield
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Ingham County
    • Webberville
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Webberville have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Webberville
      • Webberville is located in Ingham County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,300 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Webberville <2>
  • Lapeer County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Lake Fenton, with the one closest to Lake Fenton listed first.
    • Hadley
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hadley have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hadley
      • Hadley is located in Lapeer County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Hadley <2>
    • Metamora
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
    • Hunters Creek
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
    • Lapeer
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lapeer have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lapeer
      • Lapeer is located in Lapeer County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 8,452 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Lapeer <2>
    • Columbiaville
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Otter Lake
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Otter Lake have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Otter Lake
      • Otter Lake is located in Lapeer County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 377 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Otter Lake <2>
    • Dryden
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
    • Attica
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Attica have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Attica
      • Attica is located in Lapeer County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Attica <2>
    • Barnes Lake - Millers Lake
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Livingston County
  • Oakland County
  • Saginaw County
  • Shiawassee County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Lake Fenton, with the one closest to Lake Fenton listed first.
    • Byron
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Lennon
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lennon have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lennon
      • Lennon is located in Shiawassee County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 479 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Lennon <2>
    • Durand
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
    • Vernon
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
    • Bancroft
      (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bancroft have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bancroft
      • Bancroft is located in Shiawassee County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 494 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Bancroft <2>
    • Newburg
      (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
    • Juddville
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Nicholson
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Nicholson have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nicholson
      • Nicholson is located in Shiawassee County
    • Corunna
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Corunna have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Corunna
      • Corunna is located in Shiawassee County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,320 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Corunna <2>
    • New Lothrop
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for New Lothrop have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Lothrop
      • New Lothrop is located in Shiawassee County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 548 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for New Lothrop <2>
    • Middletown
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Middletown have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Middletown
      • Middletown is located in Shiawassee County
    • Morrice
      (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Morrice have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Morrice
      • Morrice is located in Shiawassee County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 906 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Morrice <2>
    • Owosso
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)

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

Cemeteries Near Lake Fenton ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Lake Fenton.

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

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

  • Gage Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Gage Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Gage Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Long Lake Landing Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Long Lake Landing Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Long Lake Landing Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • O'dell Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the O'dell Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the O'dell Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Fairview Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Fairview Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Fairview Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Fenton Twp. Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Fenton Twp. Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Fenton Twp. Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Oakwood Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Oakwood Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Oakwood Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • St. John's Catholic Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. John's Catholic Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. John's Catholic Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Kimball Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Kimball Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Kimball Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Oak Hill Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
  • Great Lakes National Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
  • South Grand Blanc Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the South Grand Blanc Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the South Grand Blanc Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Mt. Hope Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Mt. Hope Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Mt. Hope Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (321 more) ...
    • Pierce Cemetery
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Pierce Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Pierce Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Gardner Cemetery
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Gardner Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Gardner Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Brookins Cemetery
      (5 miles [8 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>

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

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

  • Fenton
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Fenton have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fenton
    • Fenton is located in Genesee County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 11,374 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Fenton <2>
  • Linden
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Linden have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Linden
    • Linden is located in Genesee County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,954 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Linden <2>
  • Holly
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
  • Rankin
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rankin have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rankin
    • Rankin is located in Genesee County
  • Grand Blanc
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Argentine
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Argentine have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Argentine
    • Argentine is located in Genesee County
  • Tyrone
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Tyrone. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tyrone
    • Tyrone is located in Livingston County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Tyrone
    • From Lake Fenton to Tyrone
  • Swartz Creek
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Swartz Creek have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Swartz Creek
    • Swartz Creek is located in Genesee County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 5,491 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Swartz Creek <2>
  • Davisburg
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
  • Atlas
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Atlas have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Atlas
    • Atlas is located in Genesee County
  • Deer Creek
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Parshallville
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...

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

Newspapers Published in Lake Fenton ...

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 51 newspapers that have been published in the area around Lake Fenton.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Lake Fenton, there are papers which were published within 28 miles [45.1 km]<5>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Lake Fenton.

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 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 Lake Fenton:

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

The official website for Genesee County: www.co.genesee.mi.us/

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>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.
<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 Lake Fenton, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<5>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 from Point A (ie- Lake Fenton) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Lake Fenton. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.8469, Longitude: -83.7101    









 

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This page was last modified/updated: 28 Apr 2025