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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 Laurium (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 Laurium. 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 Laurium ...

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 occur.

The village of Laurium was originally named Calumet

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 hospitals and 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.

Laurium is located in Houghton County.

To see how the shape of Michigan's counties may have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Houghton County: Baraga, Iron, Keweenaw, Ontonagon & Ashland (WI).

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

  • Houghton County     (The home county of Laurium)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Laurium, with the one closest to Laurium listed first.
    • Centennial Heights
      (Less than 2 miles to the north)
      • Centennial Heights is located in Houghton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Centennial Heights
    • Centennial
      (Less than 2 miles to the north)
      • Centennial is located in Houghton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Centennial
    • Calumet
      (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Tamarack
      (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
      • Tamarack is located in Houghton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tamarack
    • Kearsarge
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Wolverine
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
      • Wolverine is located in Houghton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wolverine
    • Lakeview
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Lakeview is located in Houghton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lakeview
      • Lakeview has also been known as:
      • Lake View
    • Lake Linden
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Copper City
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Copper City is located in Houghton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Copper City
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 180 people
    • Hubbell
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Boston
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
      • Boston is located in Houghton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Boston
    • Mason
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
      • Mason is located in Houghton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mason
    • Paavola
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Paavola is located in Houghton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Paavola
  • Baraga County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Laurium, with the one closest to Laurium listed first.
    • Keweenaw Bay
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
      • Keweenaw Bay is located in Baraga County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Keweenaw Bay
    • Pequaming
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
      • Pequaming is located in Baraga County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pequaming
    • Skanee
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Bear Town
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
      • Bear Town is located in Baraga County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bear Town
    • Pelkie
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
  • Keweenaw County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Laurium, with the one closest to Laurium listed first.
    • Allouez
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Ahmeek
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Fulton
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
      • Fulton is located in Keweenaw County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fulton
    • Mohawk
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Traverse
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
      • Traverse is located in Keweenaw County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Traverse
    • Snowshoe
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
      • Snowshoe is located in Keweenaw County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Snowshoe
    • Gay
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
      • Gay is located in Keweenaw County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gay
    • Phoenix
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
      • Phoenix is located in Keweenaw County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Phoenix
    • Central
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Central is located in Keweenaw County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Central
    • Eagle Harbor
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Wyoming
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Wyoming is located in Keweenaw County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wyoming
    • Mandan
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
      • Mandan is located in Keweenaw County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mandan
    • Bete Grise
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Bete Grise is located in Keweenaw County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bete Grise

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

Cemeteries Near Laurium ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Laurium.

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.

Although we don't have the information ourselves, if you need information about a burial or interment, photos, transcripts, how to contact the cemetery or local authorities, please visit our list of websites on our Genealogy Helper Page for Laurium - one of the links might be able to help.

If not found below, our Cemetery List for Laurium covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.

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

  • Hecla Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
  • Centennial Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
  • Calvary Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
  • Maple Hill Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
  • Lake View Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
  • Ahmeek Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ahmeek Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Ahmeek Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located less than 2 miles<3> to the northwest of Ahmeek.
    • The Ahmeek Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Calvary Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #12 <2>
  • Waasa Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
  • American Legion Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
  • Forest Hill Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
  • Oskar Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
  • Lakeside Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
  • Lutheran Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
  • Continue List   (22 more) ...
    • St. Joseph Cemetery
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Cliff Catholic Cemetery
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Cliff Cemetery
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)

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

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

  • Osceola
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Osceola is located in Houghton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Osceola
  • Tamarack
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Tamarack is located in Houghton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tamarack
  • Swedetown
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Swedetown is located in Houghton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Swedetown
  • Lake Linden
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
  • Allouez
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
  • Boston
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Boston is located in Houghton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Boston
  • Dollar Bay
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
  • Houghton
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
  • Ripley
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Ripley is located in Houghton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ripley
  • Oskar
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Oskar is located in Houghton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oskar
  • Hancock
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
  • Atlantic Mine
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Atlantic Mine is located in Houghton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Atlantic Mine
  • Continue List   (6 more) ...
    • Phoenix
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
      • Phoenix is located in Keweenaw County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Phoenix
    • Chassell
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
    • Eagle River
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)

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

Newspapers Published in Laurium ...

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 50 newspapers that have been published in the area around Laurium.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Laurium, there are papers which were published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Laurium.

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 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 Laurium:

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>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.
<3>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a '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- Laurium) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Laurium, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.