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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 Ludington (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 Ludington. 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 southwest corner of their home county. During their lives, most hospitals 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.

Ludington is located in Mason 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 Mason County: Lake, Manistee, Newaygo & Oceana.

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

  • Mason County     (The home county of Ludington)
  • Lake County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Ludington, with the one closest to Ludington listed first.
    • Sauble
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Sauble. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sauble
      • Sauble is located in Lake County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Sauble
      • From Ludington to Sauble
    • Peacock
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
    • Baldwin
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
    • Irons
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Marlborough
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
  • Manistee County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Ludington, with the one closest to Ludington listed first.
    • Oak Hill
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
    • Filer City
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Manistee
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
    • Eastlake
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
    • Parkdale
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
    • Udell
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Douglas
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Douglas have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Douglas
      • Douglas is located in Manistee County
    • Dublin
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Norwalk
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Norwalk. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Norwalk
      • Norwalk is located in Manistee County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Norwalk
      • From Ludington to Norwalk
    • Onekama
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Onekama have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Onekama
      • Onekama is located in Manistee County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 407 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Onekama <2>
    • Wellston
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Oceana County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Ludington, with the one closest to Ludington listed first.
    • French Town
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for French Town have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for French Town
      • French Town is located in Oceana County
    • Pentwater
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
    • Hart
      (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hart have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hart
      • Hart is located in Oceana County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,089 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Hart <2>
    • Mears
      (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
    • Elbridge
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Elbridge. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elbridge
      • Elbridge is located in Oceana County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Elbridge
      • From Ludington to Elbridge
    • Cobmoosa
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Cobmoosa. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cobmoosa
      • Cobmoosa is located in Oceana County
      • Cobmoosa has also been known as:
      • Cob Moo Sa
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Cobmoosa
      • From Ludington to Cobmoosa
    • Walkerville
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
    • Shelby
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
    • New Era
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for New Era have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Era
      • New Era is located in Oceana County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 440 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for New Era <2>
    • Ferry
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Camp Claybanks ‑ Historic
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)

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

Cemeteries Near Ludington ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Ludington.

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

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

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 Ludington had a population of 7,517 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Ludington had a population of 8,096 people.

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

  • Buttersville ‑ Historic
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
  • Riverton
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Riverton have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Riverton
    • Riverton is located in Mason County
  • Amber
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
  • Scottville
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
  • Sugar Grove
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
  • Wiley
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
  • Custer
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
  • Pentwater
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
  • Fern
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Fern have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fern
    • Fern is located in Mason County
    • Fern has also been known as:
    • Adamsville
  • Fountain
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
  • Free Soil
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
  • Crystal Valley
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Crystal Valley have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crystal Valley
    • Crystal Valley is located in Oceana County
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...
    • Tallman
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Tallman. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tallman
      • Tallman is located in Mason County
      • Tallman has also been known as:
      • Weaver
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Tallman
      • From Ludington to Tallman
    • Batcheller ‑ Historic
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Batcheller. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Batcheller
      • Batcheller is located in Mason County
      • Batcheller has also been known as:
      • Turtle Lake
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Batcheller
      • From Ludington to Batcheller
    • Mears
      (18 miles [29 km] to the south)

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Ludington ...

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 65 newspapers that have been published in the area around Ludington.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Ludington. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Ludington and those printed in the larger area surrounding Ludington.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 24 miles [38.6 km]<6> of Ludington.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we like to 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 Ludington:

The official website for Ludington: www.ci.ludington.mi.us/

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>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 Ludington, 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' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Ludington) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Ludington. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 43.9556, Longitude: -86.4465    









 

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This page was last modified/updated: 28 Apr 2025