RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Michigan >> Arenac County >> Maple Ridge >> Genealogy HelperIndex...










Learn About
The Commemorative
Quarter for
Michigan

The Commemorative Quarter for Michigan





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 Maple Ridge (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 Maple Ridge. 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 Maple Ridge ...

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.

Another variation: Mapleridge.

  • A typical abbreviation for Maple Ridge: Maple Rdg. (or less commonly used: Maple Rdge. or Maple Ridg.)

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 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.

Maple Ridge is located in Arenac 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 Arenac County: Bay, Gladwin, Iosco & Ogemaw.

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

  • Arenac County     (The home county of Maple Ridge)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Maple Ridge, with the one closest to Maple Ridge listed first.
    • Melita
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Melita. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Melita
      • Melita is located in Arenac County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Melita
      • From Maple Ridge to Melita
    • Turner
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Turner have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Turner
      • Turner is located in Arenac County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 102 people
    • Twining
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Twining have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Twining
      • Twining is located in Arenac County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 168 people
    • Omer
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Omer have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Omer
      • Omer is located in Arenac County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 288 people
    • Sterling
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sterling have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sterling
      • Sterling is located in Arenac County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 498 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Sterling <3>
    • Arenac
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Arenac. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Arenac
      • Arenac is located in Arenac County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Arenac
      • From Maple Ridge to Arenac
    • Pine River
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
    • Standish
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Standish have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Standish
      • Standish is located in Arenac County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,388 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Standish <3>
    • Au Gres
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Saganing
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
    • Whites Beach
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
    • Harmon City Heights
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Harmon City Heights have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harmon City Heights
      • Harmon City Heights is located in Arenac County
  • Alcona County
  • Bay County
  • Gladwin County
  • Iosco County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Maple Ridge, with the one closest to Maple Ridge listed first.
    • Whittemore
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Whittemore have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Whittemore
      • Whittemore is located in Iosco County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 375 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Whittemore <3>
    • National City
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for National City have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for National City
      • National City is located in Iosco County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for National City <3>
    • White Rock ‑ Historic
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Hale
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
    • Long Lake
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
    • Tawas City
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
    • East Tawas
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
    • Sid Town
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sid Town have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sid Town
      • Sid Town is located in Iosco County
    • Wilber
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Wilber. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wilber
      • Wilber is located in Iosco County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Wilber
      • From Maple Ridge to Wilber
    • Foote Site Village
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Foote Site Village have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Foote Site Village
      • Foote Site Village is located in Iosco County
  • Ogemaw County
  • Roscommon County

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

Cemeteries Near Maple Ridge ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Maple Ridge.

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

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

  • Clayton Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Clayton Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Clayton Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Cedar Valley Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Cedar Valley Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Cedar Valley Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Richland Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Richland Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Richland Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Plains Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Plains Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Plains Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Burleigh Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Burleigh Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Burleigh Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Evergreen Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Evergreen Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Evergreen Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • St. Edwards Catholic Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Edwards Catholic Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Edwards Catholic Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Johnson Creek Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Johnson Creek Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Johnson Creek Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Mills Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Mills Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Mills Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • St. George Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. George Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. George Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Sterling Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Sterling Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Sterling Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Alger Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
  • Continue List   (83 more) ...
    • St. Joseph's Polish National Cemetery
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Joseph's Polish National Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Joseph's Polish National Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Arenac Twp. Cemetery
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Arenac Twp. Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Arenac Twp. Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Woodmere Cemetery
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Woodmere Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Woodmere Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> 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.<5>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Maple Ridge had a population of 116 people in 1895 with a post office and no railroad service.

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

  • Prescott
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
  • Melita
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Melita. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Melita
    • Melita is located in Arenac County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Melita
    • From Maple Ridge to Melita
  • Omer
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Omer have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Omer
    • Omer is located in Arenac County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 288 people
  • Sterling
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sterling have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sterling
    • Sterling is located in Arenac County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 498 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Sterling <3>
  • Whittemore
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Whittemore have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Whittemore
    • Whittemore is located in Iosco County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 375 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Whittemore <3>
  • Alger
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Alger have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alger
    • Alger is located in Arenac County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Alger <3>
  • Arenac
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Arenac. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Arenac
    • Arenac is located in Arenac County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Arenac
    • From Maple Ridge to Arenac
  • Standish
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Standish have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Standish
    • Standish is located in Arenac County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,388 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Standish <3>
  • Greenwood
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Greenwood. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenwood
    • Greenwood is located in Ogemaw County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Greenwood
    • From Maple Ridge to Greenwood
  • Au Gres
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
  • McIvor
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for McIvor have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for McIvor
    • McIvor is located in Iosco County
  • Selkirk
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Selkirk have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Selkirk
    • Selkirk is located in Ogemaw County
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...
    • Worth
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Worth have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Worth
      • Worth is located in Arenac County
    • Campbells Corners
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Hale
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)

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

Newspapers Published in Maple Ridge ...

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 29 newspapers that have been published in the area around Maple Ridge.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Maple Ridge, there are papers which were published within 29 miles [46.7 km]<6>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Maple Ridge.

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 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 Maple Ridge:

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

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>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.
<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 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 Maple Ridge, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<6>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 drawn from Point A (ie- Maple Ridge) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Maple Ridge. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 44.1418, Longitude: -83.9274       In this case, the coordinates for Maple Ridge have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).




 

Copyright 2025
All Rights Reserved

Thank you for visiting our website.

In closing, please keep in mind that we can not guarantee the accuracy or timeliness of the information on this website, so use with care. We encourage you to double-check the information that is critical to you.

If you've found an error or have additional information that you would like to share, please don't hesitate to write: Click here to contact us.

This page was last modified/updated: 28 Apr 2025