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 Melvin (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 Melvin. 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 northwest 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 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.
Melvin is located in Sanilac 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 Sanilac County: Huron, Lapeer, Saint Clair & Tuscola.
Below are the counties that are near Melvin. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Melvin:
- Sanilac County (The home county of Melvin)
- The following are listed by their distance from Melvin, with the one closest to Melvin listed first.
- Valley Center
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
- Valley Center is located in Sanilac County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Valley Center
- Speaker
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
- Speaker is located in Sanilac County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Speaker
- Roseburg
(5 miles [8 km] to the east)
- Roseburg is located in Sanilac County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roseburg
- Peck
(5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
- Peck is located in Sanilac County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Peck
- Population from the 2020 Census: 588 people
- Watertown
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
- Watertown is located in Sanilac County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Watertown
- Cash
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
- Cash is located in Sanilac County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cash
- Juhl
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
- Juhl is located in Sanilac County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Juhl
- Amadore ‑ Historic
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
- Amadore is located in Sanilac County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Amadore
- Croswell
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
- Marlette
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
- Lexington Heights
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
- Lexington Heights is located in Sanilac County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lexington Heights
- Elmer
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
- Elmer is located in Sanilac County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elmer
- Applegate
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
- Lapeer County
- The following are listed by their distance from Melvin, with the one closest to Melvin listed first.
- Brown City
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
- Burnside
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
- Burnside is located in Lapeer County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Burnside
- Imlay City
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
- Lum
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
- Lum is located in Lapeer County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lum
- Kings Mill
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
- Kings Mill is located in Lapeer County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kings Mill
- North Branch
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
- Clifford
(18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
- Clifford is located in Lapeer County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clifford
- Population from the 2020 Census: 323 people
- Attica
(18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
- Five Lakes
(18 miles [29 km] to the west)
- Five Lakes is located in Lapeer County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Five Lakes
- Almont
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
- Silverwood
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
- Dryden
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
- Barnes Lake - Millers Lake
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
- Macomb County
- The following are listed by their distance from Melvin, with the one closest to Melvin listed first.
- Doyle ‑ Historic
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
- Doyle is located in Macomb County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Doyle
- Memphis
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
- Memphis is located in Macomb County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Memphis
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,170 people
- Former name for Memphis:
- Well's Settlement
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Memphis <1>
- Armada
(23 miles [37 km] to the south)
- Armada is located in Macomb County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Armada
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,698 people
- Former names for Armada:
- Burk's Corners
- Honeyoe
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Armada <1>
- Armada Corners ‑ Historic
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
- Armada Corners is located in Macomb County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Armada Corners
- Armada Corners has also been known as:
- Selleck's Corners
- Bates Corner ‑ Historic
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
- Bates Corner is located in Macomb County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bates Corner
- Beebe's Corners ‑ Historic
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
- Beebe's Corners is located in Macomb County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beebe's Corners
- Berry's Corners ‑ Historic
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
- Berry's Corners is located in Macomb County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Berry's Corners
- Coopertown ‑ Historic
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
- Coopertown is located in Macomb County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coopertown
- Richmond
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
- Muttonville ‑ Historic
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
- Muttonville is located in Macomb County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Muttonville
- Romeo
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
- Grays' Mills ‑ Historic
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
- Grays' Mills is located in Macomb County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grays' Mills
- Former names for Grays' Mills:
- Clifton Mill
- Clifton Village
- Clifton
- Miami ‑ Historic
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
- Miami is located in Macomb County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Miami
- Oakland County
- The following are listed by their distance from Melvin, with the one closest to Melvin listed first.
- Leonard
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
- Lakeville
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
- Lakeville is located in Oakland County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lakeville
- Campbells Corner
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
- Campbells Corner is located in Oakland County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Campbells Corner
- Thomas
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
- Thomas is located in Oakland County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Thomas
- Saint Clair County
- The following are listed by their distance from Melvin, with the one closest to Melvin listed first.
- Yale
(5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
- Yale is located in Saint Clair County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Yale
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,861 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Yale <1>
- Brockway
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
- Brockway is located in Saint Clair County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brockway
- Capac
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
- Avoca
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
- Blaine
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
- Blaine is located in Saint Clair County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blaine
- Jeddo
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
- Jeddo is located in Saint Clair County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jeddo
- Emmett
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
- Lesterville
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
- Lesterville is located in Saint Clair County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lesterville
- Riley Center
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
- Riley Center is located in Saint Clair County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Riley Center
- Atkins
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
- Atkins is located in Saint Clair County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Atkins
- Ruby
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
- Ruby is located in Saint Clair County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ruby
- Goodells
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
- Goodells is located in Saint Clair County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Goodells
- North Lakeport
(18 miles [29 km] to the east)
- North Lakeport is located in Saint Clair County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Lakeport
- Tuscola County
- The following are listed by their distance from Melvin, with the one closest to Melvin listed first.
- Kingston
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
- Wilmot
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
- Wilmot is located in Tuscola County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wilmot
- Fostoria
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
- Fostoria is located in Tuscola County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fostoria
- Mayville
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
- Deford
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
- Deford is located in Tuscola County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Deford
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Melvin, see our County-by-County Page for Melvin.
Cemeteries Near Melvin ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Melvin.
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 Melvin - one of the links might be able to help.
If not found below, our Cemetery List for Melvin covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Melvin, with the one closest to Melvin listed first.
- Fairview Cemetery
(Less than 2 miles to the north)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fairview Cemetery
- The Fairview Cemetery has also been known as:
- Melvin Baptist Church Cemetery
- Melvin Cemetery
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #156734 <2>
- Seven Sorrows Cemetery
(Less than 2 miles to the east)
- Valley Center Cemetery
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
- McFadden Cemetery
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
- Speaker Cemetery
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
- Elmwood Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elmwood Cemetery
- To give a relative sense of its location, the Elmwood Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located outside and to the west of Yale.
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #452 <2>
- Sacred Heart Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
- Christian Memorial Cultural Center Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
- Mt. Hope Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
- St. John's Mt. Hope Catholic Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for St. John's Mt. Hope Catholic Cemetery
- To give a relative sense of its location, the St. John's Mt. Hope Catholic Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located outside and to the south of Peck.
- The St. John's Mt. Hope Catholic Cemetery has also been known as:
- Mt. Hope Cemetery
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #1140 <2>
- Omard Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Omard Cemetery
- To give a relative sense of its location, the Omard Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #1321 <2>
- Elk Twp. Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
- Continue List (218 more) ...
- Lynn Twp. Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
- Lett Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
- Fremont Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 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>
The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Melvin had a population of 153 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Melvin had a population of 166 people.
These communities are listed based on their distance from Melvin, with the one closest to Melvin listed first.
- Valley Center
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
- Valley Center is located in Sanilac County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Valley Center
- Speaker
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
- Speaker is located in Sanilac County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Speaker
- Yale
(5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
- Yale is located in Saint Clair County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Yale
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,861 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Yale <1>
- Roseburg
(5 miles [8 km] to the east)
- Roseburg is located in Sanilac County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roseburg
- Peck
(5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
- Peck is located in Sanilac County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Peck
- Population from the 2020 Census: 588 people
- Brown City
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
- Brockway
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
- Brockway is located in Saint Clair County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brockway
- Burnside
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
- Burnside is located in Lapeer County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Burnside
- Fargo
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
- Fargo is located in Saint Clair County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fargo
- Cash
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
- Cash is located in Sanilac County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cash
- Goodland
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
- Goodland is located in Lapeer County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Goodland
- Capac
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
- Continue List (18 more) ...
- Juhl
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
- Juhl is located in Sanilac County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Juhl
- Avoca
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
- Amadore ‑ Historic
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
- Amadore is located in Sanilac County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Amadore
We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Melvin. See our List of 1890's Communities around Melvin.
Newspapers Published in Melvin ...
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 39 newspapers that have been published in the area around Melvin.
Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Melvin, there are papers which were published within 27 miles [43.5 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Melvin.
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 helpful 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 Melvin:
- Websites specific to Michigan
- Pages specific to Sanilac County
- Genealogy information for nearby counties
- Lapeer County
- Macomb County
- Oakland County
- Saint Clair County
- Tuscola County
- Cemetery Information and Directories for Michigan
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 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Melvin) 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 Melvin, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |