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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 North Branch (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 North Branch. 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 North Branch ...

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 North Branch: N. Branch

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.

North Branch is located in Lapeer 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 Lapeer County: Genesee, Macomb, Oakland, Saint Clair, Sanilac & Tuscola.

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

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

Cemeteries Near North Branch ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of North Branch.

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

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

  • St.s Peter & Paul Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St.s Peter & Paul Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St.s Peter & Paul Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • North Branch - Burlington Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the North Branch - Burlington Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the North Branch - Burlington Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Westlawn Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Westlawn Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Westlawn Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Maple Grove Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Maple Grove Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Maple Grove Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Greenwood Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
  • St. Mary's Catholic Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Mary's Catholic Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Mary's Catholic Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Five Lakes Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Five Lakes Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Five Lakes Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • West Burlington Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the West Burlington Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the West Burlington Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • South Burnside Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the South Burnside Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the South Burnside Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Fox Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Fox Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Fox Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • West Deerfield Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the West Deerfield Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the West Deerfield Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • St. Patricks Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
  • Continue List   (234 more) ...

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 North Branch had a population of 705 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, North Branch had a population of 1,008 people.

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

  • Clifford
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Clifford have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clifford
    • Clifford is located in Lapeer County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 323 people
  • Five Lakes
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Five Lakes have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Five Lakes
    • Five Lakes is located in Lapeer County
  • Kings Mill
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
  • Burnside
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Burnside. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Burnside
    • Burnside is located in Lapeer County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Burnside
    • From North Branch to Burnside
  • Marlette
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
  • Lum
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
  • Fostoria
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Fostoria have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fostoria
    • Fostoria is located in Tuscola County
  • Brown City
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
  • Mayville
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
  • Columbiaville
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Goodland
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Goodland have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Goodland
    • Goodland is located in Lapeer County
  • Kingston
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...
    • Attica
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
      • 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 <3>
    • East Dayton
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for East Dayton have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Dayton
      • East Dayton is located in Tuscola County
    • Otter Lake
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
      • 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 <3>

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of North Branch ...

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 114 newspapers that have been published in the area around North Branch.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of North Branch. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of North Branch and those printed in the larger area surrounding North Branch.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<6> of North Branch.

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 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 North Branch:

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

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>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.
<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 North Branch, 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 obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- North Branch) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in North Branch. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 43.2294, Longitude: -83.1957    









 

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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.

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This page was last modified/updated: 28 Apr 2025