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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 Orchard Beach (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 Orchard Beach. 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 Orchard Beach ...

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 Orchard Beach: Orchard Bch.

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 southwest corner of their home county. During their lives, most doctors 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.

Orchard Beach is located in Cheboygan 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 Cheboygan County: Charlevoix, Emmet, Montmorency, Otsego & Presque Isle.

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

  • Cheboygan County     (The home county of Orchard Beach)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Orchard Beach, with the one closest to Orchard Beach listed first.
    • Mullett Lake
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mullett Lake have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mullett Lake
      • Mullett Lake is located in Cheboygan County
    • Silver Beach
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Silver Beach
      • Silver Beach is located in Cheboygan County
    • Long Point
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Long Point
      • Long Point is located in Cheboygan County
    • Cheboygan
      (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cheboygan have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cheboygan
      • Cheboygan is located in Cheboygan County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 4,697 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Cheboygan <2>
    • Veery Point
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Veery Point
      • Veery Point is located in Cheboygan County
    • Riggsville
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Riggsville
      • Riggsville is located in Cheboygan County
    • Giauque Beach
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Giauque Beach
      • Giauque Beach is located in Cheboygan County
    • Topinabee
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Point Nipigon
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Point Nipigon
      • Point Nipigon is located in Cheboygan County
      • Point Nipigon has also been known as:
      • Point Nip-i-gon
    • Afton
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
    • Fingerboard Corner
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fingerboard Corner
      • Fingerboard Corner is located in Cheboygan County
    • Indian River
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Indian River have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian River
      • Indian River is located in Cheboygan County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Indian River <2>
    • Black Lake
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Black Lake
      • Black Lake is located in Cheboygan County
  • Charlevoix County
  • Emmet County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Orchard Beach, with the one closest to Orchard Beach listed first.
    • Brutus
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Brutus have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brutus
      • Brutus is located in Emmet County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Brutus <2>
    • Pellston
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
    • Van
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Van
      • Van is located in Emmet County
    • Carp Lake
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Levering
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
    • Alanson
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Alanson have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alanson
      • Alanson is located in Emmet County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 755 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Alanson <2>
    • Ponshewaing
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ponshewaing
      • Ponshewaing is located in Emmet County
    • Oden
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Mackinaw City
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Conway
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Conway have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Conway
      • Conway is located in Emmet County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Conway <2>
    • Bliss
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Bliss. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bliss
      • Bliss is located in Emmet County
    • Marsh Corner
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marsh Corner
      • Marsh Corner is located in Emmet County
    • Kegomic ‑ Historic
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Kegomic. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kegomic
      • Kegomic is located in Emmet County
  • Mackinac County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Orchard Beach, with the one closest to Orchard Beach listed first.
    • Pointe Aux Pins
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
    • Mackinac Island
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mackinac Island have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mackinac Island
      • Mackinac Island is located in Mackinac County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 478 people
    • British Landing
      (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for British Landing
      • British Landing is located in Mackinac County
    • Saint Ignace
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Saint Ignace have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saint Ignace
      • Saint Ignace is located in Mackinac County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,325 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Saint Ignace <2>
    • Gros Cap
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gros Cap
      • Gros Cap is located in Mackinac County
    • Cedarville
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
    • Hessel
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
    • Port Dolomite
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Port Dolomite
      • Port Dolomite is located in Mackinac County
  • Montmorency County
    • Canada Creek Ranch
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Canada Creek Ranch
      • Canada Creek Ranch is located in Montmorency County
  • Otsego County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Orchard Beach, with the one closest to Orchard Beach listed first.
    • Green Timbers
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Green Timbers. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Timbers
      • Green Timbers is located in Otsego County
    • Vanderbilt
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
  • Presque Isle County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Orchard Beach, with the one closest to Orchard Beach listed first.
    • Black Lake Bluffs
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Black Lake Bluffs have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Black Lake Bluffs
      • Black Lake Bluffs is located in Presque Isle County
    • Onaway
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Onaway
      • Onaway is located in Presque Isle County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 831 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Onaway <2>
    • Huron Beach
      (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Huron Beach
      • Huron Beach is located in Presque Isle County
    • Ocqueoc
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ocqueoc
      • Ocqueoc is located in Presque Isle County
    • Millersburg
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Millersburg have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Millersburg
      • Millersburg is located in Presque Isle County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 195 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Millersburg <2>
    • Moltke
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Moltke
      • Moltke is located in Presque Isle County

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

Cemeteries Near Orchard Beach ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Orchard Beach.

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

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

  • Owens Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Owens Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Owens Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Oak Hill Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Oak Hill Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Oak Hill Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • St. Francis Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Francis Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Francis Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Maple Grove Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • 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.
  • Devereaux Grave
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Devereaux Grave
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Devereaux Grave have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Johnson Grave
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Johnson Grave
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Johnson Grave have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Calvary Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Calvary Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Calvary Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • African-American Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the African-American Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the African-American Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Pine Hill Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Pine Hill Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Pine Hill Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Pine Hill Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Pine Hill Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Pine Hill Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Polish Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Polish Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Polish Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • St. John's German Lutheran Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. John's German Lutheran Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. John's German Lutheran Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (79 more) ...
    • Mt. Calvary Polish Cemetery
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Mt. Calvary Polish Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Mt. Calvary Polish Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Riggsville Cemetery
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Riggsville Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Riggsville Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Burt Cemetery
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Burt Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Burt Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> 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.<4>

While we didn't find Orchard Beach in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Orchard Beach.

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

  • Mullett Lake
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mullett Lake have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mullett Lake
    • Mullett Lake is located in Cheboygan County
  • Cheboygan
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cheboygan have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cheboygan
    • Cheboygan is located in Cheboygan County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 4,697 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Cheboygan <2>
  • Manning
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Manning have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Manning
    • Manning is located in Cheboygan County
  • Riggsville
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Riggsville
    • Riggsville is located in Cheboygan County
  • Topinabee
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
  • Indian River
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Indian River have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian River
    • Indian River is located in Cheboygan County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Indian River <2>
  • Pointe Aux Pins
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
  • Burt Lake
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Burt Lake have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Burt Lake
    • Burt Lake is located in Cheboygan County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Burt Lake <2>
  • Brutus
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Brutus have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brutus
    • Brutus is located in Emmet County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Brutus <2>
  • Freedom
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Freedom have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Freedom
    • Freedom is located in Cheboygan County
  • Pellston
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
  • Carp Lake
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Continue List   (13 more) ...
    • Levering
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
    • Alanson
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Alanson have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alanson
      • Alanson is located in Emmet County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 755 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Alanson <2>
    • Wildwood
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Wildwood. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wildwood
      • Wildwood is located in Cheboygan County

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

Newspapers Published in Orchard Beach ...

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 57 newspapers that have been published in the area around Orchard Beach.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Orchard Beach, there are papers which were published within 26 miles [41.8 km]<5>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Orchard Beach.

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 Orchard Beach:

Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Orchard Beach. 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>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<3>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.
<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 Orchard Beach, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<5>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or 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- Orchard Beach) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Orchard Beach. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 45.5570, Longitude: -84.4645       In this case, the coordinates for Orchard Beach have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 28 Apr 2025