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A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
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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 Oscoda (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 Oscoda. 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 doctors 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.

Oscoda is located in Iosco 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 Iosco County: Alcona, Arenac, Ogemaw & Oscoda.

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

  • Iosco County     (The home county of Oscoda)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Oscoda, with the one closest to Oscoda listed first.
    • Au Sable
      (Less than 2 miles to the south)
      • Au Sable is located in Iosco County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Au Sable
    • Lincoln Junction
      (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
      • Lincoln Junction is located in Iosco County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lincoln Junction
    • Foote Site Village
      (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
      • Foote Site Village is located in Iosco County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Foote Site Village
    • Wilber
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
      • Wilber is located in Iosco County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wilber
    • East Tawas
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Tawas City
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Sid Town
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
      • Sid Town is located in Iosco County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sid Town
    • White Rock ‑ Historic
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
      • White Rock is located in Iosco County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for White Rock
    • National City
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
    • Hale
      (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
    • Whittemore
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Long Lake
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
  • Alcona County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Oscoda, with the one closest to Oscoda listed first.
    • Greenbush
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
    • Mikado
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
    • Gustin
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
      • Gustin is located in Alcona County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gustin
    • Springport
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
      • Springport is located in Alcona County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Springport
    • Harrisville
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
    • Lincoln
      (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
    • Glennie
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Barton City
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Alcona
      (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
      • Alcona is located in Alcona County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alcona
    • Lost Lake Woods
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
      • Lost Lake Woods is located in Alcona County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lost Lake Woods
    • Hubbard Lake
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Hubbard Lake is located in Alcona County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hubbard Lake
    • Black River
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
  • Arenac County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Oscoda, with the one closest to Oscoda listed first.
    • Harmon City Heights
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
      • Harmon City Heights is located in Arenac County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harmon City Heights
    • Turner
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Turner is located in Arenac County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Turner
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 102 people
  • Huron County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Oscoda, with the one closest to Oscoda listed first.
    • Pointe aux Barques
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Pointe aux Barques is located in Huron County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pointe aux Barques
    • Port Austin
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Ogemaw County

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

Cemeteries Near Oscoda ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Oscoda.

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 Oscoda - one of the links might be able to help.

If not found below, our Cemetery List for Oscoda covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.

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

  • Au Sable Twp. Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Au Sable Twp. Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Au Sable Twp. Cemetery is located in Au Sable.
    • The Au Sable Twp. Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Au Sable Cemetery
    • Old Au Sable Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #1963009 <2>
  • Sacred Heart Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
  • Pinecrest Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
  • Chippewa Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Wilber Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
  • St. Joseph's Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
  • American Legion Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Greenwood Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
  • St. Raphael Catholic Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
  • Mikado Twp. Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mikado Twp. Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Mikado Twp. Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located outside and to the east of Mikado.
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #239805 <2>
  • Poor Farm Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
  • Zion Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
  • Continue List   (31 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.<3>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Oscoda had a population of 3,593 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service.

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

  • Au Sable
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Au Sable is located in Iosco County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Au Sable
  • Wilber
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Wilber is located in Iosco County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wilber
  • Greenbush
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
  • East Tawas
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Mikado
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
  • Tawas City
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
  • Gustin
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
    • Gustin is located in Alcona County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gustin
  • Bryant
    (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
    • Bryant is located in Alcona County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bryant
  • Alabaster
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Alabaster is located in Iosco County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alabaster
  • McIvor
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
    • McIvor is located in Iosco County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for McIvor
  • Alcona
    (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
    • Alcona is located in Alcona County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alcona
  • Hale
    (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
  • Continue List   (4 more) ...
    • Whittemore
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Long Lake
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
    • Black River
      (27 miles [43.5 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 Oscoda. See our List of 1890's Communities around Oscoda.

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Oscoda ...

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 13 newspapers that have been published in the area around Oscoda.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Oscoda. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Oscoda and those printed in the larger area surrounding Oscoda.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<4> of Oscoda.

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 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 Oscoda:

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>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 Oscoda, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a '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- Oscoda) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.