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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 Palmer (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 Palmer. 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 southeast corner of their home county. During their lives, most doctors and hospitals were in the next county to the east. 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 east 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.

Palmer is located in Marquette 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 Marquette County: Alger, Baraga, Delta, Dickinson, Iron & Menominee.

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

  • Marquette County     (The home county of Palmer)
  • Alger County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Palmer, with the one closest to Palmer listed first.
    • Dorsey
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Dorsey. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dorsey
      • Dorsey is located in Alger County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Dorsey
      • From Palmer to Dorsey
    • Deerton
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
    • Rumely
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
    • Onota
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Onota. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Onota
      • Onota is located in Alger County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Onota
      • From Palmer to Onota
    • Eben Junction
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Eben Junction have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eben Junction
      • Eben Junction is located in Alger County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Eben Junction <1>
    • Diffin
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Diffin. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Diffin
      • Diffin is located in Alger County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Diffin
      • From Palmer to Diffin
  • Delta County
    • Lathrop
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Lathrop. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lathrop
      • Lathrop is located in Delta County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Lathrop
      • From Palmer to Lathrop
  • Dickinson County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Palmer, with the one closest to Palmer listed first.
    • Ralph
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
    • Floodwood
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Floodwood. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Floodwood
      • Floodwood is located in Dickinson County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Floodwood
      • From Palmer to Floodwood
    • Turner
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
      • 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 Dickinson County

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

Cemeteries Near Palmer ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Palmer.

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

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

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 Palmer had a population of 1,011 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service.

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

  • National Mine
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for National Mine have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for National Mine
    • National Mine is located in Marquette County
  • Negaunee
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
  • Eagle Mills
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Eagle Mills have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eagle Mills
    • Eagle Mills is located in Marquette County
  • Ishpeming
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
  • Winthrop Junction
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
  • West Ishpeming
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Sands
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
  • Greenwood
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
  • Plains
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Plains have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plains
    • Plains is located in Marquette County
  • Harvey
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Harvey have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harvey
    • Harvey is located in Marquette County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Harvey <1>
  • Marquette
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Diorite
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...
    • Clarksburg
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
    • Swanzy
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Swanzy have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Swanzy
      • Swanzy is located in Marquette County
    • Humboldt
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)

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

Newspapers Published in Palmer ...

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 27 newspapers that have been published in the area around Palmer.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Palmer, there are papers which were published within 11 miles [17.7 km]<6>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Palmer.

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 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 Palmer:

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

The official website for Marquette County: www.co.marquette.mi.us/

The official website for State of Michigan: https://www.michigan.gov/

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 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>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>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 Palmer, 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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Palmer) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Palmer. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 46.4408, Longitude: -87.5906    









 

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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