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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 Pennfield (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 Pennfield. 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 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.

Pennfield is located in Calhoun 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 Calhoun County: Barry, Branch, Eaton, Hillsdale, Jackson, Kalamazoo & Saint Joseph.

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

  • Calhoun County     (The home county of Pennfield)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Pennfield, with the one closest to Pennfield listed first.
    • Brownlee Park
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Brownlee Park have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brownlee Park
      • Brownlee Park is located in Calhoun County
    • Verona Park
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Battle Creek
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Bedford
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bedford have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bedford
      • Bedford is located in Calhoun County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Bedford <2>
    • Beadle Lake
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Ceresco
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ceresco have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ceresco
      • Ceresco is located in Calhoun County
    • Springfield
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Springfield have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Springfield
      • Springfield is located in Calhoun County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 5,184 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Springfield <2>
    • Oak Park
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Oak Park. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oak Park
      • Oak Park is located in Calhoun County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Oak Park
      • From Pennfield to Oak Park
    • Level Park
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Marshall
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Marshall have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marshall
      • Marshall is located in Calhoun County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 6,923 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Marshall <2>
    • Fort Custer
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Fort Custer. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fort Custer
      • Fort Custer is located in Calhoun County
      • Former name for Fort Custer:
      • Camp Custer
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Fort Custer
      • From Pennfield to Fort Custer
    • Sonoma
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Sonoma. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sonoma
      • Sonoma is located in Calhoun County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Sonoma
      • From Pennfield to Sonoma
  • Allegan County
  • Barry County
  • Branch County
  • Eaton County
  • Hillsdale County
    • Litchfield
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Litchfield have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Litchfield
      • Litchfield is located in Hillsdale County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,328 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Litchfield <2>
  • Ingham County
  • Ionia County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Pennfield, with the one closest to Pennfield listed first.
    • Lake Odessa
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lake Odessa have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Odessa
      • Lake Odessa is located in Ionia County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,041 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Lake Odessa <2>
    • Campbell Corners
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
  • Jackson County
  • Kalamazoo County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Pennfield, with the one closest to Pennfield listed first.
    • Augusta
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
    • Climax
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
    • South Gull Lake
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for South Gull Lake have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Gull Lake
      • South Gull Lake is located in Kalamazoo County
    • Yorkville
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Yorkville. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Yorkville
      • Yorkville is located in Kalamazoo County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Yorkville
      • From Pennfield to Yorkville
    • Highland Park
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
    • Galesburg
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
    • Richland
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Richland have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Richland
      • Richland is located in Kalamazoo County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 847 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Richland <2>
    • Scotts
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Scotts have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Scotts
      • Scotts is located in Kalamazoo County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Scotts <2>
    • Fulton
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Fulton have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fulton
      • Fulton is located in Kalamazoo County
    • Comstock
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Comstock have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Comstock
      • Comstock is located in Kalamazoo County
    • Pavillion Center
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
    • East Cooper
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
  • Saint Joseph County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Pennfield, with the one closest to Pennfield listed first.
    • Factoryville
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Leonidas
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Colon
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Colon have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Colon
      • Colon is located in Saint Joseph County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,155 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Colon <2>
    • Mendon
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mendon have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mendon
      • Mendon is located in Saint Joseph County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 848 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Mendon <2>

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

Cemeteries Near Pennfield ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Pennfield.

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

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

  • West Pennfield 'Hicks' Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
  • Floral Lawn Memorial Gardens
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Floral Lawn Memorial Gardens
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Floral Lawn Memorial Gardens have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Bell Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Bell Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Bell Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Holiday Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Holiday Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Holiday Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Haskell Home Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Haskell Home Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Haskell Home Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Oak Hill Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
  • Sandstone Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Sandstone Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Sandstone Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Austin Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Austin Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Austin Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Checkered Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Checkered Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Checkered Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Mt. Olive Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Mt. Olive Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Mt. Olive Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Mt. Olivet Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Assyria Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Assyria Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Assyria Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (295 more) ...
    • Ceresco Cemetery
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Ceresco Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Ceresco Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Hotchkiss Cemetery
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Hotchkiss Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Hotchkiss Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Bellevue Cemetery
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Bellevue Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Bellevue 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.<5>

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

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

  • Battle Creek
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
  • Assyria
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Assyria have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Assyria
    • Assyria is located in Barry County
  • Bellevue
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bellevue have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bellevue
    • Bellevue is located in Eaton County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,299 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Bellevue <2>
  • Bedford
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bedford have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bedford
    • Bedford is located in Calhoun County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Bedford <2>
  • Ceresco
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ceresco have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ceresco
    • Ceresco is located in Calhoun County
  • Lacey
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lacey have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lacey
    • Lacey is located in Barry County
  • Marshall
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Marshall have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marshall
    • Marshall is located in Calhoun County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 6,923 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Marshall <2>
  • Olivet
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
  • Sonoma
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Sonoma. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sonoma
    • Sonoma is located in Calhoun County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Sonoma
    • From Pennfield to Sonoma
  • Ainger
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Banfield
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Kalamo
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Kalamo have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kalamo
    • Kalamo is located in Eaton County
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...

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

Newspapers Published in Pennfield ...

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 113 newspapers that have been published in the area around Pennfield.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Pennfield, there are papers which were published within 27 miles [43.5 km]<6>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Pennfield.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we start with 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 Pennfield:

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

The official website for Calhoun County: www.calhoun-mi.com/

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>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 Pennfield, 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' (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- Pennfield) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Pennfield. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.3735, Longitude: -85.1027    









 

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This page was last modified/updated: 28 Apr 2025