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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 Pittsfield (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 Pittsfield. 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 Pittsfield ...

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.

Pittsfield has also been known as: Pittsfield Village.

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 northwest corner of their home county. During their lives, most hospitals and 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.

Pittsfield is located in Washtenaw 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 Washtenaw County: Jackson, Lenawee, Livingston, Monroe, Oakland & Wayne.

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

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

Cemeteries Near Pittsfield ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Pittsfield.

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

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

  • Harwood Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Harwood Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Harwood Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Lodi Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
  • Crittenden Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Crittenden Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Crittenden Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Terhune Graveyard
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Terhune Graveyard
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Terhune Graveyard have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • St. Clare's Episcopal Church Chapel Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Clare's Episcopal Church Chapel Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Clare's Episcopal Church Chapel Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Oakwood Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Oakwood Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Oakwood Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Forest Hill Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
  • York Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the York Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the York Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Waters Road Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Waters Road Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Waters Road Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • St. Thomas' Catholic Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Thomas' Catholic Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Thomas' Catholic Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Judd Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Judd Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Judd Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Stoney Creek FWB Church Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
  • Continue List   (416 more) ...
    • Stony Creek Cemetery
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Stony Creek Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Stony Creek Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Comstock Cemetery
      (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Comstock Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Comstock Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Bethlehem Cemetery
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Bethlehem Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Bethlehem Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> 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>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Pittsfield had a population of 14 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service.

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

  • Saline
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
  • Geddes
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Geddes have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Geddes
    • Geddes is located in Washtenaw County
  • Ann Arbor
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
  • Stony Creek
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
  • Ypsilanti
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Dixboro
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Milan
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
  • Whittaker
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
  • Rawsonville
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
  • Bridgewater
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bridgewater have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bridgewater
    • Bridgewater is located in Washtenaw County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Bridgewater <1>
  • Willis
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Willis have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Willis
    • Willis is located in Washtenaw County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Willis <1>
  • Delhi Mills
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...
    • Scio
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Scio have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Scio
      • Scio is located in Washtenaw County
    • Denton
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Denton have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Denton
      • Denton is located in Wayne County
    • Emery
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Emery. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Emery
      • Emery is located in Washtenaw County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Emery
      • From Pittsfield to Emery

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

Newspapers Published in Pittsfield ...

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 249 newspapers that have been published in the area around Pittsfield.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Pittsfield, there are papers which were published within 25 miles [40.2 km]<6>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Pittsfield.

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 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 Pittsfield:

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

The official website for Washtenaw County: www.ewashtenaw.org/

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>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>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.
<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 Pittsfield, 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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Pittsfield) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Pittsfield. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.2103, Longitude: -83.7260       In this case, the coordinates for Pittsfield have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 28 Apr 2025