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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 Port Huron (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 Port Huron. 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 Port Huron ...

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.

Port Huron was originally named Desmond

  • A typical abbreviation for Port Huron: Prt. Huron

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

Port Huron is located in Saint Clair County and is the County Seat.

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 Saint Clair County: Lapeer, Macomb & Sanilac.

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

  • Saint Clair County     (The home county of Port Huron)
  • Macomb County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Port Huron, with the one closest to Port Huron listed first.
    • Memphis
      (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Memphis have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Memphis
      • Memphis is located in Macomb County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,170 people
      • Former name for Memphis:
      • Well's Settlement
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Memphis <1>
    • Beebe's Corners ‑ Historic
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Coopertown ‑ Historic
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Muttonville ‑ Historic
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Bates Corner ‑ Historic
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Richmond
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Doyle ‑ Historic
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Doyle. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Doyle
      • Doyle is located in Macomb County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Doyle
      • From Port Huron to Doyle
    • Berry's Corners ‑ Historic
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
    • New Haven
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for New Haven have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Haven
      • New Haven is located in Macomb County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 5,061 people
      • Former names for New Haven:
      • New Baltimore Station
      • New Haven Station
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for New Haven <1>
    • Armada
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
    • New Baltimore
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Omo ‑ Historic
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Omo. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Omo
      • Omo is located in Macomb County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Omo
      • From Port Huron to Omo
  • Sanilac County

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

Cemeteries Near Port Huron ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Port Huron.

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Port Huron, with the one closest to Port Huron 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 Port Huron had a population of 13,543 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Port Huron had a population of 28,631 people.

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

  • Fort Gratiot ‑ Historic
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
  • Marysville
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
  • Wadhams
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Wadhams. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wadhams
    • Wadhams is located in Saint Clair County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Wadhams
    • From Port Huron to Wadhams
  • Kimball
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Kimball have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kimball
    • Kimball is located in Saint Clair County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Kimball <1>
  • North Street
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Smiths Creek
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
  • Lakeport
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
  • Atkins
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Atkins. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Atkins
    • Atkins is located in Saint Clair County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Atkins
    • From Port Huron to Atkins
  • Ruby
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Thornton
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Thornton have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Thornton
    • Thornton is located in Saint Clair County
  • Abbotsford
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Abbotsford have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Abbotsford
    • Abbotsford is located in Saint Clair County
  • Rattle Run
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rattle Run have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rattle Run
    • Rattle Run is located in Saint Clair County
  • Continue List   (16 more) ...
    • Saint Clair
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
    • Goodells
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Goodells have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Goodells
      • Goodells is located in Saint Clair County
    • Blaine
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Port Huron ...

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 71 newspapers that have been published in the area around Port Huron.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Port Huron. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Port Huron and those printed in the larger area surrounding Port Huron.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 25 miles [40.2 km]<6> of Port Huron.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we begin with 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 Port Huron:

The official website for Port Huron: www.porthuron.org/

The official website for Saint Clair County: www.stclaircounty.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 Port Huron, 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 drawn from Point A (ie- Port Huron) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Port Huron. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.9762, Longitude: -82.4331    









 

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This page was last modified/updated: 28 Apr 2025