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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 Rapson (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 Rapson. 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 northeast corner of their home county. During their lives, most hospitals were in the next county to the east. 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 east 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.

Rapson is located in Huron 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 Huron County: Sanilac & Tuscola.

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

  • Huron County     (The home county of Rapson)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Rapson, with the one closest to Rapson listed first.
    • Redman
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Filion
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Bad Axe
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bad Axe have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bad Axe
      • Bad Axe is located in Huron County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,889 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Bad Axe <2>
    • Kinde
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Port Hope
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Ubly
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
    • Harbor Beach
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
    • Helena
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Helena. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Helena
      • Helena is located in Huron County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Helena
      • From Rapson to Helena
    • Huron City
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Huron City have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Huron City
      • Huron City is located in Huron County
    • Pinnebog
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Pinnebog. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pinnebog
      • Pinnebog is located in Huron County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Pinnebog
      • From Rapson to Pinnebog
    • Ruth
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ruth have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ruth
      • Ruth is located in Huron County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Ruth <2>
    • Grindstone City
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
    • Port Crescent ‑ Historic
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
  • Sanilac County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Rapson, with the one closest to Rapson listed first.
    • Tyre
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
    • Minden City
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Palms
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
    • Forestville
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Argyle
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
    • Deckerville
      (23 miles [37 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Deckerville have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Deckerville
      • Deckerville is located in Sanilac County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 775 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Deckerville <2>
    • Richmondville
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
    • McGregor
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for McGregor. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for McGregor
      • McGregor is located in Sanilac County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to McGregor
      • From Rapson to McGregor
    • Snover
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
    • Decker
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
    • Berkshire ‑ Historic
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Berkshire. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Berkshire
      • Berkshire is located in Sanilac County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Berkshire
      • From Rapson to Berkshire
    • Hemans
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Hemans. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hemans
      • Hemans is located in Sanilac County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Hemans
      • From Rapson to Hemans
    • Forester
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Tuscola County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Rapson, with the one closest to Rapson listed first.
    • Cass City
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cass City have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cass City
      • Cass City is located in Tuscola County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,273 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Cass City <2>
    • Gagetown
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Gagetown have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gagetown
      • Gagetown is located in Tuscola County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 361 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Gagetown <2>
    • Elmwood
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Deford
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)

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

Cemeteries Near Rapson ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Rapson.

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

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Rapson, with the one closest to Rapson 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 Rapson had a population of 32 people in 1895 with a post office and no railroad service.

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

  • Redman
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
  • Bad Axe
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bad Axe have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bad Axe
    • Bad Axe is located in Huron County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,889 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Bad Axe <2>
  • Filion
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Kinde
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
  • Parisville
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Parisville have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Parisville
    • Parisville is located in Huron County
  • Port Hope
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
  • Helena
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Helena. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Helena
    • Helena is located in Huron County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Helena
    • From Rapson to Helena
  • Popple
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Popple have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Popple
    • Popple is located in Huron County
  • Tyre
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
  • Ruth
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ruth have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ruth
    • Ruth is located in Huron County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Ruth <2>
  • Pinnebog
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Pinnebog. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pinnebog
    • Pinnebog is located in Huron County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Pinnebog
    • From Rapson to Pinnebog
  • Minden City
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
  • 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 Rapson. See our List of 1890's Communities around Rapson.

Newspapers Published in Rapson ...

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 37 newspapers that have been published in the area around Rapson.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Rapson, there are papers which were published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<6>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Rapson.

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 Rapson:

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

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 Rapson, 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 obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Rapson) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Rapson. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 43.8558, Longitude: -82.8826    









 

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This page was last modified/updated: 28 Apr 2025