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 Ryan (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 Ryan. 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 and doctors 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.
Ryan is primarily located in Midland County. A portion of Ryan extends into Saginaw County.
To see how the shape of Michigan's counties may have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.
The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Midland County: Bay, Clare, Gladwin, Gratiot, Isabella & Saginaw.
Below are the counties that are near Ryan. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Ryan:
- Midland County (The home county of Ryan)
- The following are listed by their distance from Ryan, with the one closest to Ryan listed first.
- Porter
(5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
- Porter is located in Midland County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Porter
- Redstone
(5 miles [8 km] to the west)
- Redstone is located in Midland County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Redstone
- Midland
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
- Averill
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
- Averill is located in Midland County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Averill
- Sanford
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
- Oil City
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
- Oil City is located in Midland County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oil City
- North Bradley
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
- North Bradley is located in Midland County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Bradley
- Alamando
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
- Alamando is located in Midland County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alamando
- Hope
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
- Edenville
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
- Edenville is located in Midland County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Edenville
- Coleman
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
- Bay County
- The following are listed by their distance from Ryan, with the one closest to Ryan listed first.
- Fisherville
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
- Fisherville is located in Bay County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fisherville
- Auburn
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
- Willard
(18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
- Willard is located in Bay County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Willard
- Amelith
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
- Amelith is located in Bay County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Amelith
- Duel
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
- Duel is located in Bay County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Duel
- Seidlers
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
- Seidlers is located in Bay County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Seidlers
- Frankenlust
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
- Frankenlust is located in Bay County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Frankenlust
- Brooks ‑ Historic
(23 miles [37 km] to the east)
- Brooks is located in Bay County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brooks
- Salzburg ‑ Historic
(23 miles [37 km] to the east)
- Salzburg is located in Bay County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Salzburg
- Wenona ‑ Historic
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
- Wenona is located in Bay County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wenona
- West Bay City
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
- West Bay City is located in Bay County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Bay City
- West Bay City has also been known as:
- West Bank City
- Kawkawlin
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
- Clinton County
- The following are listed by their distance from Ryan, with the one closest to Ryan listed first.
- Elsie
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
- Eureka
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
- Eureka is located in Clinton County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eureka
- Duplain
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
- Duplain is located in Clinton County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Duplain
- Maple Rapids
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
- Maple Rapids is located in Clinton County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maple Rapids
- Population from the 2020 Census: 671 people
- Gladwin County
- Beaverton
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
- Gratiot County
- The following are listed by their distance from Ryan, with the one closest to Ryan listed first.
- North Wheeler
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
- North Wheeler is located in Gratiot County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Wheeler
- Wheeler
(5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
- Wheeler is located in Gratiot County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wheeler
- Breckenridge
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
- Edgewood
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
- Edgewood is located in Gratiot County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Edgewood
- Saint Louis
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
- Sickles
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
- Sickles is located in Gratiot County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sickles
- Alma
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
- Forest Hill
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
- Forest Hill is located in Gratiot County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Forest Hill
- Ithaca
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
- North Star
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
- North Star is located in Gratiot County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Star
- North Star has also been known as:
- Northstar
- Elwell
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
- Ashley
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
- Isabella County
- The following are listed by their distance from Ryan, with the one closest to Ryan listed first.
- Coe
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
- Coe is located in Isabella County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coe
- Shepherd
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
- Alembic
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
- Alembic is located in Isabella County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alembic
- Summerton
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
- Summerton is located in Isabella County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Summerton
- Jordan
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
- Jordan is located in Isabella County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jordan
- Mount Pleasant
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
- Crawford
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
- Crawford is located in Isabella County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crawford
- Strickland
(23 miles [37 km] to the west)
- Strickland is located in Isabella County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Strickland
- Rosebush
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
- Loomis
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
- Loomis is located in Isabella County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Loomis
- Winn
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
- Winn is located in Isabella County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Winn
- Beal City
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
- Beal City is located in Isabella County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beal City
- Montcalm County
- The following are listed by their distance from Ryan, with the one closest to Ryan listed first.
- Vestaburg
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
- Vestaburg is located in Montcalm County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vestaburg
- Cedar Lake
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
- Cedar Lake is located in Montcalm County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Lake
- Saginaw County
- The following are listed by their distance from Ryan, with the one closest to Ryan listed first.
- Merrill
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
- Iva
(5 miles [8 km] to the east)
- Iva is located in Saginaw County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Iva
- Lakefield
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
- Lakefield is located in Saginaw County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lakefield
- Hemlock
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
- Nelson
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
- Nelson is located in Saginaw County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nelson
- Orr
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
- Orr is located in Saginaw County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Orr
- Dice
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
- Dice is located in Saginaw County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dice
- Freeland
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
- Frost
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
- Frost is located in Saginaw County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Frost
- Garfield
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
- Garfield is located in Saginaw County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Garfield
- Swan Creek
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
- Swan Creek is located in Saginaw County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Swan Creek
- Brant
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
- Shiawassee County
- Henderson
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Ryan, see our County-by-County Page for Ryan.
Cemeteries Near Ryan ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Ryan.
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.
Although we don't have the information ourselves, if you need information about a burial or interment, photos, transcripts, how to contact the cemetery or local authorities, please visit our list of websites on our Genealogy Helper Page for Ryan - one of the links might be able to help.
If not found below, our Cemetery List for Ryan covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Ryan, with the one closest to Ryan listed first.
- St. Patrick Cemetery
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
- Wheeler Twp. Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
- Porter Twp. Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
- Wayne Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
- Rose Lawn Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
- Sacred Heart Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
- Richland Lutheran Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
- Poseyville Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
- Lakefield Twp. Cemetery
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lakefield Twp. Cemetery
- To give a relative sense of its location, the Lakefield Twp. Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located 4 miles [6.4 km]<3> to the south of Merrill.
- The Lakefield Twp. Cemetery has also been known as:
- Lakefield Cemetery
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #879 <2>
- Lee Twp. Cemetery
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
- Richland Twp. Cemetery
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
- Laporte Cemetery
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
- Continue List (230 more) ...
- Homer Cemetery
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
- Jasper Twp. Cemetery
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
- St. Marys Catholic Cemetery
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
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.<4>
While we didn't find Ryan in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Ryan.
These communities are listed based on their distance from Ryan, with the one closest to Ryan listed first.
- Merrill
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
- Wheeler
(5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
- Wheeler is located in Gratiot County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wheeler
- Porter
(5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
- Porter is located in Midland County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Porter
- Breckenridge
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
- Rathbone
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
- Rathbone is located in Gratiot County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rathbone
- Galloway
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
- Galloway is located in Saginaw County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Galloway
- Saint Elmo
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
- Saint Elmo is located in Midland County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saint Elmo
- Nelson
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
- Nelson is located in Saginaw County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nelson
- Pleasant Valley
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
- Pleasant Valley is located in Midland County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Valley
- Saint Louis
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
- Edgewood
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
- Edgewood is located in Gratiot County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Edgewood
- Freeland
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
- Continue List (14 more) ...
- Midland
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
- Beebe
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
- Beebe is located in Gratiot County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beebe
- Frost
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
- Frost is located in Saginaw County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Frost
We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Ryan. See our List of 1890's Communities around Ryan.
Newspapers Published in Ryan ...
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 105 newspapers that have been published in the area around Ryan.
Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Ryan, there are papers which were published within 27 miles [43.5 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Ryan.
Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...
When we do our genealogical research, we like to start with the websites from Cyndi's List, FamilySearch and Genealogy Trails. These professional and volunteer 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 Ryan:
- Websites specific to Michigan
- Pages specific to Midland County
- Genealogy information for nearby counties
- Bay County
- Clinton County
- Gladwin County
- Gratiot County
- Isabella County
- Montcalm County
- Saginaw County
- Shiawassee County
- Cemetery Information and Directories for Michigan
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 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. |
| <3> | 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- Ryan) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |
| <4> | 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 Ryan, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |