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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 Sault Sainte Marie (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 Sault Sainte Marie. 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 Sault Sainte Marie ...

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.

For example, a typical abbreviation for Sault Sainte Marie: Sault Ste. Marie

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 southwest corner of their home county. During their lives, most doctors and hospitals were in the next county to the west. 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 west 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.

Sault Sainte Marie is located in Chippewa 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 Chippewa County: Luce & Mackinac.

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

  • Chippewa County     (The home county of Sault Sainte Marie)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Sault Sainte Marie, with the one closest to Sault Sainte Marie listed first.
    • Gardenville
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gardenville
      • Gardenville is located in Chippewa County
    • Payment
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Payment
      • Payment is located in Chippewa County
    • Dafter
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Dafter have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dafter
      • Dafter is located in Chippewa County
    • Bay Mills
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bay Mills
      • Bay Mills is located in Chippewa County
    • Brimley
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Brimley have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brimley
      • Brimley is located in Chippewa County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Brimley <2>
    • Barbeau
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
    • Oak Ridge
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oak Ridge
      • Oak Ridge is located in Chippewa County
    • Kinross
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Stirlingville
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stirlingville
      • Stirlingville is located in Chippewa County
    • Rudyard
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Pickford
      (23 miles [37 km] to the south)
    • Dryburg
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dryburg
      • Dryburg is located in Chippewa County
  • Mackinac County
    • Simmons ‑ Historic
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Simmons have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Simmons
      • Simmons is located in Mackinac County

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Sault Sainte Marie ...

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 19 newspapers that have been published in the area around Sault Sainte Marie.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Sault Sainte Marie. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Sault Sainte Marie and those printed in the larger area surrounding Sault Sainte Marie.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 23 miles [37 km]<3> of Sault Sainte Marie.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we first turn to 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 Sault Sainte Marie:

Cemeteries Near Sault Sainte Marie ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Sault Sainte Marie.

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 Sault Sainte Marie covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.

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

  • Maple Ridge Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Maple Ridge Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Maple Ridge Cemetery
  • St. Marys Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Marys Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Marys Cemetery
  • Old Greenwood Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
  • Greenwood Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
  • West Greenwood Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
  • Pine Grove Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Pine Grove Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Pine Grove Cemetery
  • Bai-de-wasai Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Bai-de-wasai Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Bai-de-wasai Cemetery
  • Brasser Road Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Brasser Road Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Brasser Road Cemetery
  • West Korah Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
  • Holy Sepulchre Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
  • Rosedale Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Rosedale Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Rosedale Cemetery
  • Cottage Park Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Cottage Park Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Cottage Park Cemetery
  • Continue List   (52 more) ...
    • Gem Island Cemetery
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Gem Island Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Gem Island Cemetery
    • Wilwalk Cemetery
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Wilwalk Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Wilwalk Cemetery
    • Holy Angels Cemetery
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Holy Angels Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • The Holy Angels Cemetery has also been known as:
      • Payment Cemetery
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Holy Angels Cemetery
      • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #1349 <4>

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 Sault Sainte Marie in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Sault Sainte Marie.

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

  • Rosedale
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rosedale have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rosedale
    • Rosedale is located in Chippewa County
  • Bay Mills
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bay Mills
    • Bay Mills is located in Chippewa County
  • Donaldson
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Donaldson have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Donaldson
    • Donaldson is located in Chippewa County
  • Barbeau
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
  • Kinross
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
  • Rudyard
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
  • Stirlingville
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stirlingville
    • Stirlingville is located in Chippewa County
  • Pickford
    (23 miles [37 km] to the south)
  • Stalwart
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Stalwart have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stalwart
    • Stalwart is located in Chippewa County

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

The official website for Sault Sainte Marie: www.sault-sainte-marie.mi.us/

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>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 drawn from Point A (ie- Sault Sainte Marie) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Sault Sainte Marie. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 46.4948, Longitude: -84.3498    
<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 Sault Sainte Marie, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024