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 Spring Beach (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 Spring Beach. 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 Spring Beach ...
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.
For example, a typical abbreviation for Spring Beach: Spring Bch.
You might be interested in other communities that are also named Spring Beach. More information can be found on our Tidbits & Trivia Page for Spring Beach.
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.
Spring Beach is located in Cass 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 Cass County: Elkhart (IN), Saint Joseph (IN), Berrien, Saint Joseph & Van Buren.
Below are the counties that are near Spring Beach. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Spring Beach:
- Cass County (The home county of Spring Beach)
- The following are listed by their distance from Spring Beach, with the one closest to Spring Beach listed first.
- Brownsville
(Less than 2 miles to the south)
- Brownsville is located in Cass County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brownsville
- Vandalia
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
- Vandalia is located in Cass County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vandalia
- Population from the 2020 Census: 281 people
- Cassopolis
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
- Penn
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
- Penn is located in Cass County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Penn
- La Grange
(5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
- La Grange is located in Cass County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for La Grange
- Wakelee
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
- Wakelee is located in Cass County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wakelee
- Jones
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
- Dowagiac
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
- Union
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
- Edwardsburg
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
- Corey
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
- Corey is located in Cass County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Corey
- Marcellus
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
- Berrien County
- The following are listed by their distance from Spring Beach, with the one closest to Spring Beach listed first.
- Berrien Center
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
- Niles
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
- Naomi
(18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
- Naomi is located in Berrien County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Naomi
- Eau Claire
(18 miles [29 km] to the west)
- Berrien Springs
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
- Shanghai Corners
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
- Shanghai Corners is located in Berrien County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shanghai Corners
- Hartman
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
- Hartman is located in Berrien County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hartman
- Buchanan
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
- Sodus
(23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
- Sodus is located in Berrien County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sodus
- Bakertown
(23 miles [37 km] to the west)
- Bakertown is located in Berrien County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bakertown
- Watervliet
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
- Hinchman
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
- Hinchman is located in Berrien County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hinchman
- Kalamazoo County
- The following are listed by their distance from Spring Beach, with the one closest to Spring Beach listed first.
- Schoolcraft
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
- Vicksburg
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
- Portage
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
- Oshtemo
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
- Saint Joseph County
- The following are listed by their distance from Spring Beach, with the one closest to Spring Beach listed first.
- Fabius
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
- Fabius is located in Saint Joseph County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fabius
- Mottville
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
- Mottville is located in Saint Joseph County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mottville
- Constantine
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
- Chamberlain
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
- Chamberlain is located in Saint Joseph County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chamberlain
- Three Rivers
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
- White Pigeon
(18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
- Bluff Beach
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
- Bluff Beach is located in Saint Joseph County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bluff Beach
- Centreville
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
- Centreville is located in Saint Joseph County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Centreville
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,400 people
- Oakwood
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
- Oakwood is located in Saint Joseph County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oakwood
- Parkville
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
- Parkville is located in Saint Joseph County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Parkville
- Klingers
(23 miles [37 km] to the east)
- Klingers is located in Saint Joseph County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Klingers
- Wasepi
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
- Wasepi is located in Saint Joseph County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wasepi
- Van Buren County
- The following are listed by their distance from Spring Beach, with the one closest to Spring Beach listed first.
- Decatur
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
- Keeler
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
- Keeler is located in Van Buren County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Keeler
- Lawton
(18 miles [29 km] to the north)
- Paw Paw
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
- Lawrence
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
- Mattawan
(23 miles [37 km] to the north)
- Hartford
(23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
- Almena
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
- Almena is located in Van Buren County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Almena
- Glendale
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
- Glendale is located in Van Buren County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glendale
- Bangor
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
- Fish Corners
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
- Fish Corners is located in Van Buren County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fish Corners
- Breedsville
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
- Elkhart County (IN)
- The following are listed by their distance from Spring Beach, with the one closest to Spring Beach listed first.
- Simonton Lake
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
- Simonton Lake is located in Elkhart County (IN)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Simonton Lake
- Garden Village
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
- Garden Village is located in Elkhart County (IN)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Garden Village
- Bristol
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
- Elkhart
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
- Dunlap
(18 miles [29 km] to the south)
- Dunlap is located in Elkhart County (IN)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dunlap
- Jamestown
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
- Jamestown is located in Elkhart County (IN)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jamestown
- Middlebury
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
- Goshen
(23 miles [37 km] to the south)
- Southwest
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
- Southwest is located in Elkhart County (IN)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Southwest
- Wakarusa
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
- Bainter Town
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
- Bainter Town is located in Elkhart County (IN)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bainter Town
- Foraker
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
- Foraker is located in Elkhart County (IN)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Foraker
- LaGrange County (IN)
- The following are listed by their distance from Spring Beach, with the one closest to Spring Beach listed first.
- Scott
(23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
- Scott is located in LaGrange County (IN)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Scott
- Shipshewana
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
- Seyberts
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
- Seyberts is located in LaGrange County (IN)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Seyberts
- Howe
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
- Saint Joseph County (IN)
- The following are listed by their distance from Spring Beach, with the one closest to Spring Beach listed first.
- Granger
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
- Osceola
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
- Osceola is located in Saint Joseph County (IN)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Osceola
- Population from the 2020 Census: 2,486 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Osceola <1>
- Georgetown
(18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
- Georgetown is located in Saint Joseph County (IN)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Georgetown
- Indian Village
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
- Indian Village is located in Saint Joseph County (IN)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian Village
- Population from the 2020 Census: 134 people
- Mishawaka
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
- Roseland
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
- Roseland is located in Saint Joseph County (IN)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roseland
- Population from the 2020 Census: 635 people
- South Bend
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
- Gulivoire Park
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
- Gulivoire Park is located in Saint Joseph County (IN)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gulivoire Park
- Nutwood
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
- Nutwood is located in Saint Joseph County (IN)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nutwood
- Wyatt
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
- Zeigler
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
- Zeigler is located in Saint Joseph County (IN)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Zeigler
- Crumstown
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
- Crumstown is located in Saint Joseph County (IN)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crumstown
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Spring Beach, see our County-by-County Page for Spring Beach.
Cemeteries Near Spring Beach ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Spring Beach.
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 Spring Beach - one of the links might be able to help.
If not found below, our Cemetery List for Spring Beach covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Spring Beach, with the one closest to Spring Beach listed first.
- Moon Cemetery
(Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
- Youngs Prairie Cemetery
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
- Oakdale Cemetery
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
- Prairie Grove Cemetery
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
- Reams - Norton Cemetery
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
- Prospect Hill Cemetery
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
- Rest Haven Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
- Bethel Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
- Calvin Center Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
- Chain Lake Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
- Birch Lake Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
- Brady Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
- Continue List (334 more) ...
- Shaffer Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the south)
- Mt. Zion Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
- Lilly Lake Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the east)
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.<2>
While we didn't find Spring Beach in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Spring Beach.
These communities are listed based on their distance from Spring Beach, with the one closest to Spring Beach listed first.
- Brownsville
(Less than 2 miles to the south)
- Brownsville is located in Cass County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brownsville
- Vandalia
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
- Vandalia is located in Cass County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vandalia
- Population from the 2020 Census: 281 people
- Cassopolis
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
- Penn
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
- Penn is located in Cass County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Penn
- Williamsville
(5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
- Williamsville is located in Cass County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Williamsville
- La Grange
(5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
- La Grange is located in Cass County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for La Grange
- Dailey
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
- Dailey is located in Cass County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dailey
- Wakelee
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
- Wakelee is located in Cass County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wakelee
- Volinia
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
- Volinia is located in Cass County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Volinia
- Adamsville
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
- Adamsville is located in Cass County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Adamsville
- Former name for Adamsville:
- Sage's Mill
- Jones
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
- Edwardsburg
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
- Continue List (14 more) ...
- Union
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
- Dowagiac
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
- Glenwood
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
- Glenwood is located in Cass County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glenwood
We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Spring Beach. See our List of 1890's Communities around Spring Beach.
Newspapers Published in Spring Beach ...
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 147 newspapers that have been published in the area around Spring Beach.
Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Spring Beach, 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 Spring Beach.
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 Spring Beach:
- Websites specific to Michigan
- Pages specific to Cass County
- Genealogy information for nearby counties
- Berrien County
- Kalamazoo County
- Saint Joseph County
- Van Buren County
- Elkhart County
- LaGrange County
- Saint Joseph 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> | 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 Spring Beach, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <3> | 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 from Point A (ie- Spring Beach) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |