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 Sunshine 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 Sunshine 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 Sunshine 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.
Although we can't give a definitive list, hopefully the following will give you a feel for the variations that might occur.
For example, a typical abbreviation for Sunshine Beach: Sunshine Bch.
You might be interested in other communities that are also named Sunshine Beach. More information can be found on our Tidbits & Trivia Page for Sunshine 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 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.
Sunshine Beach is located in Houghton 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 Houghton County: Baraga, Iron, Keweenaw, Ontonagon & Ashland (WI).
Below are the counties that are near Sunshine Beach. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Sunshine Beach:
- Houghton County (The home county of Sunshine Beach)
- The following are listed by their distance from Sunshine Beach, with the one closest to Sunshine Beach listed first.
- Dollar Bay
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
- Houghton
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
- Hurontown
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
- Hurontown is located in Houghton County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hurontown
- Dodgeville
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
- Dodgeville is located in Houghton County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dodgeville
- Dreamland
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
- Dreamland is located in Houghton County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dreamland
- Paavola
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
- Paavola is located in Houghton County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Paavola
- Mason
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
- Mason is located in Houghton County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mason
- Hancock
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
- Chassell
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
- Atlantic Mine
(5 miles [8 km] to the west)
- Atlantic Mine is located in Houghton County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Atlantic Mine
- Baltic
(5 miles [8 km] to the west)
- Baltic is located in Houghton County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Baltic
- Boston
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
- Boston is located in Houghton County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Boston
- South Range
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
- Baraga County
- The following are listed by their distance from Sunshine Beach, with the one closest to Sunshine Beach listed first.
- Keweenaw Bay
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
- Keweenaw Bay is located in Baraga County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Keweenaw Bay
- Pequaming
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
- Pequaming is located in Baraga County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pequaming
- Bear Town
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
- Bear Town is located in Baraga County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bear Town
- Pelkie
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
- Skanee
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
- Baraga
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
- L'Anse
(23 miles [37 km] to the south)
- Alberta
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
- Alberta is located in Baraga County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alberta
- Keweenaw County
- The following are listed by their distance from Sunshine Beach, with the one closest to Sunshine Beach listed first.
- Allouez
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
- Ahmeek
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
- Fulton
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
- Fulton is located in Keweenaw County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fulton
- Mohawk
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
- Snowshoe
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
- Snowshoe is located in Keweenaw County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Snowshoe
- Traverse
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
- Traverse is located in Keweenaw County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Traverse
- Gay
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
- Gay is located in Keweenaw County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gay
- Phoenix
(23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
- Phoenix is located in Keweenaw County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Phoenix
- Central
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
- Central is located in Keweenaw County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Central
- Eagle Harbor
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
- Wyoming
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
- Wyoming is located in Keweenaw County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wyoming
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Sunshine Beach, see our County-by-County Page for Sunshine Beach.
Cemeteries Near Sunshine Beach ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Sunshine 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 Sunshine Beach - one of the links might be able to help.
If not found below, our Cemetery List for Sunshine Beach covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Sunshine Beach, with the one closest to Sunshine Beach listed first.
- Forest Hill Cemetery
(Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
- American Legion Cemetery
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
- Chassell Twp. Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
- St. Joseph Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
- Lutheran Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
- Atlantic Mine Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the west)
- Lakeside Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
- Mountain View Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
- Jacobsville Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
- Waasa Cemetery
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
- Oskar Cemetery
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
- Calvary Cemetery
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
- Continue List (28 more) ...
- Maple Hill Cemetery
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
- Hecla Cemetery
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
- Lake View Cemetery
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
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.<3>
While we didn't find Sunshine Beach in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Sunshine Beach.
These communities are listed based on their distance from Sunshine Beach, with the one closest to Sunshine Beach listed first.
- Dollar Bay
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
- Ripley
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
- Ripley is located in Houghton County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ripley
- Houghton
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
- Chassell
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
- Hancock
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
- Atlantic Mine
(5 miles [8 km] to the west)
- Atlantic Mine is located in Houghton County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Atlantic Mine
- Boston
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
- Boston is located in Houghton County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Boston
- Lake Linden
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
- Oskar
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
- Oskar is located in Houghton County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oskar
- Osceola
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
- Osceola is located in Houghton County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Osceola
- Swedetown
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
- Swedetown is located in Houghton County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Swedetown
- Tamarack
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
- Tamarack is located in Houghton County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tamarack
- Continue List (7 more) ...
- Allouez
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
- Pequaming
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
- Pequaming is located in Baraga County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pequaming
- Skanee
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Sunshine Beach. See our List of 1890's Communities around Sunshine Beach.
Newspapers Published in Sunshine 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 57 newspapers that have been published in the area around Sunshine Beach.
Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Sunshine Beach, there are papers which were published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Sunshine Beach.
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 Sunshine Beach:
- Websites specific to Michigan
- Pages specific to Houghton County
- Genealogy information for nearby counties
- Baraga County
- Keweenaw 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> | 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 Sunshine Beach, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <4> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a '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- Sunshine Beach) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |