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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 Toivola (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 Toivola. 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 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.

Toivola is located in Houghton 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 Houghton County: Baraga, Iron, Keweenaw, Ontonagon & Ashland (WI).

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

  • Houghton County     (The home county of Toivola)
  • Baraga County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Toivola, with the one closest to Toivola listed first.
    • Pelkie
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Keweenaw Bay
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Bear Town
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bear Town have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bear Town
      • Bear Town is located in Baraga County
    • Baraga
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Pequaming
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
    • L'Anse
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for L'Anse. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for L'Anse
      • L'Anse is located in Baraga County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,825 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for L'Anse <1>
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to L'Anse
      • From Toivola to L'Anse
    • Skanee
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Skanee have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Skanee
      • Skanee is located in Baraga County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Skanee <1>
    • Alberta
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
  • Keweenaw County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Toivola, with the one closest to Toivola listed first.
    • Allouez
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Allouez have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Allouez
      • Allouez is located in Keweenaw County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Allouez <1>
    • Ahmeek
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Fulton
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Mohawk
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Traverse
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Traverse. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Traverse
      • Traverse is located in Keweenaw County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Traverse
      • From Toivola to Traverse
  • Ontonagon County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Toivola, with the one closest to Toivola listed first.
    • Greenland
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Mass City
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mass City have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mass City
      • Mass City is located in Ontonagon County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Mass City <1>
    • Rousseau
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Wainola
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Wainola. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wainola
      • Wainola is located in Ontonagon County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Wainola
      • From Toivola to Wainola
    • Wasas
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Wasas. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wasas
      • Wasas is located in Ontonagon County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Wasas
      • From Toivola to Wasas
    • Firesteel
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
    • Rockland
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rockland have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rockland
      • Rockland is located in Ontonagon County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Rockland <1>
    • Ontonagon
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)

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

Cemeteries Near Toivola ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Toivola.

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

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

  • Toivola Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Toivola Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Toivola Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Mountain View Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Mountain View Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Mountain View Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Elo Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Elo Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Elo Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Atlantic Mine Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Atlantic Mine Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Atlantic Mine Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Redridge Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Redridge Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Redridge Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Woodland Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Woodland Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Woodland Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Askel Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Askel Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Askel Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Kargi Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Kargi Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Kargi Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Chassell Twp. Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
  • Lutheran Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Lutheran Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Lutheran Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • St. Joseph Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Joseph Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Joseph Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Lakeside Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Lakeside Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Lakeside Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (35 more) ...
    • Forest Hill Cemetery
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Forest Hill Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Forest Hill Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • American Legion Cemetery
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the American Legion Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the American Legion Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Oskar Cemetery
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Oskar Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Oskar Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.

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

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

  • Atlantic Mine
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Atlantic Mine have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Atlantic Mine
    • Atlantic Mine is located in Houghton County
  • Chassell
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Chassell have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chassell
    • Chassell is located in Houghton County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Chassell <1>
  • Houghton
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Hancock
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Ripley
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ripley have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ripley
    • Ripley is located in Houghton County
  • Oskar
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
  • Dollar Bay
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
  • Boston
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Boston. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Boston
    • Boston is located in Houghton County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Boston
    • From Toivola to Boston
  • Baraga
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
  • Pequaming
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
  • Greenland
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
  • Lake Linden
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lake Linden have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Linden
    • Lake Linden is located in Houghton County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 933 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Lake Linden <1>
  • Continue List   (9 more) ...
    • Osceola
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Osceola have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Osceola
      • Osceola is located in Houghton County
    • Swedetown
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Swedetown have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Swedetown
      • Swedetown is located in Houghton County
    • L'Anse
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for L'Anse. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for L'Anse
      • L'Anse is located in Baraga County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,825 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for L'Anse <1>
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to L'Anse
      • From Toivola to L'Anse

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

Newspapers Published in Toivola ...

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 64 newspapers that have been published in the area around Toivola.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Toivola, there are papers which were published within 28 miles [45.1 km]<5>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Toivola.

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 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 Toivola:

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

The official website for State of Michigan: https://www.michigan.gov/

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 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.
<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>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 Toivola, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<5>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Toivola) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Toivola. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 46.9991, Longitude: -88.7699    









 

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This page was last modified/updated: 28 Apr 2025