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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 Twelve Corners (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 Twelve Corners. 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 Twelve Corners ...

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 Twelve Corners: Twelve Cors.

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 doctors and hospitals 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.

Twelve Corners is located in Berrien 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 Berrien County: LaPorte (IN), Saint Joseph (IN), Cass & Van Buren.

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

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

Cemeteries Near Twelve Corners ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Twelve Corners.

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

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

  • Millburg Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Millburg Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Millburg Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Boyer Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Boyer Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Boyer Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Lake Shore Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Lake Shore Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Lake Shore Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Morton Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Morton Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Morton Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Pearl Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Pearl Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Pearl Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Kniebes Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
  • Curtis Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Curtis Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Curtis Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • North Shore Memory Garden
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the North Shore Memory Garden
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the North Shore Memory Garden have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Crystal Springs Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
  • B'nai Sholom Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
  • St. Mary's Catholic Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Mary's Catholic Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Mary's Catholic Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • St. Pauls UCC Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Pauls UCC Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Pauls UCC Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (187 more) ...
    • Coloma Cemetery
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Bethel Cemetery
      (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Bethel Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Bethel Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Byers Cemetery
      (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Byers Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Byers Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> 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.<5>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that in 1895, Twelve Corners had a post office and no railroad service.

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

  • Millburg
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Millburg have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Millburg
    • Millburg is located in Berrien County
  • Riverside
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
  • Benton Harbor
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
  • Spinks Corners
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Spinks Corners have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spinks Corners
    • Spinks Corners is located in Berrien County
  • Coloma
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
  • Saint Joseph
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Watervliet
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Vineland
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Vineland have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vineland
    • Vineland is located in Berrien County
  • Sodus
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sodus have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sodus
    • Sodus is located in Berrien County
  • Glenlord
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
  • Hollywood
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hollywood have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hollywood
    • Hollywood is located in Berrien County
  • Hartman
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Hartman. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hartman
    • Hartman is located in Berrien County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Hartman
    • From Twelve Corners to Hartman
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...
    • Naomi
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Naomi. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Naomi
      • Naomi is located in Berrien County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Naomi
      • From Twelve Corners to Naomi
    • Derby
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Derby have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Derby
      • Derby is located in Berrien County
    • Sister Lakes
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sister Lakes have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sister Lakes
      • Sister Lakes is located in Van Buren County

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

Newspapers Published in Twelve Corners ...

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 65 newspapers that have been published in the area around Twelve Corners.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Twelve Corners, there are papers which were published within 28 miles [45.1 km]<6>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Twelve Corners.

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 Twelve Corners:

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

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>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.
<3>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 Twelve Corners, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<6>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- Twelve Corners) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Twelve Corners. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.1455, Longitude: -86.3787       In this case, the coordinates for Twelve Corners have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 28 Apr 2025