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The Commemorative Quarter for Michigan





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 West Sebewa (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 West Sebewa. 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 West Sebewa ...

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 West Sebewa: W. Sebewa

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 hospitals and doctors 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.

West Sebewa is located in Ionia 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 Ionia County: Barry, Clinton, Eaton, Gratiot, Kent & Montcalm.

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

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

Cemeteries Near West Sebewa ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of West Sebewa.

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

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

  • Alderman Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Alderman Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Alderman Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Sebewa Baptist Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Sebewa Baptist Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Sebewa Baptist Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Mathew Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Mathew Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Mathew Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Steel Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Steel Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Steel Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Reeder Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Reeder Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Reeder Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Letts Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Letts Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Letts Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Lakeside Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
  • Meyers Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Meyers Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Meyers Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • East Sebewa Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the East Sebewa Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the East Sebewa Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Musser Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Musser Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Musser Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Balcom Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Balcom Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Balcom Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Mauch Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Mauch Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Mauch Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (270 more) ...

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 West Sebewa had a population of 50 people in 1895 with a post office and no railroad service.

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

  • Lake Odessa
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lake Odessa have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Odessa
    • Lake Odessa is located in Ionia County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,041 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Lake Odessa <2>
  • Woodbury
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
  • Sunfield
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Portland
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
  • Woodland
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
  • Collins
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Collins have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Collins
    • Collins is located in Ionia County
  • Mulliken
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
  • Ionia
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
  • Saranac
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Clarksville
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Clarksville have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clarksville
    • Clarksville is located in Ionia County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 395 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Clarksville <2>
  • Shaytown
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Shaytown have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shaytown
    • Shaytown is located in Eaton County
  • Hoytville
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hoytville have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hoytville
    • Hoytville is located in Eaton County
  • Continue List   (19 more) ...

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

Newspapers Published in West Sebewa ...

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 137 newspapers that have been published in the area around West Sebewa.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of West Sebewa, there are papers which were published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<6>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for West Sebewa.

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 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 West Sebewa:

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

The official website for Ionia County: www.ioniacounty.org/

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>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>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 West Sebewa, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<6>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- West Sebewa) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in West Sebewa. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.8430, Longitude: -85.0540    









 

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This page was last modified/updated: 28 Apr 2025