Michigan Gazetteers

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Gazetteers

Online Gazetteers

• FamilySearch Places
• Interment.net, Michigan Death and Cemetery Records
• Michigan place names : the history of the founding and the naming of more than five thousand past and present Michigan communities Walter Romig. Michigan Place Names : the history of the founding and the naming of more than five thousand past and present Michigan communities. Digital Publisher FamilySearch International
• 1939 Gazetteer of the state of Michigan, in three parts ... John T Blois. Gazetteer of the State of Michigan, in three parts ... with a succinct history of the state, from the earliest period to the present time ... with an appendix, containing the usual statistical tables, and a directory for emigrants, &c. Detroit, S.L. Rood & co.; [etc., etc.] 1939
• 1856-57 State of Michigan Gazetteer and Directory James Sutherland. State of Michigan gazetteer & business directory for 1856-7. Detroit, Mich. : H. H. Lee & Co. & J. Sutherland, 1856
• 1867-68 Michigan State Gazetteer and Directory R L Polk and Charles F Clark. Michigan state gazetteer and business directory for 1867-68. Detroit : Charles F. Clark 1864
• 1873 Michigan State Gazetteer and Business Directory J E Scripps and R L Polk. Polk's Michigan State Gazetteer and Business Directory 1873. Detroit: Tribune Book and Job Office 1873
• 1875 Michigan State Gazetteer and Business Directory J E Scripps and R L Polk. Polk's Michigan State Gazetteer and Business Directory 1875. Detroit: Tribune Printing Co. 1875
• 1877 Michigan State Gazetteer and Business Directory Vol III R L Polk and Jacob W Weeks. 1877 Michigan State Gazetteer and Business Directory, Vol III. R L Polk and Tribune Building 1877

Print Only Gazetteers

• Michigan gazetteer American Historical Publications. Michigan Gazetteer. Wilmington, Delaware : American Historical Publications, c1991
• 1873 atlas of the State of Michigan, including statistics Henry Francis Walling. 1873 Atlas of the State of Michigan, including statistics. Knightstown, Indiana : The Bookmark, c1977
• Gazetteer of the St. Joseph Valley, Michigan and Indiana, with a view of its hydraulic and business capacities T G Turner. Gazetteer of the St. Joseph Valley, Michigan and Indiana, with a view of its hydraulic and business capacities. Grand Rapids, Michigan : Black Letter Press, 1978
• Along the tracks: a directory of named places on Michigan railroads Graydon M. Meints. Along the Tracks: a Directory of Named Places on Michigan Railroads. Mount Pleasant, Michigan : Central Michigan University, Clarke Historical Library, c1987
• Indian Names in Michigan Virgil J. Vogel. Indian Names in Michigan. Ann Arbor, Michigan : University of Michigan Press, c1986, Rexdale, Ontario : John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Why Use Gazetteers

A gazetteer is a dictionary of place-names. Gazetteers list or describe towns and villages, parishes, states, populations, rivers and mountains, and other geographical features. They usually include only the names of places that existed at the time the gazetteer was published. Within a specific geographical area, the place-names are listed in alphabetical order, similar to a dictionary. You can use a gazetteer to locate the places where your family lived and to determine the civil and religious jurisdictions over those places.

There are many places within a state with similar or identical place-names. You will need to use a gazetteer to identify the specific town where your ancestor lived, the state the town was or is in, and the jurisdictions where records about the person was kept.

Gazetteer Contents

Gazetteers may also provide additional information about towns, such as:

• Different religious denominations
• Schools, colleges, and universities
• Major manufacturers, canals, docks, and railroad stations
• The population size.
• Boundaries of civil jurisdiction.
• Ecclesiastical jurisdiction(s)
• Longitude and latitude.
• Distances and direction from other from cities.
• Schools, colleges, and universities.
• Denominations and number of churches.
• Historical and biographical information on some individuals (usually high-ranking or famous individuals)