Customer Reviews

Michigan Place Names: The History of the Founding and the Naming of More Than Five Thousand Past and Present Michigan Communities (Great Lakes Books)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

__________________

Based on the old Michigan "postmaster history", this book is very handy for trivia buffs as well. The index is very reliable, I've only noticed a few minor omissions. I give this five stars because it's a nice and nicely sized reference work. It's about the size of one of those car sized phone books that TDI et al make for the cellular phone user and easy to handle. Fascinating and detailed, it is indispensible in its niche. A good companion would be one of the county by county state atlases which shows the locations of the vanished towns, although some of these are so vanished they won't appear on the map.

The book is excellent but not totally accurate. For example, LESLIE was named by the politician Jerry G. Cornell. The source quoted by Romig mis-typed his name as "J. A. Cornell" and Romig quoted that source with an additional typo-garble changing the name to "A. J. Cornell". This has created a 30-year misrepresentation of our town's history that is so hard to correct. That misspelled name is now on many web sites. If you read this book for fun, it's an interesting semi-true historical story book. It will make Michigan map reading much more interesting, too.

I agree with Patricia Rinadli's review there are errors in this book. If the book is examined carefully, you will discover that the author requested information for his book from many different places. In Eaton Co. the library helped him. While I am sure that the people who supplied the information for this book thought that they were accurate, I have been using it to help me develop a list of all of the communities that existed in Eaton Co. and have found many inaccuracies for Eaton Co. One was about the real name for the small community of Needmore which was very suitably named... I eventually found a map published by the Eaton County Bicentennial Commission in 1976 which can still be purchased at the old county building in Charlotte, MI which solved the mystery.

Never the less this is a valuable resource for Michigan history buffs, genealogist and stamp collectors who specialize in covers. The book discusses the history of various post offices that were in existence in Michigan. Nothing can take the place of original research, but then not everyone has the time, neither do they have access to all the resources they need and must rely on other sources or people. Relying on the internet for correct information does not always give accurate information. Using your local library and asking for help from the reference librarian can usually give you the most accurate information.

As a genealogist and family researcher for many years, I am familiar with the use of place names publications. I could not have purchasesd a better research tool for my 19th century research in Michigan. I had never heard of it, but an excerpt popped up on my screen while I was trying to figure out where my family was in Gratiot County. The book was an invaluable help in locating information on the small rural areas my logging family occupied in the hayday of the lumber industry. It also has an excellent bibliography. The only place I could not locate was "The Corners at the Crossroads," which my grandpa mentioned. That was just a little too vague.