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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 Amherst (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 Amherst. 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 northwest corner of their home county. During their lives, most hospitals were in the next county to the west. Almost all of the nearby churches and cemeteries were in the county to the north.

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 north 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.

Amherst is located in Fergus County.

To see how the shape of Montana's counties have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Fergus County: Blaine, Chouteau, Golden Valley, Judith Basin, Musselshell, Petroleum, Phillips & Wheatland.

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

  • Fergus County     (The home county of Amherst)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Amherst, with the one closest to Amherst listed first.
    • Danvers
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Danvers
      • Danvers is located in Fergus County
    • Glengarry
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glengarry
      • Glengarry is located in Fergus County
    • Lewistown Heights
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lewistown Heights have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lewistown Heights
      • Lewistown Heights is located in Fergus County
    • Lewistown
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lewistown have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lewistown
      • Lewistown is located in Fergus County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 5,905 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Lewistown <2>
    • Kendall ‑ Historic
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kendall
      • Kendall is located in Fergus County
    • Moore
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Moore have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Moore
      • Moore is located in Fergus County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 182 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Moore <2>
    • Hilger
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Maiden
      (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maiden
      • Maiden is located in Fergus County
    • Roy Junction
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Roy Junction. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roy Junction
      • Roy Junction is located in Fergus County
    • Giltedge ‑ Historic
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Giltedge
      • Giltedge is located in Fergus County
    • Denton
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Heath
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Heath
      • Heath is located in Fergus County
  • Judith Basin County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Amherst, with the one closest to Amherst listed first.
    • Moccasin
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Hobson
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hobson have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hobson
      • Hobson is located in Judith Basin County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 229 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Hobson <2>
    • Windham
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Windham
      • Windham is located in Judith Basin County
    • Stanford
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
    • Arrow Creek
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Arrow Creek
      • Arrow Creek is located in Judith Basin County

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

Newspapers Published in Amherst ...

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 38 newspapers that have been published in the area around Amherst.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Amherst, there are papers which were published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Amherst.

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 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 Amherst:

Cemeteries Near Amherst ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Amherst.

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

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

  • Danvers Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Central Montana Memorial Gardens
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
  • Lewistown Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
  • Calvary Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Calvary Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Calvary Cemetery
  • Moore Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Moore Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Moore Cemetery
  • Kendall Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Kendall Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Kendall Cemetery
  • Beaver Creek Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Beaver Creek Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Beaver Creek Cemetery
  • Hilger Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Hilger Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Hilger Cemetery
  • Moccasin Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Moccasin Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Moccasin Cemetery
  • Hillcrest Cemetery
    (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
  • Philbrook Cemetery
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Philbrook Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Philbrook Cemetery
  • Gilt Edge Cemetery
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Gilt Edge Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Gilt Edge Cemetery
  • Continue List   (15 more) ...
    • Benchland Cemetery
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Benchland Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Benchland Cemetery
    • Strouf Pioneer Cemetery
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Strouf Pioneer Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Strouf Pioneer Cemetery
    • Buffalo - Straw Cemetery
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
      • To give a relative sense of its location, the Buffalo - Straw Cemetery is located outside and to the west of Straw.
      • The Buffalo - Straw Cemetery has also been known as:
      • Buffalo Cemetery
      • Straw Cemetery
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Buffalo - Straw Cemetery

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.<6>

While we didn't find Amherst in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Amherst.

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

  • Lewistown
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lewistown have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lewistown
    • Lewistown is located in Fergus County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 5,905 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Lewistown <2>
  • Cottonwood
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cottonwood have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cottonwood
    • Cottonwood is located in Fergus County
  • Maiden
    (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maiden
    • Maiden is located in Fergus County
  • Denton
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
  • Christina
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Christina
    • Christina is located in Fergus County
  • Fort Maginnis ‑ Historic
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Fort Maginnis came from an uncertain source and they still need to be verified:<7>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fort Maginnis
    • Fort Maginnis is located in Fergus County
  • Buffalo
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
  • Stanford
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)

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

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

The official website for Fergus County: www.co.fergus.mt.us/

The official website for State of Montana: https://mt.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>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- Amherst) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Amherst. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 47.1497, Longitude: -109.6249       In this case, the coordinates for Amherst have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>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.
<6>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 Amherst, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<7>If we found a location and have questions about the accuracy of our information, we will simply say that the marker is 'in the vicinity'. We are not confident about the location and the position of our marker is only a rough guide. If we have too many doubts about the location, we will not include it in our database.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024