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The Commemorative Quarter for Montana





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 Big Arm (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 Big Arm. 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 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.

Big Arm is located in Lake 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 Lake County: Flathead, Missoula & Sanders.

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

  • Lake County     (The home county of Big Arm)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Big Arm, with the one closest to Big Arm listed first.
    • Elmo
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Dayton
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Kings Point
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Kings Point have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kings Point
      • Kings Point is located in Lake County
    • Proctor
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Rocky Point
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rocky Point have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rocky Point
      • Rocky Point is located in Lake County
    • Jette
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Rollins
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rollins have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rollins
      • Rollins is located in Lake County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Rollins <1>
    • Kerr
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Kerr have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kerr
      • Kerr is located in Lake County
    • Polson
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Polson have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Polson
      • Polson is located in Lake County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 5,181 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Polson <1>
    • Finley Point
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Finley Point have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Finley Point
      • Finley Point is located in Lake County
    • Lake Mary Ronan
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Turtle Lake
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Turtle Lake have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Turtle Lake
      • Turtle Lake is located in Lake County
    • Bear Dance
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
  • Flathead County
  • Sanders County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Big Arm, with the one closest to Big Arm listed first.
    • Niarada
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Niarada have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Niarada
      • Niarada is located in Sanders County
    • Lonepine
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lonepine have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lonepine
      • Lonepine is located in Sanders County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Lonepine <1>
    • Hot Springs
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hot Springs have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hot Springs
      • Hot Springs is located in Sanders County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 587 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Hot Springs <1>

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

Cemeteries Near Big Arm ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Big Arm.

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

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

  • Indian Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
  • Hospital Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Hospital Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Hospital Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Polson Catholic Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Polson Catholic Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Polson Catholic Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Lakeview Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
  • Niarada Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Niarada Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Niarada Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • McKay Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the McKay Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the McKay Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Murray Memorial Cemetery
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Murray Memorial Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Murray Memorial Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Indian Cemetery
    (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Indian Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Indian Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Ventling Cemetery
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Ventling Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Ventling Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Moore Cemetery
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Moore Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Moore Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Ronan Cemetery
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Ronan Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Ronan Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Maillet Cemetery
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Maillet Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Maillet Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...
    • Markle Cemetery
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Markle Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Markle Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Bethel Cemetery
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
      • 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.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Lone Pine Cemetery
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)

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.<4>

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

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

  • Holt
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Holt have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holt
    • Holt is located in Flathead County
  • Kalispell
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Big Arm ...

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 36 newspapers that have been published in the area around Big Arm.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Big Arm. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Big Arm and those printed in the larger area surrounding Big Arm.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 27 miles [43.5 km]<5> of Big Arm.

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 websites either 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 Big Arm:

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

The official website for Lake County: www.lakecounty-mt.org/

The official website for State of Montana: https://mt.gov/

Footnotes ...

<1>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<2>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.
<3>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.
<4>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 Big Arm, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<5>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 from Point A (ie- Big Arm) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Big Arm. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 47.7981, Longitude: -114.2948    









 

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This page was last modified/updated: 28 Apr 2025