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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 Checkerboard (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 Checkerboard. 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 doctors 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.

Checkerboard is located in Meagher 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 Meagher County: Broadwater, Cascade, Gallatin, Judith Basin, Lewis and Clark, Park, Sweet Grass & Wheatland.

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

  • Meagher County     (The home county of Checkerboard)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Checkerboard, with the one closest to Checkerboard listed first.
    • Robinson
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Robinson. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Robinson
      • Robinson is located in Meagher County
    • Castle Town
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Castle Town have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Castle Town
      • Castle Town is located in Meagher County
    • Martinsdale
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Loweth
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Loweth. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Loweth
      • Loweth is located in Meagher County
    • White Sulphur Springs
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
    • Langford City ‑ Historic
      (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Langford City have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Langford City
      • Langford City is located in Meagher County
    • Ringling
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Fort Logan
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Fort Logan. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fort Logan
      • Fort Logan is located in Meagher County
  • Cascade County
    • Neihart
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Neihart have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Neihart
      • Neihart is located in Cascade County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 48 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Neihart <3>
  • Judith Basin County
    • Sapphire Village
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sapphire Village have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sapphire Village
      • Sapphire Village is located in Judith Basin County
  • Wheatland County

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

Cemeteries Near Checkerboard ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Checkerboard.

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

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

  • Castle Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Castle Cemetery
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for the Castle Cemetery. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
    • The Castle Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Castletown Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #20806 <4>
  • Lennep Memorial Park Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
  • Gauglerville Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Gauglerville Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Gauglerville Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Mayn Cemetery
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
  • Lebo Cemetery
    (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
  • Twodot Cemetery
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Twodot Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Twodot Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Duncan Ranch Colony
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Duncan Ranch Colony
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Duncan Ranch Colony is located 9 miles [14.5 km]<5> to the east of Harlowton.
    • The Duncan Ranch Colony has also been known as:
    • Duncan Ranch Colony Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2484271 <4>
  • Graveyard Gulch Cemetery
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Graveyard Gulch Cemetery
    • The Graveyard Gulch Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Miners Union Cemetery
  • Neihart Cemetery
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Neihart Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Neihart Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Hopkins Cemetery
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)

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 Checkerboard in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Checkerboard.

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

  • Robinson
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Robinson. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Robinson
    • Robinson is located in Meagher County
  • Martinsdale
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
  • White Sulphur Springs
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
  • Wolsey
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Wolsey have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wolsey
    • Wolsey is located in Meagher County
  • Neihart
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Neihart have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Neihart
    • Neihart is located in Cascade County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 48 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Neihart <3>

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

Newspapers Published in Checkerboard ...

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 7 newspapers that have been published in the area around Checkerboard.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Checkerboard, there are papers which were published within 26 miles [41.8 km]<5>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Checkerboard.

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 Checkerboard:

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

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

Footnotes ...

<1>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.
<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>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Checkerboard) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Checkerboard. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 46.5725, Longitude: -110.5469       In this case, the coordinates for Checkerboard have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<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 Checkerboard, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 28 Apr 2025