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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 Duncan Ranch Colony (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 Duncan Ranch Colony. 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.

Name Variations for Duncan Ranch Colony ...

When searching records, keep in mind that names and their spelling can change over time. Our sources include documents like maps, railroad schedules, Travel, Express and Shipping Guides. Many of these documents date from the 1800's and it's common to find spelling differences.

Although we can't give a definitive list, hopefully the following will give you a feel for the variations that might have occurred.

For example, a typical abbreviation for Duncan Ranch Colony: Duncan Rnch. Colony

If you have information about these names (such as the reason for the change, date of change, the origin of the name), please Contact Us.

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 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.

Duncan Ranch Colony is located in Wheatland 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 Wheatland County: Fergus, Golden Valley, Judith Basin, Meagher & Sweet Grass.

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

  • Wheatland County     (The home county of Duncan Ranch Colony)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Duncan Ranch Colony, with the one closest to Duncan Ranch Colony listed first.
    • Twodot
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Harlowton
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Harlowton have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harlowton
      • Harlowton is located in Wheatland County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 998 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Harlowton <1>
    • Judith Gap
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Hedgesville
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hedgesville
      • Hedgesville is located in Wheatland County
    • Shawmut
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
  • Fergus County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Duncan Ranch Colony, with the one closest to Duncan Ranch Colony listed first.
    • Garneill
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Buffalo
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
    • Straw
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Straw. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Straw
      • Straw is located in Fergus County
  • Meagher County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Duncan Ranch Colony, with the one closest to Duncan Ranch Colony listed first.
    • Martinsdale
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
    • Castle Town
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
      • 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
    • Robinson
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
      • 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.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Robinson
      • Robinson is located in Meagher County
  • Sweet Grass County

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

Cemeteries Near Duncan Ranch Colony ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Duncan Ranch Colony.

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 Duncan Ranch Colony covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.

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

  • Duncan Ranch Colony
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • 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]<4> 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 <5>
  • Twodot Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • 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.
  • Catholic Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Catholic Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Catholic Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Harlowton Catholic Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
  • Harlowton Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Harlowton Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Harlowton Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located outside and to the northwest of Harlowton.
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #511955 <5>
  • Gauglerville Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
    • 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.
  • Hopkins Cemetery
    (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
  • Lebo Cemetery
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
  • Judith Gap Cemetery
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Judith Gap Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Judith Gap Cemetery is located outside and to the southwest of Judith Gap.
    • The Judith Gap Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Woodlawn Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #197831 <5>
  • Melville Lutheran Cemetery
    (23 miles [37 km] to the south)
  • Ubet Cemetery
    (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Ubet Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Ubet Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Garneill Cemetery
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Garneill Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Garneill Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (4 more) ...
    • Lennep Memorial Park Cemetery
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
    • Hedgesville Cemetery
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Hedgesville Cemetery
      • To give a relative sense of its location, the Hedgesville Cemetery is located 7 miles [11.3 km]<4> to the south of Shawmut.
      • The Hedgesville Cemetery has also been known as:
      • Hedges Cemetery
      • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2285731 <5>
    • Buffalo - Straw Cemetery
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Buffalo - Straw Cemetery
      • 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

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

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

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

Newspapers Published in Duncan Ranch Colony ...

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 9 newspapers that have been published in the area around Duncan Ranch Colony.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Duncan Ranch Colony, there are papers which were published within 24 miles [38.6 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Duncan Ranch Colony.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we first turn to the websites from Cyndi's List, FamilySearch and Genealogy Trails. These professional and volunteer 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 Duncan Ranch Colony:

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

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>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 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Duncan Ranch Colony) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Duncan Ranch Colony. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 46.4444, Longitude: -110.0238       In this case, the coordinates for Duncan Ranch Colony 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 Duncan Ranch Colony, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 28 Apr 2025