Our Genealogy Helper
Introduction ...
So far, we found very little information about Eau Clair. The little that we've found leads us believe that the community is historic.<1>
We've added Eau Clair to our Gazetteer with the hope that we can develop more information. If you can help us with Eau Clair, please Contact Us.
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 Eau Clair (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 Eau Clair. 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 southeast corner of their home county. During their lives, most hospitals and doctors were in the next county to the east. 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 east 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.
Although our information shows that the community of Eau Clair is historic, it would have been located within present day Madison County.
To see how the shape of Montana's counties may have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.
The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Madison County: Fremont (ID), Beaverhead, Gallatin, Jefferson & Silver Bow.
Below are the counties that are near Eau Clair. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Eau Clair:
- Madison County (The home county of Eau Clair)
- The following are listed by their distance from Eau Clair, with the one closest to Eau Clair listed first.
- Jefferson Island
(Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
- Jefferson Island is located in Madison County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jefferson Island
- Harrison
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
- Pony ‑ Historic
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
- Strawberry ‑ Historic
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
- Strawberry is located in Madison County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Strawberry
- Mammoth
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
- Mammoth is located in Madison County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mammoth
- Silver Star
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
- Norris
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
- Red Bluff
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
- Red Bluff is located in Madison County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Red Bluff
- McAllister
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
- Twin Bridges
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
- Sheridan
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
- Broadwater County
- The following are listed by their distance from Eau Clair, with the one closest to Eau Clair listed first.
- Copper City
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
- Copper City is located in Broadwater County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Copper City
- Crow Creek City ‑ Historic
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
- Crow Creek City is located in Broadwater County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crow Creek City
- Radersburg
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
- Gallatin County
- The following are listed by their distance from Eau Clair, with the one closest to Eau Clair listed first.
- Willow Creek
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
- Three Forks
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
- Arnold
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
- Arnold is located in Gallatin County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Arnold
- Manhattan
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
- Amsterdam
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
- Amsterdam - Churchill
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
- Churchill
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
- Churchill is located in Gallatin County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Churchill
- Jefferson County
- The following are listed by their distance from Eau Clair, with the one closest to Eau Clair listed first.
- Cardwell
(Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
- Whitehall
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
- Piedmont
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
- Piedmont is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Piedmont
- Pipestone Hot Springs
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
- Pipestone Hot Springs is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pipestone Hot Springs
- Pipestone
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
- Pipestone is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pipestone
- Boulder
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
- Elkhorn
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
- Elkhorn is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elkhorn
- Woodville
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
- Woodville is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodville
- Elk Park
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
- Elk Park is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elk Park
- Silver Bow County
- The following are listed by their distance from Eau Clair, with the one closest to Eau Clair listed first.
- Highland City ‑ Historic
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
- Highland City is located in Silver Bow County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Highland City
- Janney
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
- Janney is located in Silver Bow County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Janney
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Eau Clair, see our County-by-County Page for Eau Clair.
Cemeteries Near Eau Clair ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Eau Clair.
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.
Although we don't have the information ourselves, if you need information about a burial or interment, photos, transcripts, how to contact the cemetery or local authorities, please visit our list of websites on our Genealogy Helper Page for Eau Clair - one of the links might be able to help.
If not found below, our Cemetery List for Eau Clair covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Eau Clair, with the one closest to Eau Clair listed first.
- South Boulder Cemetery
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
- Sappington Cemetery
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
- Whitehall Cemetery
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
- Old Whitehall Cemetery
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
- Harrison Cemetery
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
- Valley View Cemetery
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Valley View Cemetery
- The Valley View Cemetery has also been known as:
- Pony Cemetery
- Fish Creek Cemetery
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
- Stateler Cemetery
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
- Mt. Green Cemetery
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mt. Green Cemetery
- To give a relative sense of its location, the Mt. Green Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located outside and to the north of Willow Creek.
- The Mt. Green Cemetery has also been known as:
- Willow Creek Cemetery
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #21006 <4>
- Fairview Cemetery
(18 miles [29 km] to the east)
- St. John The Evangelist Catholic Church Cemetery
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
- Silver Star Cemetery
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
- Continue List (17 more) ...
- Red Bluff Cemetery
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
- Logan Cemetery
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
- Headwaters Cemetery
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
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.
While we didn't find Eau Clair in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Eau Clair.
These communities are listed based on their distance from Eau Clair, with the one closest to Eau Clair listed first.
- Jefferson Island
(Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
- Jefferson Island is located in Madison County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jefferson Island
- Whitehall
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
- Harrison
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
- Pony ‑ Historic
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
- Willow Creek
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
- Pipestone
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
- Pipestone is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pipestone
- Three Forks
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
- Silver Star
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
- Norris
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
- Red Bluff
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
- Red Bluff is located in Madison County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Red Bluff
- Gallatin ‑ Historic
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
- Gallatin is located in Gallatin County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gallatin
- Logan
(23 miles [37 km] to the east)
- Logan is located in Gallatin County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Logan
- Continue List (8 more) ...
- Highview
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
- Highview is located in Silver Bow County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Highview
- Twin Bridges
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
- Boulder
(28 miles [45.1 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 Eau Clair. See our List of 1890's Communities around Eau Clair.
Newspapers Published in Eau Clair ...
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 23 newspapers that have been published in the area around Eau Clair.
Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Eau Clair, there are papers which were published within 29 miles [46.7 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Eau Clair.
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 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 Eau Clair:
- Websites specific to Montana
- Pages specific to Madison County
- Genealogy information for nearby counties
- Broadwater County
- Gallatin County
- Jefferson County
- Silver Bow County
- Cemetery Information and Directories for Montana
Footnotes ...
| <1> | 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 Eau Clair, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <2> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <3> | 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 drawn from Point A (ie- Eau Clair) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |
| <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. |