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Our Genealogy Helper

Introduction ...

So far, we found very little information about Fort Union. The little that we've found leads us believe that the community is historic.<1>

We've added Fort Union to our Gazetteer with the hope that we can develop more information. If you can help us with Fort Union, 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 Fort Union (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 Fort Union. 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 Fort Union ...

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 Fort Union: Ft. Union

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 northeast corner of their home county. During their lives, most hospitals were in the next county to the east. 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 east 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.

Although our information shows that the community of Fort Union is historic, it would have been located within present day Roosevelt 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 Roosevelt County: Daniels, McCone, Richland, Sheridan, Valley & Williams (ND).

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

  • Roosevelt County     (The home county of Fort Union)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Fort Union, with the one closest to Fort Union listed first.
    • Bainville
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bainville have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bainville
      • Bainville is located in Roosevelt County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 317 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Bainville <3>
    • McCabe
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Culbertson
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
    • Froid
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Froid have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Froid
      • Froid is located in Roosevelt County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 204 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Froid <3>
  • Richland County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Fort Union, with the one closest to Fort Union listed first.
    • Fairview
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Fairview have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fairview
      • Fairview is located in Richland County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 882 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Fairview <3>
    • Sidney
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
    • Piche
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Piche
      • Piche is located in Richland County
  • McKenzie County (ND)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Fort Union, with the one closest to Fort Union listed first.
    • Dore
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dore
      • Dore is located in McKenzie County (ND)
    • Harding
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Harding. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<4>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harding
      • Harding is located in McKenzie County (ND)
    • Cartwright
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Charbonneau
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Charbonneau
      • Charbonneau is located in McKenzie County (ND)
    • Alexander
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Rawson
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rawson have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rawson
      • Rawson is located in McKenzie County (ND)
  • Williams County (ND)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Fort Union, with the one closest to Fort Union listed first.
    • Trenton
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Williston
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Williston
      • Williston is located in Williams County (ND)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 29,749 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Williston <3>
    • Bonetraill
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bonetraill
      • Bonetraill is located in Williams County (ND)

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

Cemeteries Near Fort Union ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Fort Union.

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

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

  • Mondak Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Mondak Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Mondak Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Buford Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
  • Nohly Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
  • Fourmile Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Fourmile Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Fourmile Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Westview Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
  • Fairview Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Fairview Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Fairview Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Pioneer Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Pioneer Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Pioneer Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Yellowstone Point Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Yellowstone Point Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Yellowstone Point Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Round Prairie Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
  • Bainville Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Nameless Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Nameless Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Nameless Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Painted Woods Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Painted Woods Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Painted Woods Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (28 more) ...
    • St. Peters Cemetery
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Peters Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Peters Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Bethel Cemetery
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
      • 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.
    • Charbonneau Cemetery
      (17 miles [27.4 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.

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

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

  • Buford
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Buford have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Buford
    • Buford is located in Williams County (ND)
  • Trenton
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
  • Williston
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Williston
    • Williston is located in Williams County (ND)
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 29,749 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Williston <3>
  • Culbertson
    (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
  • Avoca
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Avoca have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Avoca
    • Avoca is located in Williams County (ND)

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

Newspapers Published in Fort Union ...

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 35 newspapers that have been published in the area around Fort Union.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Fort Union, there are papers which were published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<6>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Fort Union.

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 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 Fort Union:

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

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 Fort Union, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<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>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.
<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>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- Fort Union) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Fort Union. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 48.0097, Longitude: -104.0488       In this case, the coordinates for Fort Union have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 28 Apr 2025