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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 Gibson Flats (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 Gibson Flats. 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 Gibson Flats ...

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 occur.

For example, a typical abbreviation for Gibson Flats: Gibson Flts.

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 and doctors 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.

Gibson Flats is located in Cascade 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 Cascade County: Chouteau, Judith Basin, Lewis and Clark, Meagher & Teton.

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

  • Cascade County     (The home county of Gibson Flats)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Gibson Flats, with the one closest to Gibson Flats listed first.
    • Great Falls
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Black Eagle
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Countryside Village
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
      • Countryside Village is located in Cascade County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Countryside Village
    • Sand Coulee
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Stockett
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Manchester
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Manchester is located in Cascade County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Manchester
    • Sun Prairie
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Sun Prairie is located in Cascade County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sun Prairie
    • Ulm
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
    • Eden
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
      • Eden is located in Cascade County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eden
    • Belt
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
      • Belt is located in Cascade County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Belt
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 568 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Belt <1>
    • Vaughn
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Armington
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Armington is located in Cascade County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Armington
    • Armington Junction
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
      • Armington Junction is located in Cascade County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Armington Junction
  • Chouteau County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Gibson Flats, with the one closest to Gibson Flats listed first.
    • Floweree
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Highwood
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
    • Carter
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Big Sag
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
      • Big Sag is located in Chouteau County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Big Sag
    • Tunis
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Tunis is located in Chouteau County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tunis
  • Judith Basin County
  • Teton County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Gibson Flats, with the one closest to Gibson Flats listed first.
    • Power
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Greenfield
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
      • Greenfield is located in Teton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenfield

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

Cemeteries Near Gibson Flats ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Gibson Flats.

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 Gibson Flats - one of the links might be able to help.

If not found below, our Cemetery List for Gibson Flats covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.

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

  • Hebrew Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
  • Highland Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Highland Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Highland Cemetery is a very large cemetery that is located outside and to the south of Great Falls.
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #20910 <2>
  • Calvary Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Calvary Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Calvary Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located outside and to the south of Great Falls.
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #20799 <2>
  • Mt. Olivet Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
  • Hillcrest Lawn Memorial Association
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
  • Sand Coulee Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
  • Big Stone Colony Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
  • Sunset Memorial Gardens
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunset Memorial Gardens
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Sunset Memorial Gardens is a large cemetery that is located 7 miles [11.3 km]<3> to the west of Great Falls.
    • The Sunset Memorial Gardens has also been known as:
    • Sunset Memorial Gardens
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2133894 <2>
  • Red Butte Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
  • Cottonwood Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Pleasant Valley Colony Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Ulm Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
  • Continue List   (19 more) ...
    • Vaughn Cemetery
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Castner Falls Cemetery
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Lower Belt Cemetery
      (16 miles [25.7 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.<4>

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

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

  • Great Falls
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
  • North Great Falls ‑ Historic
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • North Great Falls is located in Cascade County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Great Falls
  • Sand Coulee
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Watson ‑ Historic
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Watson is located in Cascade County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Watson
  • Ulm
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
  • Truly
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Truly is located in Cascade County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Truly
  • Portage
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Portage is located in Cascade County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Portage
  • Belt
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
    • Belt is located in Cascade County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Belt
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 568 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Belt <1>
  • Vaughn
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
  • Armington
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Armington is located in Cascade County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Armington
  • Floweree
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
  • Evans
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
    • Evans is located in Cascade County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Evans
  • Continue List   (5 more) ...
    • Highwood
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
    • Sun River
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
    • Saint Clair ‑ Historic
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
      • Saint Clair is located in Cascade County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saint Clair

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

Newspapers Published in Gibson Flats ...

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 53 newspapers that have been published in the area around Gibson Flats.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Gibson Flats, there are papers which were published within 25 miles [40.2 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Gibson Flats.

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 Gibson Flats:

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 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.
<3>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- Gibson Flats) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Gibson Flats, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.