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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 Girard (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 Girard. 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 hospitals 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.

Girard is located in Richland 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 Richland County: Dawson, McCone, Roosevelt, Wibaux & McKenzie (ND).

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

  • Richland County     (The home county of Girard)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Girard, with the one closest to Girard listed first.
    • Fox Lake
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fox Lake
      • Fox Lake is located in Richland County
    • Lambert
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Sidney
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Fairview
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
      • 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 <1>
    • Piche
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Piche
      • Piche is located in Richland County
    • Enid
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Enid
      • Enid is located in Richland County
    • Crane
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
    • Knife River
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Knife River have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Knife River
      • Knife River is located in Richland County
    • Savage
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
  • Roosevelt County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Girard, with the one closest to Girard listed first.
    • Culbertson
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
    • Bainville
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
      • 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 <1>
    • McCabe
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
    • Brockton
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Brockton have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brockton
      • Brockton is located in Roosevelt County
      • Estimated population in 2018: 234 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Brockton <1>
  • McKenzie County (ND)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Girard, with the one closest to Girard listed first.
    • Dore
      (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dore
      • Dore is located in McKenzie County (ND)
    • Harding
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
      • 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.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harding
      • Harding is located in McKenzie County (ND)
    • Cartwright
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
    • Charbonneau
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Charbonneau
      • Charbonneau is located in McKenzie County (ND)
  • Williams County (ND)
    • Trenton
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)

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

Cemeteries Near Girard ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Girard.

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

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

  • Lone Butte Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Lone Butte Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Lone Butte Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • St. Peters Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • 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.
  • Cherry Creek Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Cherry Creek Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Cherry Creek Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Andes Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Andes Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Andes Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Brorson Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
  • Finnicum Burial Ground
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Sidney Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
  • Fourmile Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
    • 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.
  • Mona Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Mona Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Mona Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • St. Theresa Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
  • Community Memorial Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Pioneer Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
    • 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.
  • Continue List   (27 more) ...
    • Nohly Cemetery
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Elmdale Cemetery
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Elmdale Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Elmdale Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Newlon Cemetery
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Newlon Cemetery
      • To give a relative sense of its location, the Newlon Cemetery is located 5 miles [8 km]<5> to the northeast of Sidney.
      • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #21020 <4>

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

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

  • Culbertson
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
  • Buford
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
    • 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)

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

Newspapers Published in Girard ...

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 14 newspapers that have been published in the area around Girard.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Girard, there are papers which were published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<5>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Girard.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we like to start 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 Girard:

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

The official website for Richland County: www.richland.org/

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>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' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Girard) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Girard. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 47.8678, Longitude: -104.4216       In this case, the coordinates for Girard 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 Girard, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 28 Apr 2025