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Our Genealogy Helper

Introduction ...

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

We've added Little Bear to our Gazetteer with the hope that we can develop more information. If you can help us with Little Bear, 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 Little Bear (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 Little Bear. 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 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 Little Bear is historic, it would have been located within present day Gallatin 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 Gallatin County: Fremont (ID), Broadwater, Jefferson, Madison, Meagher, Park, Park (WY) & Teton (WY).

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

  • Gallatin County     (The home county of Little Bear)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Little Bear, with the one closest to Little Bear listed first.
    • Gallatin Gateway
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Four Corners
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Four Corners
      • Four Corners is located in Gallatin County
    • Bozeman
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Catron
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Catron
      • Catron is located in Gallatin County
    • Arnold
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Arnold
      • Arnold is located in Gallatin County
    • Belgrade
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
    • Chestnut
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chestnut
      • Chestnut is located in Gallatin County
    • Amsterdam - Churchill
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Amsterdam - Churchill
      • Amsterdam - Churchill is located in Gallatin County
    • Churchill
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Churchill
      • Churchill is located in Gallatin County
    • Wisner Crossing
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wisner Crossing
      • Wisner Crossing is located in Gallatin County
    • Amsterdam
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Big Sky Canyon Village
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
    • Big Sky Meadow Village
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Big Sky Meadow Village have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Big Sky Meadow Village
      • Big Sky Meadow Village is located in Gallatin County
  • Madison County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Little Bear, with the one closest to Little Bear listed first.
    • Big Sky Mountain Village
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Big Sky Mountain Village have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Big Sky Mountain Village
      • Big Sky Mountain Village is located in Madison County
    • Red Bluff
      (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Red Bluff. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<4>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Red Bluff
      • Red Bluff is located in Madison County
    • Norris
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
    • McAllister
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
    • Ennis
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ennis have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ennis
      • Ennis is located in Madison County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,042 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Ennis <2>
  • Park County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Little Bear, with the one closest to Little Bear listed first.
    • Emigrant
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Pray
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Brisbin
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Brisbin. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<4>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brisbin
      • Brisbin is located in Park County
    • Chico Hot Springs
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chico Hot Springs
      • Chico Hot Springs is located in Park County
    • Chico
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Chico. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<4>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chico
      • Chico is located in Park County
    • White City
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for White City have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for White City
      • White City is located in Park County
    • Pine Creek
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine Creek
      • Pine Creek is located in Park County
    • Livingston
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)

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

Cemeteries Near Little Bear ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Little Bear.

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

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

  • Gallatin Gateway Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Gallatin Gateway Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Gallatin Gateway Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Edens Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Edens Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Edens Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Sunset Hills Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Sunset Hills Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Sunset Hills Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Hills Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Hills Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Hills Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Little Holland Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Little Holland Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Little Holland Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Brondel Catholic Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Brondel Catholic Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Brondel Catholic Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Holy Rosary Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Holy Rosary Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Holy Rosary Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Sunset Memorial Park
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Sunset Memorial Park
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Sunset Memorial Park is a large cemetery that is located outside and to the northwest of Bozeman.
    • The Sunset Memorial Park has also been known as:
    • Gallatin Valley Sunset Memorial Gardens
    • Sunset Memorial Gardens
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2132998 <5>
  • Churchill Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
  • Walker Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Walker Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Walker Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Timberline Cemetery
    (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Timberline Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Timberline Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Black Cemetery
    (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Black Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Black Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (29 more) ...
    • Soldiers Chapel Cemetery
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Soldiers Chapel Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Soldiers Chapel Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Meadowview Cemetery
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Meadowview Cemetery
      • To give a relative sense of its location, the Meadowview Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located 2 miles [3.2 km]<6> to the northwest of Manhattan.
      • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #20989 <5>
    • Vaters Cemetery
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Vaters Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Vaters Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.

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

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

  • Bozeman
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Story
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Story have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Story
    • Story is located in Gallatin County
  • Belgrade
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
  • Chestnut
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chestnut
    • Chestnut is located in Gallatin County
  • West End
    (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for West End have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West End
    • West End is located in Gallatin County
  • Muir
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Muir have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Muir
    • Muir is located in Park County
  • Springhill
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Springhill have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Springhill
    • Springhill is located in Gallatin County
  • Manhattan
    (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Manhattan have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Manhattan
    • Manhattan is located in Gallatin County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,917 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Manhattan <2>
  • Dailey ‑ Historic
    (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Dailey have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dailey
    • Dailey is located in Park County
  • Hoppers
    (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hoppers have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hoppers
    • Hoppers is located in Park County
  • Red Bluff
    (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Red Bluff. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<4>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Red Bluff
    • Red Bluff is located in Madison County
  • Emigrant
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
  • Continue List   (7 more) ...
    • Chicory
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Chicory have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chicory
      • Chicory is located in Park County
    • Norris
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
    • Logan
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Logan have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Logan
      • Logan is located in Gallatin County

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

Newspapers Published in Little Bear ...

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 51 newspapers that have been published in the area around Little Bear.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Little Bear, 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 Little Bear.

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 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 Little Bear:

The official website for Gallatin County: www.co.gallatin.mt.us/

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 Little Bear, 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>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.
<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 obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Little Bear) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Little Bear. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 45.5449, Longitude: -111.1688       In this case, the coordinates for Little Bear have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 28 Apr 2025