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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 McDonald (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 McDonald. 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 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.

McDonald is located in Sanders 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 Sanders County: Bonner (ID), Shoshone (ID), Flathead, Lake, Lincoln, Mineral & Missoula.

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

  • Sanders County     (The home county of McDonald)
    • The following are listed by their distance from McDonald, with the one closest to McDonald listed first.
    • Dixon
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Agency
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
      • Agency is located in Sanders County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Agency
    • Old Agency
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
      • Old Agency is located in Sanders County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Old Agency
    • Island City ‑ Historic
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
      • Island City is located in Sanders County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Island City
    • Paradise
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
    • Plains
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Hot Springs
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Lonepine
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
  • Lake County
    • The following are listed by their distance from McDonald, with the one closest to McDonald listed first.
    • Moiese
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Ravalli
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
    • Charlo
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Saint Ignatius
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
    • Kicking Horse
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Kicking Horse is located in Lake County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kicking Horse
    • Arlee
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Ronan
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Pablo
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Kerr
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Kerr is located in Lake County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kerr
    • Polson
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Turtle Lake
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Turtle Lake is located in Lake County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Turtle Lake
    • Jette
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Jette is located in Lake County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jette
  • Mineral County
    • The following are listed by their distance from McDonald, with the one closest to McDonald listed first.
    • Riverbend
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Riverbend is located in Mineral County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Riverbend
    • Superior
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Alberton
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
    • Crescent City ‑ Historic
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
      • Crescent City is located in Mineral County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crescent City
    • Saint Regis
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
  • Missoula County
    • The following are listed by their distance from McDonald, with the one closest to McDonald listed first.
    • Old Town
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Old Town is located in Missoula County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Old Town
    • Stark
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
      • Stark is located in Missoula County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stark
    • Huson
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
    • Frenchtown
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
    • Evaro
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Evaro is located in Missoula County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Evaro
    • Grass Valley
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Grass Valley is located in Missoula County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grass Valley
    • Wye
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)

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

Cemeteries Near McDonald ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of McDonald.

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 McDonald - one of the links might be able to help.

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

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

  • Dixon Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
  • Gingery Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
  • Camas Prairie Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Hominsto Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
  • Pluffe Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
  • Pleasant View Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
  • St. Ignatius Old Catholic Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
  • Paradise Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
  • St. Ignatius Cemetery
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
  • Markle Cemetery
    (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
  • Superior Cemetery
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Superior Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Superior Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located less than 2 miles<2> to the northwest of Superior.
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2157443 <3>
  • Tarkio Cemetery
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
  • Continue List   (16 more) ...
    • Moore Cemetery
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
    • Lynch Cemetery
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Ventling Cemetery
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)

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

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

  • Stark
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
    • Stark is located in Missoula County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stark
  • Ravalli
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
  • Paradise
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
  • Saint Ignatius
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
  • Huson
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
  • Arlee
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
  • Superior
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
  • Ninemile
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
    • Ninemile is located in Missoula County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ninemile
  • Plains
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
  • Lothrop
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
    • Lothrop is located in Missoula County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lothrop
  • Frenchtown
    (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
  • Evaro
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Evaro is located in Missoula County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Evaro
  • Saint Regis
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)

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

Newspapers Published in McDonald ...

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 20 newspapers that have been published in the area around McDonald.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of McDonald, there are papers which were published within 29 miles [46.7 km]<2>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for McDonald.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we start with the websites from Cyndi's List, FamilySearch and Genealogy Trails. These helpful 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 McDonald:

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>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- McDonald) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>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.
<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 McDonald, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.