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Our Genealogy Helper

Introduction ...

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

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

Although our information shows that the community of McRae is historic, it would have been located within present day Big Horn 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 Big Horn County: Carbon, Powder River, Rosebud, Treasure, Yellowstone, Big Horn (WY) & Sheridan (WY).

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

  • Big Horn County     (The home county of McRae)
    • The following are listed by their distance from McRae, with the one closest to McRae listed first.
    • Busby
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
    • Muddy
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Muddy have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Muddy
      • Muddy is located in Big Horn County
    • Crow Agency
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Hardin
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hardin have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hardin
      • Hardin is located in Big Horn County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,705 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Hardin <2>
    • Garryowen
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
  • Rosebud County
    • The following are listed by their distance from McRae, with the one closest to McRae listed first.
    • Colstrip
      (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
    • Lame Deer
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
  • Treasure County
    • The following are listed by their distance from McRae, with the one closest to McRae listed first.
    • Bighorn
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Myers
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Myers. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<4>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Myers
      • Myers is located in Treasure County
    • Hysham
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hysham have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hysham
      • Hysham is located in Treasure County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 307 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Hysham <2>
    • Sanders
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sanders
      • Sanders is located in Treasure County
  • Yellowstone County
    • Custer
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Custer have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Custer
      • Custer is located in Yellowstone County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Custer <2>

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

Cemeteries Near McRae ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of McRae.

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

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

  • White River Busby Cemetery
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the White River Busby Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the White River Busby Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located outside and to the east of Busby.
    • The White River Busby Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Busby Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #20792 <5>
  • Colstrip Cemetery
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Colstrip Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Colstrip Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Apsaalooke Veterans Cemetery
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
  • Crow Agency Cemetery
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
  • Little Big Horn Battlefield National Monument
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
  • Two Moon Gravesite
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
  • Fairview Cemetery
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Fairview Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Fairview Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located outside and to the west of Hardin.
    • The Fairview Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Hardin Community Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #1382971 <5>
  • Memorial Vale Cemetery
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Memorial Vale Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Memorial Vale Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located 2 miles [3.2 km]<6> to the north of Hysham.
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #20995 <5>
  • Custer National Cemetery
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
  • Muddy Creek Cemetery
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Muddy Creek Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Muddy Creek Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #21015 <5>
  • Custer Cemetery
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Garryowen Cemetery
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
  • Continue List   (4 more) ...
    • Lame Deer Cemetery
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Lame Deer Cemetery
      • To give a relative sense of its location, the Lame Deer Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located outside and to the northeast of Lame Deer.
      • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #20958 <5>
    • Lee Cemetery
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Lee Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Lee Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Howard Cemetery
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)

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

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

  • Crow Agency
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
  • Howard ‑ Historic
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Howard have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Howard
    • Howard is located in Rosebud County
  • Custer
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Custer have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Custer
    • Custer is located in Yellowstone County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Custer <2>
  • Lame Deer
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)

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

Newspapers Published in McRae ...

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 16 newspapers that have been published in the area around McRae.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of McRae, there are papers which were published within 28 miles [45.1 km]<6>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for McRae.

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 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 McRae:

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 McRae, 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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- McRae) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in McRae. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 45.8783, Longitude: -107.1201       In this case, the coordinates for McRae have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 28 Apr 2025