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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 Merriman (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 Merriman. 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 southwest corner of their home county. During their lives, most doctors and hospitals were in the next county to the west. 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 west 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.

Merriman is located in Park 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 Park County: Carbon, Gallatin, Meagher, Stillwater, Sweet Grass & Park (WY).

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

  • Park County     (The home county of Merriman)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Merriman, with the one closest to Merriman listed first.
    • Emigrant
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Chico Hot Springs
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
      • Chico Hot Springs is located in Park County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chico Hot Springs
    • Chico
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
      • Chico is located in Park County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chico
    • White City
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
      • White City is located in Park County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for White City
    • Pray
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Brisbin
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Brisbin is located in Park County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brisbin
    • Pine Creek
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Pine Creek is located in Park County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine Creek
    • Jardine
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
      • Jardine is located in Park County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jardine
    • Gardiner
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
    • Hoppers
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
      • Hoppers is located in Park County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hoppers
    • Livingston
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
  • Gallatin County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Merriman, with the one closest to Merriman listed first.
    • Chestnut
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
      • Chestnut is located in Gallatin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chestnut
    • Big Sky Canyon Village
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
    • Bozeman
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Big Sky Meadow Village
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
    • Gallatin Gateway
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Catron
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Catron is located in Gallatin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Catron
    • Big Sky
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
    • Four Corners
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Four Corners is located in Gallatin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Four Corners
    • Story
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Story is located in Gallatin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Story
  • Madison County
    • Big Sky Mountain Village
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
  • Park County (WY)
    • Mammoth
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
      • Mammoth is located in Park County (WY)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mammoth

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

Cemeteries Near Merriman ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Merriman.

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

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

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

  • Emigrant Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
  • Chico Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
  • Magee Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
  • Shorthill Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Strickland Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
  • Aldridge Cemetery
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
  • Horr Cemetery
    (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
  • Jardine Cemetery
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
  • Sykes Cemetery
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
  • Park View Memorial Gardens Cemetery
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
  • Cokedale Cemetery
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
  • Gardiner Cemetery
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
  • Continue List   (15 more) ...
    • Timberline Cemetery
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
    • Vaters Cemetery
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
    • Muir Cemetery
      (22 miles [35.4 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.<4>

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

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

  • Emigrant
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
  • Chico
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Chico is located in Park County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chico
  • Dailey ‑ Historic
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Dailey is located in Park County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dailey
  • Chicory
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Chicory is located in Park County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chicory
  • Sphinx
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Sphinx is located in Park County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sphinx
  • Brisbin
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Brisbin is located in Park County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brisbin
  • Gardiner
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
  • Chestnut
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
    • Chestnut is located in Gallatin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chestnut
  • Hoppers
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
    • Hoppers is located in Park County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hoppers
  • Muir
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
    • Muir is located in Park County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Muir
  • West End
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
    • West End is located in Gallatin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West End
  • Livingston
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
  • Bozeman
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)

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

Newspapers Published in Merriman ...

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 30 newspapers that have been published in the area around Merriman.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Merriman, there are papers which were published within 26 miles [41.8 km]<2>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Merriman.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we begin 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 Merriman:

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 from Point A (ie- Merriman) 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 Merriman, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.