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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 Patterson (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 Patterson. 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.

Patterson is located in Gallatin 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 Gallatin County: Fremont (ID), Broadwater, Jefferson, Madison, Meagher, Park, Park (WY) & Teton (WY).

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

  • Gallatin County     (The home county of Patterson)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Patterson, with the one closest to Patterson listed first.
    • Bozeman
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Catron
      (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
      • Catron is located in Gallatin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Catron
    • Story
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
      • Story is located in Gallatin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Story
    • Four Corners
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Four Corners is located in Gallatin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Four Corners
    • Gallatin Gateway
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Chestnut
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
      • Chestnut is located in Gallatin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chestnut
    • Wisner Crossing
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
      • Wisner Crossing is located in Gallatin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wisner Crossing
    • Belgrade
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Bridger
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Bridger is located in Gallatin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bridger
    • Amsterdam - Churchill
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Amsterdam - Churchill is located in Gallatin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Amsterdam - Churchill
    • Churchill
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Churchill is located in Gallatin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Churchill
    • Amsterdam
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Arnold
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
      • Arnold is located in Gallatin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Arnold
  • Madison County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Patterson, with the one closest to Patterson listed first.
    • Big Sky Mountain Village
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Red Bluff
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
      • Red Bluff is located in Madison County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Red Bluff
  • Park County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Patterson, with the one closest to Patterson listed first.
    • Hoppers
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
      • Hoppers is located in Park County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hoppers
    • Brisbin
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
      • Brisbin is located in Park County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brisbin
    • Emigrant
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
    • Livingston
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
    • Pine Creek
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
      • Pine Creek is located in Park County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine Creek
    • Pray
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Chico Hot Springs
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Chico Hot Springs is located in Park County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chico Hot Springs
    • Clyde Park
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Chico
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Chico is located in Park County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chico
    • White City
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
      • White City is located in Park County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for White City

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

Cemeteries Near Patterson ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Patterson.

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

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

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

  • Sunset Hills Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
  • Brondel Catholic Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
  • Holy Rosary Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
  • Sunset Memorial Park
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for 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 <2>
  • Gallatin Gateway Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
  • Walker Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
  • Timberline Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
  • Muir Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
  • Vaters Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
  • Hills Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
  • Little Holland Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
  • Edens Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
  • Continue List   (30 more) ...
    • Springhill Cemetery
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
    • Churchill Cemetery
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
    • East Gallatin Cemetery
      (15 miles [24.1 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.<3>

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

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

  • Bozeman
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
  • Story
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Story is located in Gallatin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Story
  • Chestnut
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Chestnut is located in Gallatin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chestnut
  • West End
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
    • West End is located in Gallatin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West End
  • Belgrade
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Muir
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
    • Muir is located in Park County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Muir
  • Springhill
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
    • Springhill is located in Gallatin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Springhill
  • Hoppers
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
    • Hoppers is located in Park County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hoppers
  • Manhattan
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
  • Chicory
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Chicory is located in Park County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chicory
  • Brisbin
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
    • Brisbin is located in Park County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brisbin
  • Emigrant
    (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
  • Continue List   (9 more) ...
    • Livingston
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
    • Sedan
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
      • Sedan is located in Gallatin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sedan
    • Gallop ‑ Historic
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
      • Gallop is located in Gallatin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gallop

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

Newspapers Published in Patterson ...

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 52 newspapers that have been published in the area around Patterson.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Patterson, there are papers which were published within 27 miles [43.5 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Patterson.

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 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 Patterson:

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 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.
<3>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 Patterson, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>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 drawn from Point A (ie- Patterson) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.