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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 Potomac (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 Potomac. 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 doctors and 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.

Potomac is located in Missoula 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 Missoula County: Clearwater (ID), Idaho (ID), Flathead, Granite, Lake, Mineral, Powell, Ravalli & Sanders.

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

  • Missoula County     (The home county of Potomac)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Potomac, with the one closest to Potomac listed first.
    • Greenough
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Clinton
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Clinton have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clinton
      • Clinton is located in Missoula County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Clinton <1>
    • Bonner
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
    • Piltzville
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Piltzville
      • Piltzville is located in Missoula County
    • Milltown
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
    • East Missoula
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Missoula
      • East Missoula is located in Missoula County
    • Seeley Lake
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
    • Missoula
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Missoula have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Missoula
      • Missoula is located in Missoula County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 76,848 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Missoula <1>
    • Travois Village
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Travois Village have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Travois Village
      • Travois Village is located in Missoula County
    • Orchard Homes
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Orchard Homes have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Orchard Homes
      • Orchard Homes is located in Missoula County
    • Grass Valley
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Grass Valley have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grass Valley
      • Grass Valley is located in Missoula County
    • Lolo
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
    • Evaro
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Evaro have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Evaro
      • Evaro is located in Missoula County
  • Granite County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Potomac, with the one closest to Potomac listed first.
    • Garnet ‑ Historic
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Garnet
      • Garnet is located in Granite County
    • Stump Town ‑ Historic
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Stump Town have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stump Town
      • Stump Town is located in Granite County
    • Beartown ‑ Historic
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Beartown have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beartown
      • Beartown is located in Granite County
    • Bearmouth ‑ Historic
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bearmouth have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bearmouth
      • Bearmouth is located in Granite County
    • Drummond
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Hall
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Stone
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Stone have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stone
      • Stone is located in Granite County
  • Lake County
  • Powell County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Potomac, with the one closest to Potomac listed first.
    • Reynolds City
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Reynolds City have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Reynolds City
      • Reynolds City is located in Powell County
    • Ovando
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
    • Helmville
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
  • Ravalli County
    • Florence
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Florence have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Florence
      • Florence is located in Ravalli County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Florence <1>

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

Newspapers Published in Potomac ...

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 56 newspapers that have been published in the area around Potomac.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Potomac, there are papers which were published within 25 miles [40.2 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Potomac.

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 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 Potomac:

Cemeteries Near Potomac ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Potomac.

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

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

  • Sand Park Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • The Sand Park Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Coloma Cemetery
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Sand Park Cemetery
  • Beartown Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for the Beartown Cemetery. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<4>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Beartown Cemetery
  • Seeley Lake Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
  • St. Mary Cemetery
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
  • St. Mary Cemetery
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Mary Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Mary Cemetery
  • Missoula Cemetery
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
  • Post Cemetery
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Post Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Post Cemetery
  • Ovando Cemetery
    (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
  • Sunset Memorial Gardens
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
  • Florence - Carlton Cemetery
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Florence - Carlton Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Florence - Carlton Cemetery
  • Valley Cemetery
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Valley Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Valley Cemetery
  • Jocko Valley Cemetery
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Jocko Valley Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Jocko Valley Cemetery
  • Continue List   (4 more) ...
    • St. Joseph's Cemetery
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Sunnyside Cemetery
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Helmville Cemetery
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Helmville Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Helmville Cemetery

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.<6>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that in 1895, Potomac had a post office and no railroad service.

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

  • Clinton
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Clinton have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clinton
    • Clinton is located in Missoula County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Clinton <1>
  • Beartown ‑ Historic
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Beartown have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beartown
    • Beartown is located in Granite County
  • Bonner
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
  • Missoula
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Missoula have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Missoula
    • Missoula is located in Missoula County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 76,848 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Missoula <1>
  • Ovando
    (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
  • De Smet
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for De Smet have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for De Smet
    • De Smet is located in Missoula County
  • Lolo
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
  • Drummond
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
  • Grass Valley
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Grass Valley have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grass Valley
    • Grass Valley is located in Missoula County
  • Evaro
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Evaro have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Evaro
    • Evaro is located in Missoula County
  • Carlton
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Carlton have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carlton
    • Carlton is located in Missoula County
  • Helmville
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)

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

Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Potomac. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.

The official website for Missoula County: www.co.missoula.mt.us/

The official website for State of Montana: https://mt.gov/

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 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.
<3>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or 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- Potomac) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Potomac. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 46.8816, Longitude: -113.5795       In this case, the coordinates for Potomac have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<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>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 Potomac, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024