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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 Riverdale (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 Riverdale. 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 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.

Riverdale is located in Cascade 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 Cascade County: Chouteau, Judith Basin, Lewis and Clark, Meagher & Teton.

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

  • Cascade County     (The home county of Riverdale)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Riverdale, with the one closest to Riverdale listed first.
    • Saint Clair ‑ Historic
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Saint Clair is located in Cascade County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saint Clair
    • Ulm
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Cascade
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Sun Prairie
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
      • Sun Prairie is located in Cascade County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sun Prairie
    • Vaughn
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
    • Manchester
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Manchester is located in Cascade County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Manchester
    • Fort Shaw
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Sun River
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Eden
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
      • Eden is located in Cascade County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eden
    • Great Falls
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Simms
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
    • Black Eagle
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Countryside Village
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
      • Countryside Village is located in Cascade County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Countryside Village
  • Lewis and Clark County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Riverdale, with the one closest to Riverdale listed first.
    • Craig
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Dearborn Crossing ‑ Historic
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Dearborn Crossing is located in Lewis and Clark County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dearborn Crossing
      • Dearborn Crossing has also been known as:
      • Dearborn City
      • Dearborn
  • Teton County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Riverdale, with the one closest to Riverdale listed first.
    • Greenfield
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
      • Greenfield is located in Teton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenfield
    • Power
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
    • Fairfield
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)

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

Cemeteries Near Riverdale ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Riverdale.

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

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

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

  • Fair Haven Colony Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fair Haven Colony Cemetery
    • The Fair Haven Colony Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Fairhaven Colony Cemetery
  • Castner Falls Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
  • Hillside Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Chesnut Valley Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
  • Chestnut Valley Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
  • Ulm Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Cascade Colony Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Sun River Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
  • Sunset Memorial Gardens
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunset Memorial Gardens
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Sunset Memorial Gardens is a large cemetery that is located 7 miles [11.3 km]<2> to the west of Great Falls.
    • The Sunset Memorial Gardens has also been known as:
    • Sunset Memorial Gardens
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2133894 <3>
  • Vaughn Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
  • St. Peters Mission Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
  • Ft. Shaw Soldiers Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
  • Continue List   (19 more) ...
    • Ft. Shaw Cemetery
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ft. Shaw Cemetery
      • The Ft. Shaw Cemetery has also been known as:
      • Ft. Shaw Military Cemetery
    • Red Butte Cemetery
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
    • Calvary Cemetery
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Calvary Cemetery
      • To give a relative sense of its location, the Calvary Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located outside and to the south of Great Falls.
      • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #20799 <3>

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

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

  • Saint Clair ‑ Historic
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Saint Clair is located in Cascade County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saint Clair
  • Cascade
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Truly
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Truly is located in Cascade County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Truly
  • Ulm
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Sun River
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Vaughn
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
  • Saint Peter
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
    • Saint Peter is located in Cascade County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saint Peter
  • Great Falls
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
  • Mid Canon
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Mid Canon is located in Cascade County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mid Canon
  • Sand Coulee
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
  • North Great Falls ‑ Historic
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
    • North Great Falls is located in Cascade County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Great Falls
  • Watson ‑ Historic
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Watson is located in Cascade County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Watson
  • Continue List   (4 more) ...
    • Millegan
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
      • Millegan is located in Cascade County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Millegan
    • Dearborn Crossing ‑ Historic
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Dearborn Crossing is located in Lewis and Clark County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dearborn Crossing
      • Dearborn Crossing has also been known as:
      • Dearborn City
      • Dearborn
    • Craig
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)

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

Newspapers Published in Riverdale ...

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 46 newspapers that have been published in the area around Riverdale.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Riverdale, there are papers which were published within 25 miles [40.2 km]<2>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Riverdale.

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 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 Riverdale:

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 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Riverdale) 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 Riverdale, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.