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A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
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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 Shields (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 Shields. 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 southeast 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 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 east 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.

Shields 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 Shields. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Shields:

  • Park County     (The home county of Shields)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Shields, with the one closest to Shields listed first.
    • Wilsall
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Clyde Park
      (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Hoppers
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
      • Hoppers is located in Park County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hoppers
    • Livingston
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
    • Springdale
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Brisbin
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
      • Brisbin is located in Park County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brisbin
  • Gallatin County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Shields, with the one closest to Shields listed first.
    • Sedan
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
      • Sedan is located in Gallatin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sedan
    • Bridger
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Bridger is located in Gallatin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bridger
    • Gallop ‑ Historic
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
      • Gallop is located in Gallatin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gallop
    • Chestnut
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
      • Chestnut is located in Gallatin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chestnut
    • Wisner Crossing
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
      • Wisner Crossing is located in Gallatin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wisner Crossing
    • Francis
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Francis is located in Gallatin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Francis
    • Bozeman
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Catron
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Catron is located in Gallatin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Catron
    • Story
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Story is located in Gallatin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Story
    • Hillman
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
      • Hillman is located in Gallatin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hillman
    • Belgrade
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
  • Meagher County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Shields, with the one closest to Shields listed first.
    • Ringling
      (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
    • Loweth
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
      • Loweth is located in Meagher County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Loweth

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

Cemeteries Near Shields ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Shields.

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

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

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

  • Wilsall Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
  • Mt. Calvary Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
  • Rock Creek Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
  • Sedan Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
  • Woosley Family Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
  • Springhill Cemetery
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
  • Calvary Cemetery
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
    • 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 2 miles [3.2 km]<2> to the northeast of Livingston.
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #20796 <3>
  • Mountain View Cemetery
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mountain View Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Mountain View Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located outside and to the west of Livingston.
    • The Mountain View Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Mountainview Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #21013 <3>
  • Poor Farm Cemetery
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
  • Reese Creek Cemetery
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Reese Creek Cemetery
    • The Reese Creek Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Old Mormon Cemetery
  • Muir Cemetery
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
  • Vaters Cemetery
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
  • Continue List   (19 more) ...
    • Walker Cemetery
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Timberline Cemetery
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
    • Cokedale Cemetery
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)

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

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

  • Meyersburg ‑ Historic
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Meyersburg is located in Park County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meyersburg
  • Clyde Park
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
  • Sedan
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Sedan is located in Gallatin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sedan
  • Springhill
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Springhill is located in Gallatin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Springhill
  • Hoppers
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
    • Hoppers is located in Park County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hoppers
  • Livingston
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
  • West End
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
    • West End is located in Gallatin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West End
  • Muir
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
    • Muir is located in Park County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Muir
  • Gallop ‑ Historic
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
    • Gallop is located in Gallatin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gallop
  • Hunters Hot Springs
    (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
    • Hunters Hot Springs is located in Park County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hunters Hot Springs
  • Chestnut
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Chestnut is located in Gallatin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chestnut
  • Elton
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Elton is located in Park County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elton
  • Continue List   (6 more) ...
    • Sixteen
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
      • Sixteen is located in Meagher County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sixteen
    • Springdale
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Story
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Story is located in Gallatin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Story

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

Newspapers Published in Shields ...

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 36 newspapers that have been published in the area around Shields.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Shields, there are papers which were published within 28 miles [45.1 km]<2>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Shields.

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 Shields:

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' (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- Shields) 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 Shields, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.