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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 Springwater Colony (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 Springwater Colony. 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 hospitals and 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.

Springwater Colony is located in Wheatland 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 Wheatland County: Fergus, Golden Valley, Judith Basin, Meagher & Sweet Grass.

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

  • Wheatland County     (The home county of Springwater Colony)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Springwater Colony, with the one closest to Springwater Colony listed first.
    • Harlowton
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Harlowton have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harlowton
      • Harlowton is located in Wheatland County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 998 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Harlowton <2>
    • Hedgesville
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hedgesville
      • Hedgesville is located in Wheatland County
    • Shawmut
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Judith Gap
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
    • Twodot
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
  • Fergus County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Springwater Colony, with the one closest to Springwater Colony listed first.
    • Garneill
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
    • Buffalo
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
    • Straw
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Straw. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Straw
      • Straw is located in Fergus County
  • Golden Valley County
    • Ryegate
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ryegate have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ryegate
      • Ryegate is located in Golden Valley County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 235 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Ryegate <2>
  • Meagher County
  • Sweet Grass County

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

Cemeteries Near Springwater Colony ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Springwater Colony.

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

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

  • Harlowton Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Harlowton Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Harlowton Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located outside and to the northwest of Harlowton.
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #511955 <4>
  • Catholic Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Catholic Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Catholic Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Harlowton Catholic Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
  • Hedgesville Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Hedgesville Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Hedgesville Cemetery is located 7 miles [11.3 km]<5> to the south of Shawmut.
    • The Hedgesville Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Hedges Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2285731 <4>
  • Duncan Ranch Colony
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Duncan Ranch Colony
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Duncan Ranch Colony is located 9 miles [14.5 km]<5> to the east of Harlowton.
    • The Duncan Ranch Colony has also been known as:
    • Duncan Ranch Colony Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2484271 <4>
  • Judith Gap Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Judith Gap Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Judith Gap Cemetery is located outside and to the southwest of Judith Gap.
    • The Judith Gap Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Woodlawn Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #197831 <4>
  • Twodot Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Twodot Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Twodot Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Ubet Cemetery
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Ubet Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Ubet Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Barber Cemetery
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Barber Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Barber Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Garneill Cemetery
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Garneill Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Garneill Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Rothiemay Cemetery
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
  • Gauglerville Cemetery
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Gauglerville Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Gauglerville Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (5 more) ...
    • Ryegate Cemetery
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Ryegate Cemetery
      • To give a relative sense of its location, the Ryegate Cemetery is located outside and to the south of Ryegate.
      • The Ryegate Cemetery has also been known as:
      • Ryegate City Cemetery
      • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #323959 <4>
    • Melville Lutheran Cemetery
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Resurrection Cemetery
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Resurrection Cemetery
      • To give a relative sense of its location, the Resurrection Cemetery is located outside and to the east of Ryegate.
      • The Resurrection Cemetery has also been known as:
      • Catholic Cemetery
      • Ryegate Catholic Cemetery
      • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #324002 <4>

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>

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

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

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

Newspapers Published in Springwater Colony ...

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 11 newspapers that have been published in the area around Springwater Colony.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Springwater Colony, there are papers which were published within 26 miles [41.8 km]<5>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Springwater Colony.

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 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 Springwater Colony:

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

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

Footnotes ...

<1>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.
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<3>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.
<4>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.
<5>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or 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- Springwater Colony) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Springwater Colony. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 46.4594, Longitude: -109.7563       In this case, the coordinates for Springwater Colony have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<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 Springwater Colony, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 28 Apr 2025