RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Montana >> Cascade County >> Sun River >> Genealogy HelperIndex...










Learn About
The Commemorative
Quarter for
Montana

The Commemorative Quarter for Montana





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 Sun River (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 Sun River. 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.

Name Variations for Sun River ...

When searching records, keep in mind that names and their spelling can change over time. Our sources include documents like maps, railroad schedules, Travel, Express and Shipping Guides. Many of these documents date from the 1800's and it's common to find spelling differences.

Although we can't give a definitive list, hopefully the following will give you a feel for the variations that might have occurred.

For example, a typical abbreviation for Sun River: Sun Riv.

If you have information about these names (such as the reason for the change, date of change, the origin of the name), please Contact Us.

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.

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

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

  • Cascade County     (The home county of Sun River)
  • Lewis and Clark County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Sun River, with the one closest to Sun River listed first.
    • Dearborn Crossing ‑ Historic
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Dearborn Crossing. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dearborn Crossing
      • Dearborn Crossing is located in Lewis and Clark County
      • Dearborn Crossing has also been known as:
      • Dearborn City
      • Dearborn
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Dearborn Crossing
      • From Sun River to Dearborn Crossing
    • Gilman
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
  • Teton County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Sun River, with the one closest to Sun River listed first.
    • Greenfield
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Power
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Power have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Power
      • Power is located in Teton County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Power <1>
    • Fairfield
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Fairfield have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fairfield
      • Fairfield is located in Teton County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 734 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Fairfield <1>
    • Dutton
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Dutton have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dutton
      • Dutton is located in Teton County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 325 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Dutton <1>
    • Collins
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
    • Choteau
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)

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

Cemeteries Near Sun River ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Sun River.

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

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

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 Sun River had a population of 316 people in 1895 with a post office and no railroad service.

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

  • Vaughn
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
  • Ulm
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ulm have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ulm
    • Ulm is located in Cascade County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Ulm <1>
  • Saint Clair ‑ Historic
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Saint Clair have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saint Clair
    • Saint Clair is located in Cascade County
  • Truly
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Truly have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Truly
    • Truly is located in Cascade County
  • Saint Peter
    (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Saint Peter have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saint Peter
    • Saint Peter is located in Cascade County
  • Cascade
    (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
  • Great Falls
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
  • North Great Falls ‑ Historic
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for North Great Falls have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Great Falls
    • North Great Falls is located in Cascade County
  • Watson ‑ Historic
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Watson have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Watson
    • Watson is located in Cascade County
  • Sand Coulee
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
  • Collins
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
  • Dearborn Crossing ‑ Historic
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Dearborn Crossing. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dearborn Crossing
    • Dearborn Crossing is located in Lewis and Clark County
    • Dearborn Crossing has also been known as:
    • Dearborn City
    • Dearborn
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Dearborn Crossing
    • From Sun River to Dearborn Crossing
  • Continue List   (4 more) ...
    • Mid Canon
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
    • Portage
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Portage have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Portage
      • Portage is located in Cascade County
    • Choteau
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Sun River ...

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 60 newspapers that have been published in the area around Sun River.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Sun River. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Sun River and those printed in the larger area surrounding Sun River.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<4> of Sun River.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we first visit 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 Sun River:

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

The official website for Cascade County: www.co.cascade.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>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>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 drawn from Point A (ie- Sun River) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Sun River. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 47.5335, Longitude: -111.7210       In this case, the coordinates for Sun River have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<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 Sun River, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

Copyright 2025
All Rights Reserved

Thank you for visiting our website.

In closing, please keep in mind that we can not guarantee the accuracy or timeliness of the information on this website, so use with care. We encourage you to double-check the information that is critical to you.

If you've found an error or have additional information that you would like to share, please don't hesitate to write: Click here to contact us.

This page was last modified/updated: 28 Apr 2025