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 Sunlight (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 Sunlight. 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 northwest corner of their home county. During their lives, most doctors were in the next county to the west. 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 west 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.
Sunlight is located in Jefferson 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 Jefferson County: Broadwater, Deer Lodge, Gallatin, Lewis and Clark, Madison, Powell & Silver Bow.
Below are the counties that are near Sunlight. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Sunlight:
- Jefferson County (The home county of Sunlight)
- The following are listed by their distance from Sunlight, with the one closest to Sunlight listed first.
- Cardwell
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
- Whitehall
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
- Piedmont
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
- Piedmont is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Piedmont
- Pipestone Hot Springs
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
- Pipestone Hot Springs is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pipestone Hot Springs
- Pipestone
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
- Pipestone is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pipestone
- Boulder
(23 miles [37 km] to the north)
- Woodville
(23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
- Woodville is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodville
- Elk Park
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
- Elk Park is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elk Park
- Elkhorn
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
- Elkhorn is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elkhorn
- Basin
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
- Comet ‑ Historic
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
- Comet is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Comet
- Comet has also been known as:
- High Ore
- Bernice
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
- Bernice is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bernice
- Broadwater County
- The following are listed by their distance from Sunlight, with the one closest to Sunlight listed first.
- Copper City
(23 miles [37 km] to the east)
- Copper City is located in Broadwater County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Copper City
- Crow Creek City ‑ Historic
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
- Crow Creek City is located in Broadwater County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crow Creek City
- Radersburg
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
- Gallatin County
- The following are listed by their distance from Sunlight, with the one closest to Sunlight listed first.
- Willow Creek
(18 miles [29 km] to the east)
- Three Forks
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
- Madison County
- The following are listed by their distance from Sunlight, with the one closest to Sunlight listed first.
- Jefferson Island
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
- Jefferson Island is located in Madison County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jefferson Island
- Mammoth
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
- Mammoth is located in Madison County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mammoth
- Strawberry ‑ Historic
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
- Strawberry is located in Madison County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Strawberry
- Pony ‑ Historic
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
- Harrison
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
- Silver Star
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
- Norris
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
- Red Bluff
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
- Red Bluff is located in Madison County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Red Bluff
- Twin Bridges
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
- Silver Bow County
- The following are listed by their distance from Sunlight, with the one closest to Sunlight listed first.
- Janney
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
- Janney is located in Silver Bow County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Janney
- Butte
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
- Highland City ‑ Historic
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
- Highland City is located in Silver Bow County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Highland City
- North Walkerville ‑ Historic
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
- North Walkerville is located in Silver Bow County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Walkerville
- Walkerville
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
- Williamsburg
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
- Williamsburg is located in Silver Bow County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Williamsburg
- Moose Town
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
- Moose Town is located in Silver Bow County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Moose Town
- Butte - Silver Bow
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
- Butte - Silver Bow is located in Silver Bow County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Butte - Silver Bow
- Estimated population in 2019: 34,207 people
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Sunlight, see our County-by-County Page for Sunlight.
Cemeteries Near Sunlight ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Sunlight.
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 Sunlight - one of the links might be able to help.
If not found below, our Cemetery List for Sunlight covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Sunlight, with the one closest to Sunlight listed first.
- Whitehall Cemetery
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
- Old Whitehall Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
- South Boulder Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
- Fish Creek Cemetery
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
- Sappington Cemetery
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
- St. John The Evangelist Catholic Church Cemetery
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
- Harrison Cemetery
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
- Valley View Cemetery
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Valley View Cemetery
- The Valley View Cemetery has also been known as:
- Pony Cemetery
- Mt. Green Cemetery
(18 miles [29 km] to the east)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mt. Green Cemetery
- To give a relative sense of its location, the Mt. Green Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located outside and to the north of Willow Creek.
- The Mt. Green Cemetery has also been known as:
- Willow Creek Cemetery
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #21006 <3>
- Silver Star Cemetery
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
- Stateler Cemetery
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
- Highland Cemetery
(23 miles [37 km] to the west)
- Continue List (17 more) ...
- Boulder Cemetery
(23 miles [37 km] to the north)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Boulder Cemetery
- To give a relative sense of its location, the Boulder Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located outside and to the northeast of Boulder.
- The Boulder Cemetery has also been known as:
- Boulder Cemetery
- Boulder Valley Cemetery
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #20781 <3>
- Fairview Cemetery
(23 miles [37 km] to the east)
- Mountain View Cemetery
(23 miles [37 km] to the west)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mountain View Cemetery
- To give a relative sense of its location, the Mountain View Cemetery is a very large cemetery that is located outside and to the southeast of Butte.
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #21010 <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 Sunlight in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Sunlight.
These communities are listed based on their distance from Sunlight, with the one closest to Sunlight listed first.
- Whitehall
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
- Jefferson Island
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
- Jefferson Island is located in Madison County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jefferson Island
- Pipestone
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
- Pipestone is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pipestone
- Pony ‑ Historic
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
- Harrison
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
- Willow Creek
(18 miles [29 km] to the east)
- Silver Star
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
- Highview
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
- Highview is located in Silver Bow County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Highview
- Three Forks
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
- Boulder
(23 miles [37 km] to the north)
- Trask
(23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
- Trask is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Trask
- Woodville
(23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
- Woodville is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodville
- Continue List (16 more) ...
- Elk Park
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
- Elk Park is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elk Park
- East Butte
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
- East Butte is located in Silver Bow County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Butte
- Gallatin ‑ Historic
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
- Gallatin is located in Gallatin County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gallatin
We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Sunlight. See our List of 1890's Communities around Sunlight.
Newspapers Published in Sunlight ...
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 82 newspapers that have been published in the area around Sunlight.
Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Sunlight, 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 Sunlight.
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 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 Sunlight:
- Websites specific to Montana
- Pages specific to Jefferson County
- Genealogy information for nearby counties
- Broadwater County
- Gallatin County
- Madison County
- Silver Bow County
- Cemetery Information and Directories for Montana
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' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Sunlight) 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 Sunlight, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |