The state of Montana has a very glitzy sounding nickname. It is known as “The Treasure State”. For genealogists, the best “treasure” they could hope for might be the one vital record that they haven’t be able to locate (yet). Did your ancestors live in Montana? Here are some Montana genealogy resources that could help you find the treasure you have been searching for.
Ancestry.com has a page that is filled with links to all of their Montana genealogy collections. To access these records, you have to have a membership at Ancestry.com. Once in a while, some collections may be offered for free. Return to their list often. Ancestry.com does a great job of making it clear when a collection is new, has been updated, or is currently offered for free.
The Montana State Genealogical Society was founded in 1989. They have a state genealogical library that is located on the second floor of the Lewis & Clark Public Library in Helena, Montana. There is a link on their website that connects to the online library catalog.
FamilySearch has a Wiki page about the state of Montana. There are links to more FamilySearch Wiki pages about each and every county in the state. You can also find a couple of links to Montana genealogy resources that are located outside of FamilySearch. Toward the bottom of the page are some links that will take you to more FamilySearch Wiki pages about their Montana collections.
Facebook has a community page for FamilySearch Montana Genealogy Research. This is a great resource to use if you want to connect with other genealogists who are also working on research about their ancestors who lived in Montana. The Facebook page will also have links to relevant FamilySearch Wiki pages or information about newly added or updated Montana collections.
Internment.net has cemetery records online. You can start using their website by putting the first and last name of your ancestor into their search engine. Or, you can select a particular county in Montana to start with. If there is a link, it means that Internment.net has information from cemeteries that are located within that county. If there is no link, it means that it doesn’t have information for that particular county.
Cyndi’s List is, quite possibly, the most comprehensive collection of links to online genealogy resources. If it exists on the internet, then Cyndi’s List probably has a link to it! They have a page called “United States – Montana”. Start by selecting any of the links to categories. Some categories include: “Birth, Marriage, Death”, “Census”, “Counties”, “Military”, “Newspapers” and much more!
Image by Sebastian Bergmann on Flickr