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Montana Research Outline |
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Table of Contents
Records Of The Family History Library
Family History Library Catalog
Archives And Libraries
Biography
Cemeteries
Census
Church Records
Court Records
Directories
Emigration And Immigration
Gazetteers
Genealogy
History
Land And Property
Maps
Military Records
Native Races
Naturalization And Citizenship
Newspapers
Periodicals
Probate Records
Vital Records
For Further Reading
Comments And Suggestions
COURT RECORDS Major Montana courts that kept records of genealogical value were established as follows:
District courts Probate courts The Supreme Court The Family History Library does not have copies of Montana court records. You can obtain copies at the clerk's office in each county courthouse or from the Montana State Archives at the Montana Historical Society.
Extensive collections of city The Family History Library has useful directories for the years 1868 and 1879 on FHL film 1377090. The library has some directories from the 1930s to 1980s for larger cities, such as Billings, Bozeman, Butte, Great Falls, Helena, Kalispell, and Missoula.
Prestatehood settlers of Montana were trappers, missionaries, miners, cattlemen, farmers, and lumbermen. They came primarily from the midwestern states, although refugees from Confederate states came to the early mining camps.
In the 1860s many gold seekers took steamboats from Saint Louis to Fort Benton, Montana, where they joined the Mullan Wagon Road leading to the camps. Other settlers traveled from the east by way of the Northern Overland Road, or the Bozeman Cutoff and other branches of the Oregon Trail. From the west, some took the Mullan Road at its terminus in Walla Walla. Others took an older route from Salt Lake City. The era of steamboats and trails finally came to an end in the 1880s when transcontinental railroads from Utah and Minnesota reached Montana.
In the 1890s and 1900s, the building of branch railroad lines encouraged new mining and homesteading. Some immigrants from Europe came to work in the mines, and others joined midwesterners in homesteading parts of eastern Montana. Between 1910 and 1920 a homestead In 1920 nearly half the Montana population was foreign-born. Most immigrants were from Germany, Canada, Ireland, Norway, England, Sweden, or Austria. Many overseas immigrants to Montana came through the port of New York or other East Coast ports.
The Family History Library and the National Archives and its regional centers have passenger lists
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are districtwide courts that serve as the major trial courts for one to seven counties. They have jurisdiction over criminal cases, naturalizations, guardianships, divorces, debts, probates (since 1889), juvenile matters, and some appeals. Court sessions are held in each county, where a clerk of the district court keeps the records.
had jurisdiction over probates, marriages, and minor civil and criminal matters. Probate courts were disbanded in 1889 when their functions and records were transferred to the district courts.
is the statewide appellate court.
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DIRECTORIES
and business directories are available at the Montana Historical Society, Montana State University, and the University of Montana.
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EMIGRATION AND IMMIGRATION
boom brought thousands of settlers, but years of drought in the 1920s caused many of them to leave the state.
or indexes for various United States ports. The years covered in the lists and indexes at the Family History Library vary by port but range from 1820 to 1940. More detailed information on U.S. immigration records is in the United States Research Outline. The Family History Library and the Public Archives of Canada have some passenger lists for Canadian ports for 1865 to 1900. The Family History Library and National Archives have Canadian border crossing records, 1865 to 1954.
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Version of Data: 6/9/2001]