Montana, Rosebud County Records - FamilySearch Historical Records

What is in the Collection?
This collection contains the following various records from the Rosebud County courthouse, located in Forsyth, Montana:


 * Vital records (births, marriages, and deaths) 1882 to 1930
 * Deeds 1878 to 1945
 * Mining claims 1919 to 1940
 * Wills 1887 to 1971
 * Probate records 1901 to 1941 (book #2 is missing)
 * Voter registers for various years

Coverage Map
To see a coverage map of FamilySearch's holdings of Montana marriages click here.

What Can this Collection Tell Me?
The records may contain any of the following pieces of information


 * Name of the primary individual
 * Age
 * Event date
 * Event place
 * Parents' names including mother's maiden name
 * Parents' age, birth place and residence
 * Occupations
 * Names of heirs, such as spouse, children, other relatives, or friends
 * Name of the executor, administrator, or guardian
 * Names of witnesses
 * Dates the documents were written and recorded (used to approximate event dates since a will was usually written near the time of death)
 * Description and value of personal property or land owned by the deceased
 * Address or residence

How Do I Search the Collection?
To begin your search, it is helpful to know at least some of the following:
 * The name of your ancestor.
 * The approximate date the event occurred.

View the Images
View images in this collection by visiting the 


 * 1) Select County
 * 2) Select Record Type, Date Range and Volume to view the images.

How Do I Analyze the Results?
Compare each result from your search with what you know to determine if there is a match. This may require viewing multiple records or images.

Remember to:
 * Whenever possible, look at the original record. If often has more information than the indexed record.
 * Print or download a copy of the record, or extract the genealogical information needed.
 * In case you need to find this record again later, copy the citation found on each record or image. Familysearch wiki has a Example Research Log that you can download and use for this purpose.

For tips about searching on-line collections see the on-line article FamilySearch Search Tips and Tricks.

I Found Who I was Looking for, What Now?

 * Use the age to calculate the birth date to find other records such as birth, christening, marriage, census, and death records.
 * Use the probate date as a substitute death date.
 * Use the name of the undertaker, mortuary, or cemetery to find funeral and cemetery records.
 * Use the parents' birth places to find former residences and to establish a migration pattern for the family.
 * Use the occupations to find employment or military records.
 * Use the information to find additional family members.
 * Repeat this process with additional family members found, to find more generations of the family.
 * [Montana Church Records|Church Records]] often were kept years before government records were required and are a good source for finding ancestors before 1900.

I Can’t Find Who I’m Looking for, What Now?

 * Try viewing the original record to see if there were errors in the transcription of the name, age, residence, etc. Remember that there may be more than one person in the records with the same name.
 * Collect entries for every person who has the same surname. This list can help you identify possible relations that can be verified by records.
 * If you cannot locate your ancestor in the locality in which you believe they lived, then try searching records of a nearby locality in an area search.
 * Standard spelling of names typically did not exist during the periods our ancestors lived in. Try variations of your ancestor’s name while searching the index or browsing through images.
 * Remember that sometimes individuals went by nicknames or alternated between using first and middle names. Try searching for these names as well.
 * Search the indexes and records of Montana, United States Genealogy.
 * Search in the Montana Archives and Libraries.

Citing this Collection
Citing your sources makes it easy for others to find and evaluate the records you used. When you copy information from a record, list where you found that information. Here you can find citations already created for the entire collection and for each individual record or image.

Collection Citation

Image Citation Top of Page