Sweet Grass
County Information
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Big Timber City Hall
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Big Timber Pioneer newspaper
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Big Timber Public Library
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Crazy Mountain Museum
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Sweet Grass Chamber of Commerce
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Sweet Grass County Cemeteries
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Sweet Grass County Churches
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Sweet Grass County Courthouse
Big
Timber City Hall
Big Timber City Hall
is located at 113 East 3rd. Phone: (406)932-5143. Open regular business hours.
Few records of interest and some old volumes have been given to the Crazy
Mountain Museum.
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Big
Timber Pioneer Newspaper
The Big Timber Pioneer
Newspaper has been publishing since about 1890. Early bound volumes are
incomplete and papers are not readily accessible. Casual information is available.
The newspaper office is open Monday through Friday, except for legal holidays,
9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The newspaper office is located at 117 West First. Phone:
(406)932-5298.
Obituaries from the
paper beginning October 23, 1998 (You have to start sometime) can be found on
the obituary pages.
The Pioneer
is on microfilm at the Montana Historical Society in Helena. Staff is available
to make copies. For more information visit the Montana Historical Society's
web site.
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Big
Timber Public Library
The Carnegie Library is located at 314 McLeod.
It is open for several hours five days a week. Mailing address: P.O. Box 846,
Big Timber, MT 59011. Phone: (406) 932-5608. Email address:
bigtlib@mtintouch.net. Copying: 25 cents per page. Mail services require a
SASE. A donation would be welcome for services rendered.
The library
has a good selection of books about Montana and Sweet Grass County. Books
include: "Pioneer Memories", vols. 1&2; "Yesterday, Today,
Tomorrow", a Melville area history; "Jerkline to Jeep", a
Boulder River valley history; "History of Schools in Sweet Grass
County"; "Golden Days of Reed Point"; "Tri-County
Atlas" of Meagher, Sweet Grass and Carbon Counties, published in 1902;
bound volumes of the Big Timber Pioneer back to mid-1890's; Sweet Grass
County High School annuals.
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Crazy
Mountain Museum
The Crazy Mountain
Museum is located south of Big Timber on Cemetery Road. Access is from
Interstate exit 367. Address: P.O. Box 83, Big Timber, MT 59011. Phone: (406)
932-5126. Copies: 25 cents per page. Mail services require a SASE. A donation
would be welcome for services rendered.
Permanent
exhibits at the museum include: a detailed model of Big Timber in 1907, a
Norwegian stabbur, and a one room school house.
Resources
include: some bound volumes of the Big Timber Pioneer from 1915 to the
present. Newspaper obituaries are indexed. Voter registration books from
1889-1940. Big Timber police magistrate records from 1902-1971. Various old
city records. Some oral history tapes and transcripts.
Books include:
"Pioneer Memories", vols. 1&2; "Tri-county Atlas";
"Jerkline to Jeep"; "Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow"; SGHS
annuals back to 1913; "History of Sweet Grass County Schools";
"Hunter's Hot Springs Chronology, 1888-1905"; "Progressive Men
of Montana", published in 1902; and various family biographies.
Most of the
resources and photographs are indexed.
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Sweet
Grass Chamber of Commerce
The Sweet Grass
Chamber of Commerce is located just off Interstate exit 367. Mailing address:
P.O. Box 1012, Big Timber, MT 59011. Phone: (406) 932-5131. You are invited to
visit their web site.
The Chamber
has information on area hotels, motels, bed and breakfasts, camping and
restaurants. A calendar of events and other activities is also available.
Winter hours:
M-F, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Memorial Day through Labor Day: Mon. through Sat. 9 a.m.
- 6 p.m.
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Link to Sweet Grass Chamber of Commerce
Sweet
Grass County Cemeteries
o
Mountainview
Cemetery. Main county cemetery, located south of Interstate exit 367. Records
in Clerk and Recorders office at Sweet Grass County Courthouse.
o
Melville
Lutheran Cemetery. Located adjacent to Melville Lutheran Church. Map of
cemetery is in "Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow".
o
Gage
Cemetery. Four graves located 1/4 mile west of Duck Creek.
o
Kent
Cemetery. Twenty-one graves located at the Bridger Creek turnoff of the
Interstate.
o
Nevin
Cemetery. About ten graves located approximately 15 miles northeast of Big
Timber.
o
Reed
Point Cemetery. Located just west of Reed Point in Sweet Grass County.
o
Various
individual graves are located throughout the county.
County
resident Donna Harkness has copied inscriptions from all the tombstones and
indexed cemeteries. She is willing share information. If you know the cemetery,
that is helpful. Email Donna to
contact her.
A list of burials is also at the Crazy Mountain Museum.
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Contact Donna Harkness for cemetery lookup.
Sweet
Grass County Churches
Big Timber Baptist
Church. Fifth and Busha. One of the newest churches in town.
Big Timber Lutheran
Church. 115 W. 4th, (P.O. Box 278), Big Timber, MT 59011. Founded in 1907.
Church of Christ.
420 West Eighth.
Church of God. 216
East Second. Founded about 1920.
Evangelical Church.
Third and Bramble. (P.O. Box 696) Big Timber, MT 59011. Organized in 1922. In
1946, its name changed to Big Timber Evangelical United Bretheren. When EUB
merged with Methodists in 1968, it affiliated with Evangelical Church of North
America.
Evangelical Free
Church. Fourth and Everett. (P.O. Box 1127)
First
Congregational Church. Fourth and Anderson. (P.O. Box 238) Organized in 1890.
Melville Lutheran
Church. West of Melville, MT. 59055. Organized in 1885.
St. Joseph's
Catholic Church. Ninth and McLeod (P.O. Box 871). Founded in 1910.
St. Mark's
Episcopal Church. Fourth and Hooper. Organized in 1895.
Seventh Day
Adventist. 209 East Fourth Avenue.
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Sweet
Grass County Courthouse
Guidelines
Please remember, following
these guidelines can greatly assist you in your search for records!
o
Beginning
October 1, 2006 identification is required for the purchase of any Montana
birth or death certificate. A picture ID with a signature, such as a driver's
license is acceptable. Otherwise two forms of ID, and one MUST have a
signature, are required.
o
Make
you letters concise and to the point. Do NOT include more than one or two requests
at once, and be careful not to write confusing details of your family lines.
o
Provide
complete information on an individual and event for which you need documents.
Include all names that may have been used, including nicknames, alternate
spellings, etc. List dates and type of event as completely and accurately as
possible. If you don't know the exact date, specify the span of years you wish
searched and be prepared to pay for searches that span several years.
o
Patience
pays! Unless you already know the no. of pages in a deed, or the exact cost of
a document, don't send a specific amount of money in cash or a
check. It is appropriate to send a sign, BLANK check, however,
with a notation written, (preferably in red ink), UNDER the
"$________" line of the check, which states, "Not to
exceed $5.00" or any amount you wish to specify. If you don't
care to do that, you will need to make your first letter a statement of of what
records you need and a request for them to send you a statement of charges. You
can then send a check for the exact amount in a second letter.
o
Always
provide a S.A.S.E. (Self Addressed Stamped Envelope). Virtually all
county clerks in our state have this requirement.
o
Both
the Sweet Grass County Clerk and Recorder and the Sweet Grass County Clerk of
the District Court are busy. Genealogical queries are done as a service which
is outside of their realm of responsibility. They ask therefore that you
exercise patience and courtesy in your transactions with their offices.
o
Information
speeds the process. It might be a good idea to follow the format in all
requests for these records to insure there will be no delay. The following
information can easily be printed out on an 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of paper and
submitted to a county office:
Request
for Birth Certificate:
Date
of request; Name of person; Date of birth; Mother's maiden name; Father's name;
Name of requestor; Relationship to party, or reason for request; and Signature
of requestor.
Request
for Death Certificate:
Date
of request; Name of deceased; and Date of death.
Clerk
and Recorder
At
this time the Clerk and Recorder prefers information be obtained in person.
Death certificates are $3 and birth certificates, $5.
Cemetery
Records
Mountainview
Cemetery located just west of Big Timber. It is the primary cemetery for the
county.
Birth
and Death Certificates
Real
Estate Transfers
Records
date back to the late 1880's, but are sketchy in the beginning.
Clerk
of the District Court
Address:
P.O. Box 698, Big Timber, MT 59011
Fees:
General copies, $1.00 per page for the first 10 pages, $.50 per page for each
additional page; Certified copy charge is $2.00; Marriage, uncertified copy
only: $5.00 plus postage; Copy of Dissolution Degree, $10.00; Record searches
over a period of years: $2.00 per name, per year up to 7 years, $1.00 per name
each additional year. Document copies: 50 cents per page for first five pages,
then 25 cents for each additional page.
Marriage
Licenses
Divorce
Decrees
Probate
of Wills
Civil
and Criminal Court
Naturalizations
Basic
information only. Records date back to 1895, but are incomplete.
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Mountain
and Rodeo photograph from the Library of Congress prints and photographs
collection.
This
page is maintained by Montana GenWeb volunteer Joan Shurtliff.
Copyright © 2007, 2008, 2009. Last updated 11
March 2007.