Sweet Grass County Information

• Big Timber City Hall

• Big Timber Pioneer newspaper

• Big Timber Public Library

• Crazy Mountain Museum

• Sweet Grass Chamber of Commerce

• Sweet Grass County Cemeteries

• Sweet Grass County Churches

• 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.

Go to an index of individual and family profiles in Pioneer Memories, vols. 1 and 2 and Tri County Atlas.

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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.

Go to an index of individual and family profiles in Pioneer Memories, vols. 1 and 2 and Tri County Atlas.

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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

• Mountainview Cemetery. Main county cemetery, located south of Interstate exit 367. Records in Clerk and Recorders office at Sweet Grass County Courthouse.

• Melville Lutheran Cemetery. Located adjacent to Melville Lutheran Church. Map of cemetery is in "Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow".

• Gage Cemetery. Four graves located 1/4 mile west of Duck Creek.

• Kent Cemetery. Twenty-one graves located at the Bridger Creek turnoff of the Interstate.

• Nevin Cemetery. About ten graves located approximately 15 miles northeast of Big Timber.

• Reed Point Cemetery. Located just west of Reed Point in Sweet Grass County.

• 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!

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• Always provide a S.A.S.E. (Self Addressed Stamped Envelope). Virtually all county clerks in our state have this requirement.

• 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.

• 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.

  Last updated 11 March 2007.