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Our Genealogy Helper

Introduction ...

We have a couple of goals for our Gazetteer:

  • That it be a tool which helps us with planning our trips.
  • We're trying to shape our Gazetteer as a tool to help us understand the community in which our ancestors lived, the community that was part of their daily lives.
  • On our trips, we try to visit those places where our ancestors left their footprints.

By learning about Ames (and the surrounding area) during the time that our ancestors lived, we hope to have a better understanding of both their community and its relationship to their lifes. We hope that this tool helps to give us an insight into their world.

As we add data and organize our Gazetteer to help with our family research, we will be adding to this our Genealogical Helper for Ames. While we don't have information that is specific to any given person or family, we intend to expand our understanding about where and how people lived.

Neighboring Counties ...

When searching for family records, we have frequently made the mistake of not checking the neighboring counties.

For example, we have great-grandparents who lived in the northwest corner of their home county. During their lives, most hospitals and doctors were in the next county to the west. Almost all of the nearby churches and cemeteries were in the county to the north.

So when searching for records, we had our best success by looking in neighboring counties instead of the county in which they lived:  their home county contained property and probate records; the county to the west contained birth and death records; the county to the north contained their burial records. If we hadn't included the neighboring counties, we would have missed many valuable sources of information.

If you're in a similar situation, we hope that the following information helps.

Ames is located in Hand County.

To see how the shape of South Dakota's counties have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Hand County: Beadle, Buffalo, Faulk, Hyde, Jerauld & Spink.

Below are the counties that are near Ames. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Ames:

  • Hand County     (The home county of Ames)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Ames, with the one closest to Ames listed first.
    • Ree Heights
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ree Heights have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ree Heights
      • Ree Heights is located in Hand County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 58 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Ree Heights <2>
    • Miller
      (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
    • Saint Lawrence
      (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Saint Lawrence have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saint Lawrence
      • Saint Lawrence is located in Hand County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 181 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Saint Lawrence <2>
    • Florence ‑ Historic
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Florence have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Florence
      • Florence is located in Hand County
      • Estimated population in 2014: 374 people
  • Beadle County
    • Wessington
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Wessington have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wessington
      • Wessington is located in Beadle County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 179 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Wessington <2>
  • Brule County
    • Lyonville
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lyonville have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lyonville
      • Lyonville is located in Brule County
      • Estimated population in 2014: 49 people
  • Buffalo County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Ames, with the one closest to Ames listed first.
    • Gann Valley
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
    • Shelby
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Shelby have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shelby
      • Shelby is located in Buffalo County
      • Estimated population in 2014: 96 people
    • Fort Thompson
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Fort Thompson have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fort Thompson
      • Fort Thompson is located in Buffalo County
      • Population from the 2010 Census: 1,282 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Fort Thompson <2>
  • Hyde County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Ames, with the one closest to Ames listed first.
    • Stephan
      (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
    • Highmore
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Holabird
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Holabird have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holabird
      • Holabird is located in Hyde County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Holabird <2>
  • Jerauld County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Ames, with the one closest to Ames listed first.
    • Crow Lake
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Crow Lake have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crow Lake
      • Crow Lake is located in Jerauld County
    • Wessington Springs
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
  • Lyman County
    • Lower Brule
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lower Brule have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lower Brule
      • Lower Brule is located in Lyman County
      • Population from the 2010 Census: 24 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Lower Brule <2>

For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Ames, see our County-by-County Page for Ames.

Newspapers Published in Ames ...

An ongoing effort between the Library of Congress and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) has resulted in the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP).

To share their results, the partnership has created the Chronicling America website. The goal of this partnership is to assemble a database about the current and historic newspapers of the United States. This includes a growing collection of scanned images from selected papers. All of it available to the public on their website.

Using information that we've taken from the Chronicling America website, we've identified 25 newspapers that have been published in the area around Ames.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Ames, there are papers which were published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Ames.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we first turn to the websites from Cyndi's List, FamilySearch and Genealogy Trails. These helpful websites offer the information directly or else point to where you can find it. Their information is open to everyone.

To help you get started, the following links will take you to the pages that are relevant to Ames:

Cemeteries Near Ames ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Ames.

This is a new section and is likely to have errors. If you find an error, such as a missing cemetery or we have the wrong name, please let us know. If you know of them, we would also appreciate learning about previous or alternate names.

If you need information about a burial or interment, photos, transcripts, how to contact the cemetery or local authorities, please visit our selection of Genealogy Websites (see below).

If not found below, our Cemetery List for Ames covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Ames, with the one closest to Ames listed first.

  • Cedar Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Cedar Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Cedar Cemetery
  • Ebenezer Baptist Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Ebenezer Baptist Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Ebenezer Baptist Cemetery
  • New Zion Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the New Zion Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the New Zion Cemetery
  • Rosehill Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Rosehill Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Rosehill Cemetery
  • Spring Hill Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Spring Hill Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Spring Hill Cemetery
  • Morningside Cemetery
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Morningside Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Morningside Cemetery
  • G A R Cemetery
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the G A R Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the G A R Cemetery
  • St. Anns Cemetery
    (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
  • Immaculate Conception Mission Cemetery
    (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
  • St. Lawrence Cemetery
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Lawrence Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Lawrence Cemetery
  • McNair Cemetery
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the McNair Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the McNair Cemetery
  • Hope Cemetery
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Hope Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Hope Cemetery
  • Continue List   (17 more) ...
    • Chery Twp. Pioneer Cemetery
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for the Chery Twp. Pioneer Cemetery. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<5>
      • The Chery Twp. Pioneer Cemetery has also been known as:
      • Lillihaug Cemetery
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Chery Twp. Pioneer Cemetery
      • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2408942 <4>
    • Crow Creek Cemetery
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Crow Creek Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Crow Creek Cemetery
    • McCord Cemetery
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)

Nearby Communities in 1895 ...

We've built the following list with information that came from an Atlas published by Rand McNally in 1895. The Atlas had details such as the population of the community (which appears to have come from the 1890 Census) and whether there was a post office and/or railroad service available. We also indicate if the community no longer exists and is now historic.<6>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Ames had a population of 12 people in 1895 with a post office and no railroad service.

These communities are listed based on their distance from Ames, with the one closest to Ames listed first.

  • Sweetland ‑ Historic
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sweetland have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sweetland
    • Sweetland is located in Hand County
  • Gann Valley
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
  • Ree Heights
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ree Heights have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ree Heights
    • Ree Heights is located in Hand County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 58 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Ree Heights <2>
  • Saint Lawrence
    (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Saint Lawrence have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saint Lawrence
    • Saint Lawrence is located in Hand County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 181 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Saint Lawrence <2>
  • Miller
    (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
  • Stephan
    (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
  • Bramhall ‑ Historic
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bramhall have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bramhall
    • Bramhall is located in Hyde County
  • Crow Creek
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Crow Creek have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crow Creek
    • Crow Creek is located in Buffalo County
  • Wessington
    (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Wessington have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wessington
    • Wessington is located in Beadle County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 179 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Wessington <2>
  • Highmore
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
  • Lower Brule
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lower Brule have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lower Brule
    • Lower Brule is located in Lyman County
    • Population from the 2010 Census: 24 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Lower Brule <2>
  • Lyonville
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lyonville have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lyonville
    • Lyonville is located in Brule County
    • Estimated population in 2014: 49 people
  • Continue List   (4 more) ...
    • Crow Lake
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Crow Lake have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crow Lake
      • Crow Lake is located in Jerauld County
    • Wessington Springs
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Florence ‑ Historic
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Florence have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Florence
      • Florence is located in Hand County
      • Estimated population in 2014: 374 people

We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Ames. See our List of 1890's Communities around Ames.

Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Ames. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.

The official website for State of South Dakota: sd.gov/

Footnotes ...

<1>The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required.
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<3>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Ames) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Ames. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 44.2690, Longitude: -99.0846    
<4>The Find-a-Grave website is an excellent research tool with information about a cemetery's location and interments. They also offer a forum for their members which can provide additional help. More information about Find-a-Grave can be found on their website: findagrave.com.
<5>An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace.
<6>We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Ames, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024