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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 Jasper (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 Jasper. 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 southwest 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 south.

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 south 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.

Jasper is primarily located in Pipestone County. A portion of Jasper extends into Rock County.

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

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Pipestone County: Lincoln, Lyon, Murray, Rock, Brookings (SD), Minnehaha (SD) & Moody (SD).

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

  • Pipestone County     (The home county of Jasper)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Jasper, with the one closest to Jasper listed first.
    • Jasper Sunrise Village
      (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Ihlen
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Trosky
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Pipestone
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Airlie
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
      • Airlie is located in Pipestone County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Airlie
    • Hatfield
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Edgerton
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
    • Woodstock
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
    • Holland
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
      • Holland is located in Pipestone County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holland
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 172 people
    • Ruthton
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
  • Lincoln County
  • Murray County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Jasper, with the one closest to Jasper listed first.
    • Chandler
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
      • Chandler is located in Murray County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chandler
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 246 people
    • Lake Wilson
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
      • Lake Wilson is located in Murray County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Wilson
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 224 people
    • Hadley
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
    • Iona
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
    • Lowville
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Lowville is located in Murray County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lowville
  • Nobles County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Jasper, with the one closest to Jasper listed first.
    • Leota
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
      • Leota is located in Nobles County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leota
    • Lismore
      (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
      • Lismore is located in Nobles County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lismore
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 218 people
    • Adrian
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Wilmont
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
    • Ellsworth
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Rock County
  • Lyon County (IA)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Jasper, with the one closest to Jasper listed first.
    • Larchwood
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
    • Lester
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
      • Lester is located in Lyon County (IA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lester
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 303 people
  • Brookings County (SD)
  • Lake County (SD)
  • Lincoln County (SD)
  • Minnehaha County (SD)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Jasper, with the one closest to Jasper listed first.
    • Sherman
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Garretson
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Garretson is located in Minnehaha County (SD)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Garretson
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,147 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Garretson <1>
    • Dell Rapids
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
    • Valley Springs
      (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
    • Midway
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
    • Baltic
      (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
      • Baltic is located in Minnehaha County (SD)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Baltic
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,201 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Baltic <1>
    • Brandon
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Brandon is located in Minnehaha County (SD)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brandon
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 10,168 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Brandon <1>
    • Renner Corner
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Renner Corner is located in Minnehaha County (SD)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Renner Corner
      • Population from the 2010 Census: 305 people
    • Renner
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Meadow View Addition
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Meadow View Addition is located in Minnehaha County (SD)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadow View Addition
      • Population from the 2010 Census: 538 people
    • Pine Lakes Addition
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
      • Pine Lakes Addition is located in Minnehaha County (SD)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine Lakes Addition
      • Population from the 2010 Census: 314 people
    • Crooks
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
      • Crooks is located in Minnehaha County (SD)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crooks
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,341 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Crooks <1>
  • Moody County (SD)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Jasper, with the one closest to Jasper listed first.
    • Trent
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
      • Trent is located in Moody County (SD)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Trent
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 226 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Trent <1>
    • Egan
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Egan is located in Moody County (SD)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Egan
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 270 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Egan <1>
    • Flandreau
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Sioux Falls Junction
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Sioux Falls Junction is located in Moody County (SD)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sioux Falls Junction
      • Estimated population in 2014: 119 people
    • Lone Tree
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
      • Lone Tree is located in Moody County (SD)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lone Tree
      • Estimated population in 2014: 14 people
    • Ward
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
      • Ward is located in Moody County (SD)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ward
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 51 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Ward <1>
    • Colman
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Dyce ‑ Historic
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)

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

Cemeteries Near Jasper ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Jasper.

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.

Although we don't have the information ourselves, if you need information about a burial or interment, photos, transcripts, how to contact the cemetery or local authorities, please visit our list of websites on our Genealogy Helper Page for Jasper - one of the links might be able to help.

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

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

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.<3>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Jasper had a population of 372 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Jasper had a population of 603 people.

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

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Jasper ...

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 89 newspapers that have been published in the area around Jasper.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Jasper. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Jasper and those printed in the larger area surrounding Jasper.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<4> of Jasper.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we start with the websites from Cyndi's List, FamilySearch and Genealogy Trails. These 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 Jasper:

Footnotes ...

<1>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<2>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.
<3>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 Jasper, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>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 drawn from Point A (ie- Jasper) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.