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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 Alpena (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 Alpena. 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 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.

Alpena is located in Jerauld County.

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

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Jerauld County: Aurora, Beadle, Brule, Buffalo, Davison, Hand & Sanborn.

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

  • Jerauld County     (The home county of Alpena)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Alpena, with the one closest to Alpena listed first.
    • Lane
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Wessington Springs
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Crow Lake
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
      • Crow Lake is located in Jerauld County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crow Lake
  • Aurora County
    • Storla
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
      • Storla is located in Aurora County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Storla
      • Population from the 2010 Census: 6 people
  • Beadle County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Alpena, with the one closest to Alpena listed first.
    • Virgil
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Huron
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Huron is located in Beadle County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Huron
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 13,420 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Huron <1>
    • Morningside
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Morningside is located in Beadle County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Morningside
    • Wolsey
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
    • Cavour
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Broadland
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
      • Broadland is located in Beadle County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Broadland
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 32 people
    • Wessington
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Yale
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Huron Colony
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
      • Huron Colony is located in Beadle County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Huron Colony
      • Estimated population in 2014: 403 people
    • Bonilla
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
      • Bonilla is located in Beadle County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bonilla
    • Hitchcock
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
  • Davison County
  • Kingsbury County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Alpena, with the one closest to Alpena listed first.
    • Iroquois
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Esmond
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
      • Esmond is located in Kingsbury County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Esmond
      • Estimated population in 2014: 60 people
  • Sanborn County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Alpena, with the one closest to Alpena listed first.
    • Woonsocket
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Cuthbert
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Cuthbert is located in Sanborn County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cuthbert
    • Forestburg
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Forestburg is located in Sanborn County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Forestburg
      • Population from the 2010 Census: 73 people
    • Letcher
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Artesian
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)

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

Cemeteries Near Alpena ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Alpena.

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 Alpena - one of the links might be able to help.

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

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

  • Rest Haven Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
  • Zion Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
  • Fairview Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
  • Aquilla Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
  • Eventide Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
  • St. Wilfrid Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
  • Feistner Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Feistner Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Feistner Cemetery is located 4 miles [6.4 km]<2> to the southeast of Lane.
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #96999 <3>
  • Restlawn Memory Garden
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Prospect Hill Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Bethany - Silver Creek Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Earlville Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
  • Silver Creek Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
  • Continue List   (44 more) ...
    • Ideal Cemetery
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Riverside Cemetery
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Viola Valley Cemetery
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)

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.<4>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that in 1895, Alpena had a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Alpena had a population of 278 people.

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

  • Virgil
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
  • Woonsocket
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
  • Wessington Springs
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Huron
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Huron is located in Beadle County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Huron
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 13,420 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Huron <1>
  • James Valley Junction
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
  • Wolsey
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
  • Forestburg
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Forestburg is located in Sanborn County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Forestburg
    • Population from the 2010 Census: 73 people
  • Cavour
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
  • Sheffield
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Sheffield is located in Beadle County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sheffield
  • Broadland
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
    • Broadland is located in Beadle County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Broadland
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 32 people
  • Letcher
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
  • Crow Lake
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Crow Lake is located in Jerauld County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crow Lake
  • Continue List   (6 more) ...
    • Wessington
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Artesian
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Yale
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)

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

Newspapers Published in Alpena ...

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 56 newspapers that have been published in the area around Alpena.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Alpena, there are papers which were published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<2>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Alpena.

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 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 Alpena:

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>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Alpena) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>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.
<4>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 Alpena, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.