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 Armour (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 Armour. 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.
Armour is located in Douglas County and is the County Seat.
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 Douglas County: Aurora, Charles Mix, Davison & Hutchinson.
Below are the counties that are near Armour. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Armour:
- Douglas County (The home county of Armour)
- The following are listed by their distance from Armour, with the one closest to Armour listed first.
- Douglas City ‑ Historic
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
- Douglas City is located in Douglas County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Douglas City
- Corsica
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
- Delmont
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
- Harrison
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
- Hillside
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
- Hillside is located in Douglas County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hillside
- Estimated population in 2014: 31 people
- New Holland
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
- Joubert
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
- Joubert is located in Douglas County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Joubert
- Estimated population in 2014: 126 people
- Aurora County
- The following are listed by their distance from Armour, with the one closest to Armour listed first.
- Aurora Center
(18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
- Aurora Center is located in Aurora County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Aurora Center
- Stickney
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
- Plankinton
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
- Bon Homme County
- Avon
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
- Charles Mix County
- The following are listed by their distance from Armour, with the one closest to Armour listed first.
- Ravinia
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
- Lake Andes
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
- Wagner
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
- Geddes
(18 miles [29 km] to the west)
- Pickstown
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
- Dante
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
- Marty
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
- Platte
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
- Greenwood
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
- Greenwood is located in Charles Mix County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenwood
- Estimated population in 2014: 7 people
- Davison County
- The following are listed by their distance from Armour, with the one closest to Armour listed first.
- Ethan
(23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
- Mount Vernon
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
- Gregory County
- The following are listed by their distance from Armour, with the one closest to Armour listed first.
- Fort Randall
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
- Fort Randall is located in Gregory County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fort Randall
- Estimated population in 2014: 2,135 people
- East Gregory
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
- East Gregory is located in Gregory County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Gregory
- Population from the 2020 Census: 182 people
- Hutchinson County
- The following are listed by their distance from Armour, with the one closest to Armour listed first.
- Parkston
(18 miles [29 km] to the east)
- Tripp
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
- Dimock
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
- Kaylor
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
- Milltown
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
- Milltown is located in Hutchinson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Milltown
- Estimated population in 2014: 115 people
- New Elm Springs Colony
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
- New Elm Springs Colony is located in Hutchinson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Elm Springs Colony
- Estimated population in 2014: 600 people
- Boyd County (NE)
- Gross
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
- Gross is located in Boyd County (NE)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gross
- Population from the 2020 Census: 2 people
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Armour, see our County-by-County Page for Armour.
Cemeteries Near Armour ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Armour.
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 Armour - one of the links might be able to help.
If not found below, our Cemetery List for Armour covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Armour, with the one closest to Armour listed first.
- Pleasant Ridge Cemetery
(Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
- Grandview Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the north)
- German Reform Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
- St. Peters Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
- Old Ebenezer Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
- Graceland Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
- Old Missouri Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
- Immanuel Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
- Roberts Chapel Cemetery
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
- St. Paul Cemetery
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
- East Lake Andes Lutheran Cemetery
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
- Hope Cemetery
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
- Continue List (98 more) ...
- Zion Cemetery
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
- Neusatz Cemetery
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
- Delmont Cemetery
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
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.<2>
The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Armour had a population of 482 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Armour had a population of 666 people.
These communities are listed based on their distance from Armour, with the one closest to Armour listed first.
- Grandview ‑ Historic
(5 miles [8 km] to the north)
- Grandview is located in Douglas County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grandview
- Delmont
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
- Harrison
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
- New Holland
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
- Joubert
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
- Joubert is located in Douglas County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Joubert
- Estimated population in 2014: 126 people
- Parkston
(18 miles [29 km] to the east)
- Tripp
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
- Ethan
(23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
- Avon
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
- Platte
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
- Wheeler ‑ Historic
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
- Wheeler is located in Charles Mix County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wheeler
- Greenwood
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
- Greenwood is located in Charles Mix County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenwood
- Estimated population in 2014: 7 people
- Continue List (4 more) ...
- Mount Vernon
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
- Plankinton
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
- Milltown
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
- Milltown is located in Hutchinson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Milltown
- Estimated population in 2014: 115 people
We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Armour. See our List of 1890's Communities around Armour.
Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Armour ...
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 44 newspapers that have been published in the area around Armour.
We have organized these newspapers into two lists:
- A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Armour. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Armour and those printed in the larger area surrounding Armour.
- An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 28 miles [45.1 km]<3> of Armour.
Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...
When we do our genealogical research, we like to start with the websites from Cyndi's List, FamilySearch and Genealogy Trails. These professional and volunteer 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 Armour:
- Websites specific to South Dakota
- Pages specific to Douglas County
- Genealogy information for nearby counties
- Aurora County
- Bon Homme County
- Charles Mix County
- Davison County
- Gregory County
- Hutchinson County
- Boyd County
- Cemetery Information and Directories for South Dakota
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> | 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 Armour, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <3> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Armour) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |