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Our Genealogy Helper

Introduction ...

So far, we found very little information about Avance. The little that we've found leads us believe that the community is historic.<1>

We've added Avance to our Gazetteer with the hope that we can develop more information. If you can help us with Avance, please Contact Us.

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 Avance (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 Avance. 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.

Although our information shows that the community of Avance is historic, it would have been located within present day Meade 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 Meade County: Butte, Haakon, Lawrence, Pennington & Ziebach.

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

  • Meade County     (The home county of Avance)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Avance, with the one closest to Avance listed first.
    • Opal
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Faith
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Faith have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Faith
      • Faith is located in Meade County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 410 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Faith <2>
    • Marcus
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
    • Red Owl
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Red Owl
      • Red Owl is located in Meade County
    • Plainview
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Plainview have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plainview
      • Plainview is located in Meade County
      • Estimated population in 2014: 55 people
    • Cedar Canyon
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Cedar Canyon. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<4>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Canyon
      • Cedar Canyon is located in Meade County
    • White Owl
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
    • Howes
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Enning
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Enning have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Enning
      • Enning is located in Meade County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Enning <2>
    • Fairpoint
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Fairpoint have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fairpoint
      • Fairpoint is located in Meade County
    • Union Center
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Mud Butte
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
  • Perkins County
    • Usta
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Usta have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Usta
      • Usta is located in Perkins County
      • Estimated population in 2014: 22 people
  • Ziebach County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Avance, with the one closest to Avance listed first.
    • Red Scaffold
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Red Scaffold have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Red Scaffold
      • Red Scaffold is located in Ziebach County
      • Estimated population in 2014: 372 people
    • Red Elm ‑ Historic
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Red Elm. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<4>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Red Elm
      • Red Elm is located in Ziebach County
    • Iron Lightning
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Iron Lightning have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Iron Lightning
      • Iron Lightning is located in Ziebach County
      • Estimated population in 2014: 412 people
    • Bridger
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bridger
      • Bridger is located in Ziebach County

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

Cemeteries Near Avance ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Avance.

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 Avance covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.

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

  • Backes Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Backes Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Backes Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • St. Joseph Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Joseph Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Joseph Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Faith Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Faith Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Faith Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Eaglestaff Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Eaglestaff Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Eaglestaff Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Pleasant Valley Cemetery
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Pleasant Valley Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Pleasant Valley Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • St. Pius Cemetery
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Pius Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Pius Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • White Owl Cemetery
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the White Owl Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the White Owl Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • St. Marks Cemetery
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Marks Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Marks Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Red Elm Cemetery
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Red Elm Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Red Elm Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Fairpoint Cemetery
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Fairpoint Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Fairpoint Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Iron Lightning Cemetery
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Iron Lightning Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Iron Lightning Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.

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

Newspapers Published in Avance ...

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 10 newspapers that have been published in the area around Avance.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Avance, there are papers which were published within 21 miles [33.8 km]<5>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Avance.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we first visit 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 Avance:

The official website for Meade County: www.meadecounty.org/

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

Footnotes ...

<1>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 Avance, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<3>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.
<4>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.
<5>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 drawn from Point A (ie- Avance) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Avance. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 44.9003, Longitude: -102.2779       In this case, the coordinates for Avance have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).




 

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In closing, please keep in mind that we can not guarantee the accuracy or timeliness of the information on this website, so use with care. We encourage you to double-check the information that is critical to you.

If you've found an error or have additional information that you would like to share, please don't hesitate to write: Click here to contact us.

This page was last modified/updated: 29 Apr 2025