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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 Bear Butte (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 Bear Butte. 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 southeast corner of their home county. During their lives, most hospitals and doctors were in the next county to the east. 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 east 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.

Bear Butte is located in 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 Bear Butte. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Bear Butte:

  • Meade County     (The home county of Bear Butte)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Bear Butte, with the one closest to Bear Butte listed first.
    • Sturgis
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Tilford
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Tilford. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tilford
      • Tilford is located in Meade County
    • Piedmont
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
    • Summerset
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
    • Blackhawk
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
    • Viewfield
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Viewfield. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Viewfield
      • Viewfield is located in Meade County
      • Estimated population in 2014: 44 people
  • Butte County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Bear Butte, with the one closest to Bear Butte listed first.
    • Vale
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Newell
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Newell have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Newell
      • Newell is located in Butte County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 603 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Newell <1>
    • Nisland
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Nisland have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nisland
      • Nisland is located in Butte County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 227 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Nisland <1>
    • Fruitdale
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Fruitdale have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fruitdale
      • Fruitdale is located in Butte County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 68 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Fruitdale <1>
    • Belle Fourche
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Belle Fourche have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Belle Fourche
      • Belle Fourche is located in Butte County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 5,742 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Belle Fourche <1>
  • Lawrence County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Bear Butte, with the one closest to Bear Butte listed first.
    • Centennial City ‑ Historic
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Centennial City have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Centennial City
      • Centennial City is located in Lawrence County
    • Crook City
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crook City
      • Crook City is located in Lawrence County
    • Whitewood
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
    • Galena
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Galena
      • Galena is located in Lawrence County
    • Greenwood
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenwood
      • Greenwood is located in Lawrence County
      • Greenwood has also been known as:
      • Laflin
    • Nemo
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Tomahawk
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Tomahawk have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tomahawk
      • Tomahawk is located in Lawrence County
      • Estimated population in 2014: 36 people
    • Deadwood
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
    • Saint Onge
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
    • Roubaix
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roubaix
      • Roubaix is located in Lawrence County
      • Estimated population in 2013: 14 people
    • Central City
      (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Central City
      • Central City is located in Lawrence County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 155 people
    • Lancaster City ‑ Historic
      (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lancaster City have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lancaster City
      • Lancaster City is located in Lawrence County
      • Estimated population in 2014: 419 people
    • Flatiron ‑ Historic
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Flatiron have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flatiron
      • Flatiron is located in Lawrence County
      • Estimated population in 2014: 15 people
  • Pennington County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Bear Butte, with the one closest to Bear Butte listed first.
    • Ashland Heights
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ashland Heights have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ashland Heights
      • Ashland Heights is located in Pennington County
    • Sioux Village
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sioux Village have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sioux Village
      • Sioux Village is located in Pennington County
      • Estimated population in 2014: 262 people
    • South Canyon Country Estates
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for South Canyon Country Estates have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Canyon Country Estates
      • South Canyon Country Estates is located in Pennington County
      • Population from the 2010 Census: 364 people
    • Johnson Siding
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Johnson Siding
      • Johnson Siding is located in Pennington County
      • Population from the 2010 Census: 659 people
    • Rapid City
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
    • Ridgeland Heights
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ridgeland Heights have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ridgeland Heights
      • Ridgeland Heights is located in Pennington County
      • Estimated population in 2014: 11 people
    • Box Elder
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Box Elder have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Box Elder
      • Box Elder is located in Pennington County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 10,564 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Box Elder <1>
    • Pactola ‑ Historic
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Pactola. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pactola
      • Pactola is located in Pennington County
    • Rapid Valley
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rapid Valley
      • Rapid Valley is located in Pennington County
      • Population from the 2010 Census: 8,260 people
    • Silver City
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Silver City have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Silver City
      • Silver City is located in Pennington County
      • Estimated population in 2014: 60 people
    • Wildwood Addition
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Wildwood Addition have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wildwood Addition
      • Wildwood Addition is located in Pennington County
      • Estimated population in 2014: 55 people
    • Canyon City ‑ Historic
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Canyon City have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Canyon City
      • Canyon City is located in Pennington County
    • Fairview ‑ Historic
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Fairview have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fairview
      • Fairview is located in Pennington County
      • Estimated population in 2014: 65 people

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

Cemeteries Near Bear Butte ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Bear Butte.

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

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

  • Ft. Meade National Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Ft. Meade National Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Ft. Meade National Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Bear Butte Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
  • Vale Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Vale Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Vale Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Black Hills National Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Beals Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Beals Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Beals Cemetery is located less than 2 miles<5> to the east of Vale.
    • The Beals Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Old Vale Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #1305736 <4>
  • Wilson Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
  • Crook City Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Crook City Cemetery
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for the Crook City Cemetery. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Crook City Cemetery is located outside and to the east of Crook City.
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2276694 <4>
  • Piedmont Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
  • Hope Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
  • Elk Vale Cemetery
    (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Elk Vale Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Elk Vale Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Little Dane Cemetery
    (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
  • Anderson Cemetery
    (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
  • Continue List   (26 more) ...
    • Oak Ridge Cemetery
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
    • Galena Cemetery
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Danish Cemetery
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Danish Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Danish Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.

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>

While we didn't find Bear Butte in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Bear Butte.

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

  • Empire
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Empire have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Empire
    • Empire is located in Butte County
  • Sturgis
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
  • Vale
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Tilford
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Tilford. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tilford
    • Tilford is located in Meade County
  • Whitewood
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
  • Crook City
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crook City
    • Crook City is located in Lawrence County
  • Piedmont
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
  • Galena
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Galena
    • Galena is located in Lawrence County
  • Deadwood
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
  • Nemo
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
  • Saint Onge
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
  • Pluma
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Pluma have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pluma
    • Pluma is located in Lawrence County
  • Continue List   (13 more) ...
    • Blackhawk
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
    • Bend
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bend have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bend
      • Bend is located in Meade County
    • Snoma ‑ Historic
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Snoma have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Snoma
      • Snoma is located in Butte County

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

Newspapers Published in Bear Butte ...

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 51 newspapers that have been published in the area around Bear Butte.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Bear Butte, there are papers which were published within 29 miles [46.7 km]<5>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Bear Butte.

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 Bear Butte:

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

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

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

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>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.
<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>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>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- Bear Butte) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Bear Butte. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 44.4744, Longitude: -103.3074       In this case, the coordinates for Bear Butte have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<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 Bear Butte, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 29 Apr 2025