RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of South Dakota >> Lawrence County >> Benchmark >> Genealogy HelperIndex...










Learn About
The Commemorative
Quarter for
South Dakota

The Commemorative Quarter for South Dakota





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 Benchmark (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 Benchmark. 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 northeast corner of their home county. During their lives, most doctors were in the next county to the east. Almost all of the nearby churches and cemeteries were in the county to the north.

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 north 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.

Benchmark is located in Lawrence 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 Lawrence County: Butte, Meade, Pennington, Crook (WY) & Weston (WY).

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

  • Lawrence County     (The home county of Benchmark)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Benchmark, with the one closest to Benchmark listed first.
    • Greenwood
      (Less than 2 miles to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenwood
      • Greenwood is located in Lawrence County
      • Greenwood has also been known as:
      • Laflin
    • Tomahawk
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Tomahawk have been provided by the GNIS.<1> 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
    • Nemo
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Roubaix
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roubaix
      • Roubaix is located in Lawrence County
      • Estimated population in 2013: 14 people
    • Merritt
      (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Merritt have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Merritt
      • Merritt is located in Lawrence County
      • Estimated population in 2014: 175 people
    • Diamond City ‑ Historic
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Diamond City have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Diamond City
      • Diamond City is located in Lawrence County
    • Galena
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Galena
      • Galena is located in Lawrence County
    • Woodville
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Woodville. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodville
      • Woodville is located in Lawrence County
    • Gregory ‑ Historic
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Gregory have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gregory
      • Gregory is located in Lawrence County
      • Estimated population in 2014: 1,264 people
    • Englewood
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Englewood have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Englewood
      • Englewood is located in Lawrence County
      • Estimated population in 2014: 25 people
    • Flatiron ‑ Historic
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Flatiron have been provided by the GNIS.<1> 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
    • Dumont
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dumont
      • Dumont is located in Lawrence County
      • Estimated population in 2014: 45 people
  • Butte County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Benchmark, with the one closest to Benchmark listed first.
    • Vale
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
    • Nisland
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Nisland have been provided by the GNIS.<1> 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 <2>
  • Custer County
    • Spokane ‑ Historic
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Spokane. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spokane
      • Spokane is located in Custer County
      • Estimated population in 2014: 3,237 people
  • Meade County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Benchmark, with the one closest to Benchmark listed first.
    • Tilford
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
      • 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.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tilford
      • Tilford is located in Meade County
    • Piedmont
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Summerset
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
    • Sturgis
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
    • Blackhawk
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
  • Pennington County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Benchmark, with the one closest to Benchmark listed first.
    • Canyon City ‑ Historic
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Canyon City have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Canyon City
      • Canyon City is located in Pennington County
    • Silver City
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Silver City have been provided by the GNIS.<1> 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
    • Fairview ‑ Historic
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Fairview have been provided by the GNIS.<1> 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
    • Rochford
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Mystic
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mystic
      • Mystic is located in Pennington County
    • Johnson Siding
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Johnson Siding
      • Johnson Siding is located in Pennington County
      • Population from the 2010 Census: 659 people
    • Pactola ‑ Historic
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
      • 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.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pactola
      • Pactola is located in Pennington County
    • Myersville
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Myersville have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Myersville
      • Myersville is located in Pennington County
      • Estimated population in 2014: 10 people
    • South Canyon Country Estates
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for South Canyon Country Estates have been provided by the GNIS.<1> 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
    • Ridgeland Heights
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ridgeland Heights have been provided by the GNIS.<1> 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
    • Sheridan ‑ Historic
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sheridan have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sheridan
      • Sheridan is located in Pennington County
      • Estimated population in 2014: 447 people
    • Colonial Pine Hills
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Colonial Pine Hills have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Colonial Pine Hills
      • Colonial Pine Hills is located in Pennington County
  • Crook County (WY)
    • Moskee ‑ Historic
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Moskee. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Moskee
      • Moskee is located in Crook County (WY)
  • Weston County (WY)

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

Cemeteries Near Benchmark ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Benchmark.

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

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

  • Mountain Meadow Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Mountain Meadow Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Mountain Meadow Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Galena Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
  • Piedmont Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
  • Rochford Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Rochford Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Rochford Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Black Hills National Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Englewood Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
  • Oak Ridge Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Mt. Moran Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Mt. Moriah Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Seth Bullock Grave
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Seth Bullock Grave
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Seth Bullock Grave have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • South Lead Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Ft. Meade National Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
    • 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.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (28 more) ...
    • Bear Butte Cemetery
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
    • St. Ambrose Cemetery
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
    • West Lead Cemetery
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the West Lead Cemetery
      • To give a relative sense of its location, the West Lead Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located outside and to the west of Lead.
      • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #1967595 <4>

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 Benchmark in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Benchmark.

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

  • Nemo
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
  • Merritt
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Merritt have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Merritt
    • Merritt is located in Lawrence County
    • Estimated population in 2014: 175 people
  • Brownsville ‑ Historic
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Brownsville have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brownsville
    • Brownsville is located in Lawrence County
  • Galena
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Galena
    • Galena is located in Lawrence County
  • Tilford
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • 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.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tilford
    • Tilford is located in Meade County
  • Nahant
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Nahant have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nahant
    • Nahant is located in Lawrence County
  • Gregory ‑ Historic
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Gregory have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gregory
    • Gregory is located in Lawrence County
    • Estimated population in 2014: 1,264 people
  • Rochford
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
  • Silver City
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Silver City have been provided by the GNIS.<1> 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
  • Piedmont
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
  • Woodville
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Woodville. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodville
    • Woodville is located in Lawrence County
  • Mystic
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mystic
    • Mystic is located in Pennington County
  • Continue List   (13 more) ...
    • Pactola ‑ Historic
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
      • 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.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pactola
      • Pactola is located in Pennington County
    • Englewood
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Englewood have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Englewood
      • Englewood is located in Lawrence County
      • Estimated population in 2014: 25 people
    • Deadwood
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)

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

Newspapers Published in Benchmark ...

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 Benchmark.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Benchmark, there are papers which were published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<5>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Benchmark.

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 websites either 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 Benchmark:

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

The official website for Lawrence County: www.lawrence.sd.us/

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

Footnotes ...

<1>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.
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<3>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.
<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 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Benchmark) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Benchmark. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 44.2253, Longitude: -103.5782       In this case, the coordinates for Benchmark 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 Benchmark, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

Copyright 2025
All Rights Reserved

Thank you for visiting our website.

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