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 Blue Bell (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 Blue Bell. 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 northwest corner of their home county. During their lives, most doctors and hospitals were in the next county to the west. 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 west 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.
Blue Bell is located in Custer 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 Custer County: Fall River, Oglala Lakota, Pennington, Niobrara (WY) & Weston (WY).
Below are the counties that are near Blue Bell. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Blue Bell:
- Custer County (The home county of Blue Bell)
- The following are listed by their distance from Blue Bell, with the one closest to Blue Bell listed first.
- State Game Lodge
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
- State Game Lodge is located in Custer County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for State Game Lodge
- Estimated population in 2014: 29 people
- Custer
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
- Sanator
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
- Sanator is located in Custer County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sanator
- Estimated population in 2014: 1,350 people
- Pringle
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
- Fourmile
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
- Fourmile is located in Custer County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fourmile
- Estimated population in 2014: 70 people
- Spokane ‑ Historic
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
- Spokane is located in Custer County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spokane
- Estimated population in 2014: 3,237 people
- Berne
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
- Berne is located in Custer County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Berne
- Fairburn
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
- Hermosa
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
- Buffalo Gap
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
- Ivanhoe ‑ Historic
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
- Ivanhoe is located in Custer County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ivanhoe
- Estimated population in 2014: 144 people
- Dewey
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
- Dewey is located in Custer County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dewey
- Fall River County
- The following are listed by their distance from Blue Bell, with the one closest to Blue Bell listed first.
- Hot Springs
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
- Erskine
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
- Erskine is located in Fall River County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Erskine
- Oral
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
- Cascade Springs
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
- Cascade Springs is located in Fall River County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cascade Springs
- Rocky Ford
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
- Rocky Ford is located in Fall River County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rocky Ford
- Estimated population in 2014: 6 people
- Lawrence County
- Merritt
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
- Merritt is located in Lawrence County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Merritt
- Estimated population in 2014: 175 people
- Pennington County
- The following are listed by their distance from Blue Bell, with the one closest to Blue Bell listed first.
- Frenchtown ‑ Historic
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
- Frenchtown is located in Pennington County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Frenchtown
- Estimated population in 2014: 276 people
- Keystone
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
- Harney
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
- Harney is located in Pennington County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harney
- Estimated population in 2014: 64 people
- Hayward ‑ Historic
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
- Hayward is located in Pennington County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hayward
- Hill City
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
- Rockerville
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
- Sheridan ‑ Historic
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
- Sheridan is located in Pennington County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sheridan
- Estimated population in 2014: 447 people
- Stratosphere Bowl
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
- Stratosphere Bowl is located in Pennington County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stratosphere Bowl
- Estimated population in 2014: 72 people
- Colonial Pine Hills
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
- Colonial Pine Hills is located in Pennington County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Colonial Pine Hills
- Redfern
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
- Redfern is located in Pennington County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Redfern
- Pactola ‑ Historic
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
- Pactola is located in Pennington County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pactola
- Wildwood Addition
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
- Wildwood Addition is located in Pennington County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wildwood Addition
- Estimated population in 2014: 55 people
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Blue Bell, see our County-by-County Page for Blue Bell.
Cemeteries Near Blue Bell ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Blue Bell.
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 Blue Bell - one of the links might be able to help.
If not found below, our Cemetery List for Blue Bell covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Blue Bell, with the one closest to Blue Bell listed first.
- Custer Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
- Pringle Cemetery
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
- Mountain View Cemetery
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mountain View Cemetery
- To give a relative sense of its location, the Mountain View Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located outside and to the south of Keystone.
- The Mountain View Cemetery has also been known as:
- Keystone Cemetery
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #97167 <2>
- Fairburn Cemetery
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
- Evergreen Cemetery
(18 miles [29 km] to the south)
- Buffalo Gap Cemetery
(18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
- Rockerville Cemetery
(18 miles [29 km] to the north)
- Hot Springs National Cemetery
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
- Hines Cemetery
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
- Fairview Cemetery
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
- Pine Lawn Memorial Park
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
- Mountain View Cemetery
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mountain View Cemetery
- To give a relative sense of its location, the Mountain View Cemetery is a very large cemetery that is located outside and to the southwest of Rapid City.
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #97276 <2>
- Continue List (4 more) ...
- Mt. Calvary Cemetery
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
- Highland Cemetery
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
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.<3>
While we didn't find Blue Bell in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Blue Bell.
These communities are listed based on their distance from Blue Bell, with the one closest to Blue Bell listed first.
- Custer
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
- Pringle
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
- Spokane ‑ Historic
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
- Spokane is located in Custer County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spokane
- Estimated population in 2014: 3,237 people
- Berne
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
- Berne is located in Custer County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Berne
- Oreville
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
- Oreville is located in Pennington County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oreville
- Fairburn
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
- Hayward ‑ Historic
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
- Hayward is located in Pennington County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hayward
- Argyle
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
- Argyle is located in Custer County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Argyle
- Hill City
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
- Hermosa
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
- Buffalo Gap
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
- Rockerville
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
- Continue List (11 more) ...
- Sheridan ‑ Historic
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
- Sheridan is located in Pennington County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sheridan
- Estimated population in 2014: 447 people
- Ivanhoe ‑ Historic
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
- Ivanhoe is located in Custer County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ivanhoe
- Estimated population in 2014: 144 people
- Hot Springs
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Blue Bell. See our List of 1890's Communities around Blue Bell.
Newspapers Published in Blue Bell ...
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 36 newspapers that have been published in the area around Blue Bell.
Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Blue Bell, there are papers which were published within 28 miles [45.1 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Blue Bell.
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 Blue Bell:
- Websites specific to South Dakota
- Pages specific to Custer County
- Genealogy information for nearby counties
- Fall River County
- Lawrence County
- Pennington 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> | 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. |
| <3> | 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 Blue Bell, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <4> | 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- Blue Bell) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |