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A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
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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 Colton (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 Colton. 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 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.

Colton is located in Minnehaha 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 Minnehaha County: Lyon (IA), Rock (MN), Lake, Lincoln, McCook, Moody & Turner.

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

  • Minnehaha County     (The home county of Colton)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Colton, with the one closest to Colton listed first.
    • Huntimer
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Lyons
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Baltic
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
      • Baltic is located in Minnehaha County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Baltic
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,201 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Baltic <1>
    • Crooks
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Crooks is located in Minnehaha County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crooks
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,341 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Crooks <1>
    • Dell Rapids
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
    • Hartford
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
    • Midway
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Humboldt
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Ellis Corner
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
      • Ellis Corner is located in Minnehaha County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ellis Corner
      • Estimated population in 2014: 99 people
    • Renner Corner
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Renner Corner is located in Minnehaha County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Renner Corner
      • Population from the 2010 Census: 305 people
    • Renner
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Meadow View Addition
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Meadow View Addition is located in Minnehaha County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadow View Addition
      • Population from the 2010 Census: 538 people
  • Brookings County
    • Medary
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
      • Medary is located in Brookings County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Medary
      • Estimated population in 2014: 1,442 people
  • Lake County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Colton, with the one closest to Colton listed first.
    • Chester
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Brant Lake
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Franklin
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Franklin is located in Lake County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Franklin
      • Estimated population in 2014: 333 people
    • Peninsula Park
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
      • Peninsula Park is located in Lake County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Peninsula Park
      • Estimated population in 2014: 32 people
    • Wentworth
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
    • Madison
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Prairie Village
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
      • Prairie Village is located in Lake County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prairie Village
      • Estimated population in 2014: 18 people
    • Rutland
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
    • Junius
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Prairie Queen ‑ Historic
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
      • Prairie Queen is located in Lake County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prairie Queen
    • Nunda
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
    • Winfred
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
  • Lincoln County
  • McCook County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Colton, with the one closest to Colton listed first.
    • Montrose
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Canistota
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Salem
      (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
    • Salem
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
      • Salem is located in McCook County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Salem
    • Unityville
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
      • Unityville is located in McCook County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Unityville
      • Estimated population in 2014: 52 people
  • Miner County
    • Canova
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
  • Moody County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Colton, with the one closest to Colton listed first.
    • Colman
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
    • Trent
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Lone Tree
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Lone Tree is located in Moody County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lone Tree
      • Estimated population in 2014: 14 people
    • Sioux Falls Junction
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Sioux Falls Junction is located in Moody County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sioux Falls Junction
      • Estimated population in 2014: 119 people
    • Egan
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Dyce ‑ Historic
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
    • Flandreau
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
  • Turner County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Colton, with the one closest to Colton listed first.
    • Monroe
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Chancellor
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
    • Parker
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
    • Dolton
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Dolton is located in Turner County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dolton
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 39 people
    • Marion
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Pipestone County (MN)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Colton, with the one closest to Colton listed first.
    • Jasper
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
    • Jasper Sunrise Village
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
      • Jasper Sunrise Village is located in Pipestone County (MN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jasper Sunrise Village
    • Ihlen
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
      • Ihlen is located in Pipestone County (MN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ihlen
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 66 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Ihlen <1>
    • Airlie
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Airlie is located in Pipestone County (MN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Airlie
  • Rock County (MN)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Colton, with the one closest to Colton listed first.
    • Manley
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Beaver Creek
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)

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

Cemeteries Near Colton ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Colton.

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 Colton - one of the links might be able to help.

If not found below, our Cemetery List for Colton covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.

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

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.<4>

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

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

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Colton ...

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 90 newspapers that have been published in the area around Colton.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Colton. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Colton and those printed in the larger area surrounding Colton.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<2> of Colton.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we begin 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 Colton:

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>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- Colton) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>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.
<4>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 Colton, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.