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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 Danforth (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 Danforth. 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.

Danforth is located in Hand 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 Hand County: Beadle, Buffalo, Faulk, Hyde, Jerauld & Spink.

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

  • Hand County     (The home county of Danforth)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Danforth, with the one closest to Danforth listed first.
    • Ames
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
      • Ames is located in Hand County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ames
    • Saint Lawrence
      (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
    • Miller
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
    • Ree Heights
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
    • Florence ‑ Historic
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
      • Florence is located in Hand County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Florence
      • Estimated population in 2014: 374 people
  • Beadle County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Danforth, with the one closest to Danforth listed first.
    • Wessington
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Virgil
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
    • Wolsey
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Bonilla
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Bonilla is located in Beadle County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bonilla
  • Brule County
    • Lyonville
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
      • Lyonville is located in Brule County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lyonville
      • Estimated population in 2014: 49 people
  • Buffalo County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Danforth, with the one closest to Danforth listed first.
    • Gann Valley
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
    • Shelby
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Shelby is located in Buffalo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shelby
      • Estimated population in 2014: 96 people
    • Crow Creek
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Crow Creek is located in Buffalo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crow Creek
    • Fort Thompson
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Hyde County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Danforth, with the one closest to Danforth listed first.
    • Bramhall ‑ Historic
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Bramhall is located in Hyde County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bramhall
    • Stephan
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
  • Jerauld County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Danforth, with the one closest to Danforth listed first.
    • Wessington Springs
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Crow Lake
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
      • Crow Lake is located in Jerauld County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crow Lake
    • Alpena
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
    • Lane
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)

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

Cemeteries Near Danforth ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Danforth.

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

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

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

  • Ebenezer Baptist Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
  • New Zion Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
  • Rosehill Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
  • St. Placidus Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for St. Placidus Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the St. Placidus Cemetery is located 20 miles [32.2 km]<2> to the northeast of Fort Thompson.
    • The St. Placidus Cemetery has also been known as:
    • St. Placidus Catholic Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2168066 <3>
  • McNair Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
  • Chery Twp. Pioneer Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Hope Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
  • Earlville Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
  • McCord Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
  • Spring Hill Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
  • Wessington Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wessington Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Wessington Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located outside of Wessington
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #97801 <3>
  • Cedar Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
  • Continue List   (25 more) ...
    • G A R Cemetery
      (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
    • Salem Cemetery
      (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
    • St. Anns Cemetery
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for St. Anns Cemetery
      • To give a relative sense of its location, the St. Anns Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located outside and to the east of Miller.
      • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #97512 <3>

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

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

  • Sweetland ‑ Historic
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Sweetland is located in Hand County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sweetland
  • Ames
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Ames is located in Hand County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ames
  • Gann Valley
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
  • Wessington
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Saint Lawrence
    (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
  • Miller
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
  • Wessington Springs
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
  • Crow Lake
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
    • Crow Lake is located in Jerauld County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crow Lake
  • Virgil
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
  • Wolsey
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
  • Ree Heights
    (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
  • Alpena
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
  • Continue List   (5 more) ...
    • Crow Creek
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Crow Creek is located in Buffalo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crow Creek
    • Lyonville
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
      • Lyonville is located in Brule County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lyonville
      • Estimated population in 2014: 49 people
    • Bramhall ‑ Historic
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Bramhall is located in Hyde County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bramhall

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

Newspapers Published in Danforth ...

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 23 newspapers that have been published in the area around Danforth.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Danforth, there are papers which were published within 23 miles [37 km]<2>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Danforth.

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 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 Danforth:

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 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Danforth) 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 Danforth, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.