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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 Draper (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 Draper. 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 and hospitals 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.

Draper is located in Jones 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 Jones County: Haakon, Jackson, Lyman, Mellette & Stanley.

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

  • Jones County     (The home county of Draper)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Draper, with the one closest to Draper listed first.
    • Murdo
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Murdo have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Murdo
      • Murdo is located in Jones County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 459 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Murdo <2>
    • Westover ‑ Historic
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Westover
      • Westover is located in Jones County
      • Estimated population in 2014: 6 people
    • Okaton
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
    • Capa ‑ Historic
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Capa
      • Capa is located in Jones County
  • Lyman County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Draper, with the one closest to Draper listed first.
    • Vivian
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Vivian have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vivian
      • Vivian is located in Lyman County
      • Estimated population in 2014: 149 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Vivian <2>
    • Presho
      (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Presho have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Presho
      • Presho is located in Lyman County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 489 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Presho <2>
  • Mellette County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Draper, with the one closest to Draper listed first.
    • White River
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for White River have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for White River
      • White River is located in Mellette County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 586 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for White River <2>
    • Wood
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Wood have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wood
      • Wood is located in Mellette County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 63 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Wood <2>
  • Stanley County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Draper, with the one closest to Draper listed first.
    • Teton
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Teton have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Teton
      • Teton is located in Stanley County
      • Estimated population in 2014: 59 people
    • Fort Pierre
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
    • Verendrye Hill
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Verendrye Hill
      • Verendrye Hill is located in Stanley County
      • Estimated population in 2014: 5 people

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Draper ...

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 24 newspapers that have been published in the area around Draper.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Draper. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Draper and those printed in the larger area surrounding Draper.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<3> of Draper.

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 Draper:

Cemeteries Near Draper ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Draper.

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

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

  • Draper Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Draper Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Draper Cemetery
  • Murdo Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
  • Vivian Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Vivian Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Vivian Cemetery
  • St. Phillip Cemetery
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Phillip Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Phillip Cemetery
  • Barnette Cemetery
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Barnette Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Barnette Cemetery
  • St. Georges Cemetery
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
  • Hilmoe Cemetery
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
  • St. Catherine Cemetery
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
  • Medicine Creek Cemetery
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
  • Holy Angels Cemetery
    (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
  • Presho Cemetery
    (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
  • Riverview Cemetery
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Riverview Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Riverview Cemetery
  • Continue List   (8 more) ...
    • St. Ignatius Cemetery
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Ignatius Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Ignatius Cemetery
    • St. James Cemetery
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. James Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. James Cemetery
    • St. Marys Garden Cemetery
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Marys Garden Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Marys Garden Cemetery

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.<5>

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

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

  • Westover ‑ Historic
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Westover
    • Westover is located in Jones County
    • Estimated population in 2014: 6 people
  • Presho
    (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Presho have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Presho
    • Presho is located in Lyman County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 489 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Presho <2>

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

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

The official website for State of South Dakota: 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>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- Draper) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Draper. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 43.9258, Longitude: -100.5382       In this case, the coordinates for Draper have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<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>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 Draper, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024