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 Fairburn (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 Fairburn. 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.
Fairburn 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 Fairburn. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Fairburn:
- Custer County (The home county of Fairburn)
- The following are listed by their distance from Fairburn, with the one closest to Fairburn listed first.
- Hermosa
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
- State Game Lodge
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
- State Game Lodge is located in Custer County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for State Game Lodge
- Estimated population in 2014: 29 people
- Spokane ‑ Historic
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
- Spokane is located in Custer County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spokane
- Estimated population in 2014: 3,237 people
- Buffalo Gap
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
- Pringle
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
- Sanator
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
- Sanator is located in Custer County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sanator
- Estimated population in 2014: 1,350 people
- Custer
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
- Berne
(23 miles [37 km] to the west)
- Berne is located in Custer County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Berne
- Fourmile
(23 miles [37 km] to the west)
- Fourmile is located in Custer County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fourmile
- Estimated population in 2014: 70 people
- Ivanhoe ‑ Historic
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
- Ivanhoe is located in Custer County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ivanhoe
- Estimated population in 2014: 144 people
- Fall River County
- The following are listed by their distance from Fairburn, with the one closest to Fairburn listed first.
- Oral
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
- Hot Springs
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
- Erskine
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
- Erskine is located in Fall River County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Erskine
- Smithwick
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
- Cascade Springs
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
- Cascade Springs is located in Fall River County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cascade Springs
- Pennington County
- The following are listed by their distance from Fairburn, with the one closest to Fairburn listed first.
- Hayward ‑ Historic
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
- Hayward is located in Pennington County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hayward
- Frenchtown ‑ Historic
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
- Frenchtown is located in Pennington County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Frenchtown
- Estimated population in 2014: 276 people
- Harney
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
- Harney is located in Pennington County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harney
- Estimated population in 2014: 64 people
- Keystone
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
- Rockerville
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
- Stratosphere Bowl
(21 miles [33.8 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
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
- Colonial Pine Hills is located in Pennington County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Colonial Pine Hills
- Sheridan ‑ Historic
(23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
- Sheridan is located in Pennington County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sheridan
- Estimated population in 2014: 447 people
- Green Valley
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
- Green Valley is located in Pennington County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Valley
- Estimated population in 2014: 51 people
- Wildwood Addition
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
- Wildwood Addition is located in Pennington County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wildwood Addition
- Estimated population in 2014: 55 people
- Caputa
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
- Farmingdale
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
- Farmingdale is located in Pennington County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Farmingdale
- Estimated population in 2014: 10 people
- Hill City
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Fairburn, see our County-by-County Page for Fairburn.
Cemeteries Near Fairburn ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Fairburn.
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 Fairburn - one of the links might be able to help.
If not found below, our Cemetery List for Fairburn covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Fairburn, with the one closest to Fairburn listed first.
- Fairburn Cemetery
(Less than 2 miles to the east)
- Buffalo Gap Cemetery
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
- Mountain View Cemetery
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
- 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>
- Hines Cemetery
(18 miles [29 km] to the south)
- Pringle Cemetery
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
- Rockerville Cemetery
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
- Evergreen Cemetery
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
- Hot Springs National Cemetery
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
- Custer Cemetery
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
- Fairview Cemetery
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
- Pine Lawn Memorial Park
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
- Larsen Cemetery
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
- Continue List (4 more) ...
- Mountain View Cemetery
(26 miles [41.8 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 very large cemetery that is located outside and to the southwest of Rapid City.
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #97276 <2>
- Mt. Calvary Cemetery
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
- Smithwick Cemetery
(27 miles [43.5 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>
The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Fairburn had a population of 75 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Fairburn had a population of 99 people.
These communities are listed based on their distance from Fairburn, with the one closest to Fairburn listed first.
- Hermosa
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
- Spokane ‑ Historic
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
- Spokane is located in Custer County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spokane
- Estimated population in 2014: 3,237 people
- Buffalo Gap
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
- Hayward ‑ Historic
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
- Hayward is located in Pennington County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hayward
- Pringle
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
- Folsom
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
- Folsom is located in Custer County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Folsom
- Rockerville
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
- Custer
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
- Hot Springs
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
- Sheridan ‑ Historic
(23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
- Sheridan is located in Pennington County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sheridan
- Estimated population in 2014: 447 people
- Berne
(23 miles [37 km] to the west)
- Berne is located in Custer County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Berne
- Argyle
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
- Argyle is located in Custer County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Argyle
- Continue List (10 more) ...
- Erskine
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
- Erskine is located in Fall River County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Erskine
- Farmingdale
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
- Farmingdale is located in Pennington County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Farmingdale
- Estimated population in 2014: 10 people
- Hill City
(24 miles [38.6 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 Fairburn. See our List of 1890's Communities around Fairburn.
Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Fairburn ...
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 38 newspapers that have been published in the area around Fairburn.
We have organized these newspapers into two lists:
- A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Fairburn. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Fairburn and those printed in the larger area surrounding Fairburn.
- An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<4> of Fairburn.
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 Fairburn:
- Websites specific to South Dakota
- Pages specific to Custer County
- Genealogy information for nearby counties
- Fall River 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 Fairburn, 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- Fairburn) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |