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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 Five Points (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 Five Points. 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.

Name Variations for Five Points ...

When searching records, keep in mind that names and their spelling can change over time. Our sources include documents like maps, railroad schedules, Travel, Express and Shipping Guides. Many of these documents date from the 1800's and it's common to find spelling differences.

Although we can't give a definitive list, hopefully the following will give you a feel for the variations that might have occurred.

For example, a typical abbreviation for Five Points: Five Pts.

If you have information about these names (such as the reason for the change, date of change, the origin of the name), please Contact Us.

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 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 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.

Five Points is located in Pennington 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 Pennington County: Custer, Haakon, Jackson, Lawrence, Meade, Oglala Lakota & Weston (WY).

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

  • Pennington County     (The home county of Five Points)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Five Points, with the one closest to Five Points listed first.
    • Hill City
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hill City have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hill City
      • Hill City is located in Pennington County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,074 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Hill City <2>
    • Sheridan ‑ Historic
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sheridan have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sheridan
      • Sheridan is located in Pennington County
      • Estimated population in 2014: 447 people
    • Silver City
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Silver City have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Silver City
      • Silver City is located in Pennington County
      • Estimated population in 2014: 60 people
    • Pactola ‑ Historic
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Pactola. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pactola
      • Pactola is located in Pennington County
    • Canyon City ‑ Historic
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Canyon City have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Canyon City
      • Canyon City is located in Pennington County
    • Mystic
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mystic
      • Mystic is located in Pennington County
    • Keystone
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Rockerville
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Johnson Siding
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Johnson Siding
      • Johnson Siding is located in Pennington County
      • Population from the 2010 Census: 659 people
    • Harney
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Harney have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harney
      • Harney is located in Pennington County
      • Estimated population in 2014: 64 people
    • Stratosphere Bowl
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Stratosphere Bowl have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stratosphere Bowl
      • Stratosphere Bowl is located in Pennington County
      • Estimated population in 2014: 72 people
    • Fairview ‑ Historic
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Fairview have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fairview
      • Fairview is located in Pennington County
      • Estimated population in 2014: 65 people
    • Frenchtown ‑ Historic
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Frenchtown have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Frenchtown
      • Frenchtown is located in Pennington County
      • Estimated population in 2014: 276 people
  • Custer County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Five Points, with the one closest to Five Points listed first.
    • Spokane ‑ Historic
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Spokane. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spokane
      • Spokane is located in Custer County
      • Estimated population in 2014: 3,237 people
    • Custer
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
    • State Game Lodge
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for State Game Lodge have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for State Game Lodge
      • State Game Lodge is located in Custer County
      • Estimated population in 2014: 29 people
    • Fourmile
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Fourmile have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fourmile
      • Fourmile is located in Custer County
      • Estimated population in 2014: 70 people
    • Sanator
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sanator have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sanator
      • Sanator is located in Custer County
      • Estimated population in 2014: 1,350 people
    • Hermosa
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Pringle
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Pringle have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pringle
      • Pringle is located in Custer County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 109 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Pringle <2>
    • Fairburn
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Fairburn have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fairburn
      • Fairburn is located in Custer County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 99 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Fairburn <2>
  • Lawrence County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Five Points, with the one closest to Five Points listed first.
    • Merritt
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Merritt have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Merritt
      • Merritt is located in Lawrence County
      • Estimated population in 2014: 175 people
    • Diamond City ‑ Historic
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Diamond City have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Diamond City
      • Diamond City is located in Lawrence County
    • Nemo
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
    • Tomahawk
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Tomahawk have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tomahawk
      • Tomahawk is located in Lawrence County
      • Estimated population in 2014: 36 people
    • Gregory ‑ Historic
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Gregory have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gregory
      • Gregory is located in Lawrence County
      • Estimated population in 2014: 1,264 people
    • Greenwood
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenwood
      • Greenwood is located in Lawrence County
      • Greenwood has also been known as:
      • Laflin
    • Roubaix
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roubaix
      • Roubaix is located in Lawrence County
      • Estimated population in 2013: 14 people
    • Dumont
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dumont
      • Dumont is located in Lawrence County
      • Estimated population in 2014: 45 people
    • Woodville
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Woodville. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodville
      • Woodville is located in Lawrence County
    • Galena
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Galena
      • Galena is located in Lawrence County
    • Englewood
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Englewood have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Englewood
      • Englewood is located in Lawrence County
      • Estimated population in 2014: 25 people
    • Flatiron ‑ Historic
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Flatiron have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flatiron
      • Flatiron is located in Lawrence County
      • Estimated population in 2014: 15 people
    • Lead
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Lead. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lead
      • Lead is located in Lawrence County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,947 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Lead <2>
  • Meade County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Five Points, with the one closest to Five Points listed first.
    • Blackhawk
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Summerset
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
    • Piedmont
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Tilford
      (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Tilford. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tilford
      • Tilford is located in Meade County
    • Sturgis
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
  • Weston County (WY)

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

Cemeteries Near Five Points ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Five Points.

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

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

  • Mountain View Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the 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 <4>
  • Rockerville Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
  • Custer Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Custer Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Custer Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Rochford Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Rochford Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Rochford Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Pine Lawn Memorial Park
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Pine Lawn Memorial Park
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Pine Lawn Memorial Park have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Mt. Calvary Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Mt. Calvary Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Mt. Calvary Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Mountain View Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the 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 <4>
  • Mountain Meadow Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Mountain Meadow Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Mountain Meadow Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Blackhawk Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Blackhawk Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Blackhawk Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Piedmont Cemetery
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
  • Englewood Cemetery
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
  • Ward Cemetery
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Ward Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Ward Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (16 more) ...
    • Galena Cemetery
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
    • Pringle Cemetery
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Pringle Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Pringle Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Fairburn Cemetery
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Fairburn Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Fairburn Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.

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

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

  • Hill City
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hill City have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hill City
    • Hill City is located in Pennington County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,074 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Hill City <2>
  • Sheridan ‑ Historic
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sheridan have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sheridan
    • Sheridan is located in Pennington County
    • Estimated population in 2014: 447 people
  • Redfern
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Redfern have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Redfern
    • Redfern is located in Pennington County
  • Pactola ‑ Historic
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Pactola. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pactola
    • Pactola is located in Pennington County
  • Silver City
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Silver City have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Silver City
    • Silver City is located in Pennington County
    • Estimated population in 2014: 60 people
  • Oreville
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Oreville have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oreville
    • Oreville is located in Pennington County
  • Mystic
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mystic
    • Mystic is located in Pennington County
  • Rockerville
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
  • Berne
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Berne have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Berne
    • Berne is located in Custer County
  • Merritt
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Merritt have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Merritt
    • Merritt is located in Lawrence County
    • Estimated population in 2014: 175 people
  • Spokane ‑ Historic
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Spokane. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spokane
    • Spokane is located in Custer County
    • Estimated population in 2014: 3,237 people
  • Hayward ‑ Historic
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hayward have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hayward
    • Hayward is located in Pennington County
  • Continue List   (15 more) ...
    • Rochford
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Custer
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
    • Nemo
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)

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

Newspapers Published in Five Points ...

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 43 newspapers that have been published in the area around Five Points.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Five Points, there are papers which were published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<6>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Five Points.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we like to start with the websites from Cyndi's List, FamilySearch and Genealogy Trails. These helpful 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 Five Points:

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

The official website for Pennington County: www.co.pennington.sd.us/

The official website for State of South Dakota: https://www.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>An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace.
<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 Five Points, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<6>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or 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- Five Points) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Five Points. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 43.9714, Longitude: -103.5505       In this case, the coordinates for Five Points have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 29 Apr 2025