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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 Grosse (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 Grosse. 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 doctors and hospitals 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.

Grosse is located in Brule 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 Brule County: Aurora, Buffalo, Charles Mix, Gregory, Jerauld & Lyman.

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

  • Brule County     (The home county of Grosse)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Grosse, with the one closest to Grosse listed first.
    • Chamberlain
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Pukwana
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Lyonville
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
      • Lyonville is located in Brule County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lyonville
      • Estimated population in 2014: 49 people
    • Kimball
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Ola
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
      • Ola is located in Brule County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ola
      • Estimated population in 2014: 108 people
    • Eagle
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
      • Eagle is located in Brule County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eagle
      • Estimated population in 2014: 17 people
    • Bijou Hills
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
      • Bijou Hills is located in Brule County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bijou Hills
  • Buffalo County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Grosse, with the one closest to Grosse listed first.
    • Crow Creek
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Crow Creek is located in Buffalo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crow Creek
    • Shelby
      (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
      • Shelby is located in Buffalo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shelby
      • Estimated population in 2014: 96 people
    • Fort Thompson
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Gann Valley
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Hand County
    • Ames
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
      • Ames is located in Hand County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ames
  • Hyde County
    • Stephan
      (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
  • Jerauld County
    • Crow Lake
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
      • Crow Lake is located in Jerauld County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crow Lake
  • Lyman County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Grosse, with the one closest to Grosse listed first.
    • Oacoma
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
    • East Lyman
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
      • East Lyman is located in Lyman County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Lyman
      • Estimated population in 2019: 145 people
    • Reliance
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
    • Lower Brule
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
    • Lyman
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
      • Lyman is located in Lyman County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lyman
      • Estimated population in 2014: 43 people
    • Iona
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
    • Kennebec
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
  • Tripp County
    • Hamill
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)

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

Cemeteries Near Grosse ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Grosse.

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

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

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

  • St. John the Baptist Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for St. John the Baptist Cemetery
    • The St. John the Baptist Cemetery has also been known as:
    • St. John the Baptist Episcopal Cemetery
    • St. John's Cemetery
    • St. John's Episcopal Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2168051 <2>
  • Crow Creek Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
  • Norwegian Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Norwegian Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Norwegian Cemetery is located 6 miles [9.7 km]<3> to the east of Chamberlain.
    • The Norwegian Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Norwegian Free Lutheran Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #97317 <2>
  • Riverview Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
  • Norwegian Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
  • Oacoma Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
  • Vega Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
  • Community Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Community Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Community Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located outside and to the southwest of Pukwana.
    • The Community Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Pukwana City Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #96887 <2>
  • St. Anthony Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Catholic Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Catholic Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Catholic Cemetery is located less than 2 miles<3> to the west of Fort Thompson.
    • The Catholic Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Lake View Cemetery
    • St. Joseph's Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #97570 <2>
  • St. Joseph Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Lutheran Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
  • Continue List   (26 more) ...
    • Reliance Cemetery
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
    • St. Marys Cemetery
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
    • Spring Hill Cemetery
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)

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

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

  • Crow Creek
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Crow Creek is located in Buffalo County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crow Creek
  • Chamberlain
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
  • Oacoma
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
  • Pukwana
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Lyonville
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
    • Lyonville is located in Brule County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lyonville
    • Estimated population in 2014: 49 people
  • Gann Valley
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Lower Brule
    (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
  • Kimball
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
  • Ola
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
    • Ola is located in Brule County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ola
    • Estimated population in 2014: 108 people
  • Continue List   (6 more) ...
    • Lyman
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
      • Lyman is located in Lyman County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lyman
      • Estimated population in 2014: 43 people
    • Stephan
      (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
    • Ames
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
      • Ames is located in Hand County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ames
    • Eagle
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
      • Eagle is located in Brule County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eagle
      • Estimated population in 2014: 17 people
    • Crow Lake
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
      • Crow Lake is located in Jerauld County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crow Lake
    • Bijou Hills
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
      • Bijou Hills is located in Brule County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bijou Hills

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

Newspapers Published in Grosse ...

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 31 newspapers that have been published in the area around Grosse.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Grosse, there are papers which were published within 29 miles [46.7 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Grosse.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we first turn to 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 Grosse:

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