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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 Hillsview (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 Hillsview. 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 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.

Hillsview is located in McPherson 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 McPherson County: Dickey (ND), McIntosh (ND), Brown, Campbell & Edmunds.

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

  • McPherson County     (The home county of Hillsview)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Hillsview, with the one closest to Hillsview listed first.
    • Eureka
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Madra
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
      • Madra is located in McPherson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Madra
      • Estimated population in 2014: 7,126 people
    • Long Lake
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Long Lake is located in McPherson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Long Lake
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 31 people
    • Leola
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
      • Leola is located in McPherson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leola
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 420 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Leola <1>
  • Campbell County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Hillsview, with the one closest to Hillsview listed first.
    • Artas
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
      • Artas is located in Campbell County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Artas
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 9 people
    • Mound City
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
    • Herreid
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Edmunds County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Hillsview, with the one closest to Hillsview listed first.
    • Hosmer
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Gretna
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
      • Gretna is located in Edmunds County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gretna
      • Estimated population in 2014: 52 people
    • Bowdle
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
    • Roscoe
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
    • Beebe
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
      • Beebe is located in Edmunds County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beebe
    • Ipswich
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Loyalton
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Loyalton is located in Edmunds County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Loyalton
  • Potter County
    • Hoven
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
  • Walworth County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Hillsview, with the one closest to Hillsview listed first.
    • Java
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
      • Java is located in Walworth County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Java
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 125 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Java <1>
    • Selby
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
  • McIntosh County (ND)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Hillsview, with the one closest to Hillsview listed first.
    • Venturia
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
    • Zeeland
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
      • Zeeland is located in McIntosh County (ND)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Zeeland
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 73 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Zeeland <1>
    • Ashley
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
      • Ashley is located in McIntosh County (ND)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ashley
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 645 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Ashley <1>

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

Cemeteries Near Hillsview ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Hillsview.

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

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

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

  • St. Joseph Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for St. Joseph Cemetery
    • The St. Joseph Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Hillsview Catholic Cemetery
    • St. Joseph - Hillsview Cemetery
  • St. Joseph Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
  • Bethel #2 Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
  • Congregational Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
  • St. Johns Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
  • Holy Trinity Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Zion Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Neudorf Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Calvin Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
  • Neudorf Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
  • Aman Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
  • Baptist Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
  • Continue List   (89 more) ...
    • Mohr Cemetery
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
    • Sutley Cemetery
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Church of God Cemetery
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)

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 Hillsview had a population of 120 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Hillsview had a population of 3 people.

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

  • Hosmer
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Eureka
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
  • Bowdle
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
  • Roscoe
    (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
  • Lowell
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Lowell is located in McIntosh County (ND)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lowell
  • Long Lake
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Long Lake is located in McPherson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Long Lake
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 31 people
  • Mound City
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
  • Ashley
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
    • Ashley is located in McIntosh County (ND)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ashley
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 645 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Ashley <1>
  • Loyalton
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Loyalton is located in Edmunds County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Loyalton
  • Ipswich
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)

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

Newspapers Published in Hillsview ...

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 29 newspapers that have been published in the area around Hillsview.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Hillsview, there are papers which were published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Hillsview.

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 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 Hillsview:

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 Hillsview, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>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 from Point A (ie- Hillsview) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.