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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 Houghton (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 Houghton. 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 northeast corner of their home county. During their lives, most doctors were in the next county to the east. 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 east 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.

Houghton is located in Brown 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 Brown County: Dickey (ND), Sargent (ND), Day, Edmunds, Faulk, Marshall, McPherson & Spink.

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

  • Brown County     (The home county of Houghton)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Houghton, with the one closest to Houghton listed first.
    • Hecla
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hecla have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hecla
      • Hecla is located in Brown County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 217 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Hecla <2>
    • Claremont
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Huffton
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Huffton have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Huffton
      • Huffton is located in Brown County
      • Estimated population in 2014: 316 people
    • Columbia
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Barnard
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
    • Putney
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
    • Tacoma Park
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
    • Westport
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Westport have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Westport
      • Westport is located in Brown County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 132 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Westport <2>
    • Frederick
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
    • Ordway
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ordway have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ordway
      • Ordway is located in Brown County
      • Estimated population in 2014: 306 people
    • Winship
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Winship have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Winship
      • Winship is located in Brown County
      • Estimated population in 2014: 2,862 people
    • James
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for James. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for James
      • James is located in Brown County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to James
      • From Houghton to James
    • Prairie Wood Village Addition
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Prairie Wood Village Addition have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prairie Wood Village Addition
      • Prairie Wood Village Addition is located in Brown County
      • Estimated population in 2014: 276 people
  • Day County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Houghton, with the one closest to Houghton listed first.
    • Pierpont
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Pierpont have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pierpont
      • Pierpont is located in Day County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 116 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Pierpont <2>
    • Andover
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
  • Marshall County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Houghton, with the one closest to Houghton listed first.
    • Amherst
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
    • West Britton ‑ Historic
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for West Britton. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Britton
      • West Britton is located in Marshall County
      • Population from the 2010 Census: 1,368 people
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to West Britton
      • From Houghton to West Britton
    • Spain
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Spain have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spain
      • Spain is located in Marshall County
      • Population from the 2010 Census: 989 people
    • Langford
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Britton
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Britton have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Britton
      • Britton is located in Marshall County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,256 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Britton <2>
    • Newark
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
    • Kidder
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
  • McPherson County
    • Wetonka
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Wetonka have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wetonka
      • Wetonka is located in McPherson County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 7 people
  • Dickey County (ND)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Houghton, with the one closest to Houghton listed first.
    • Guelph
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
    • Ludden
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ludden have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ludden
      • Ludden is located in Dickey County (ND)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 24 people
    • Silverleaf
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Silverleaf. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Silverleaf
      • Silverleaf is located in Dickey County (ND)
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Silverleaf
      • From Houghton to Silverleaf
    • Ellendale
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ellendale have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ellendale
      • Ellendale is located in Dickey County (ND)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,179 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Ellendale <2>
    • Norway
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Norway have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Norway
      • Norway is located in Dickey County (ND)
    • Oakes
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Oakes have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oakes
      • Oakes is located in Dickey County (ND)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,657 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Oakes <2>
    • Fullerton
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Fullerton have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fullerton
      • Fullerton is located in Dickey County (ND)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 51 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Fullerton <2>
    • Forbes
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Forbes have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Forbes
      • Forbes is located in Dickey County (ND)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 43 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Forbes <2>
  • Sargent County (ND)

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

Cemeteries Near Houghton ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Houghton.

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

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

  • Houghton Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Houghton Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Houghton Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Detroit Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Detroit Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Detroit Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Hecla City Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
  • Peace Lutheran Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Peace Lutheran Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Peace Lutheran Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Savo Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
  • Free Mission Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Free Mission Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Free Mission Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Amherst Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
  • Frederick Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Frederick Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Frederick Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Westport Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Westport Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Westport Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Augustana Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Augustana Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Augustana Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Ludden Cemetery
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Ludden Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Ludden Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Britton Cemetery
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
  • Continue List   (31 more) ...
    • James Cemetery
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the James Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the James Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Groton Cemetery
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Groton Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Groton Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Sunset Memorial Gardens
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Sunset Memorial Gardens
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Sunset Memorial Gardens 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>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Houghton had a population of 206 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2014, Houghton had a population of 3,503 people.

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

  • Hecla
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hecla have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hecla
    • Hecla is located in Brown County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 217 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Hecla <2>
  • Columbia
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Huffton
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Huffton have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Huffton
    • Huffton is located in Brown County
    • Estimated population in 2014: 316 people
  • Claremont
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Putney
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
  • Amherst
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
  • Westport
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Westport have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Westport
    • Westport is located in Brown County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 132 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Westport <2>
  • Frederick
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
  • Ordway
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ordway have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ordway
    • Ordway is located in Brown County
    • Estimated population in 2014: 306 people
  • Plana
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Plana have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plana
    • Plana is located in Brown County
  • Ludden
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ludden have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ludden
    • Ludden is located in Dickey County (ND)
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 24 people
  • Port Emma ‑ Historic
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Port Emma have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Port Emma
    • Port Emma is located in Dickey County (ND)
  • Continue List   (15 more) ...
    • Guelph
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
    • Winship
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Winship have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Winship
      • Winship is located in Brown County
      • Estimated population in 2014: 2,862 people
    • Silverleaf
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Silverleaf. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Silverleaf
      • Silverleaf is located in Dickey County (ND)
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Silverleaf
      • From Houghton to Silverleaf

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

Newspapers Published in Houghton ...

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 65 newspapers that have been published in the area around Houghton.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Houghton, 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 Houghton.

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 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 Houghton:

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

The official website for Brown County: www.brown.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 Houghton, 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- Houghton) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Houghton. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 45.7628, Longitude: -98.2096    









 

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This page was last modified/updated: 29 Apr 2025