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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 Leola (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 Leola. 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 doctors and 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.

Leola is located in McPherson County and is the County Seat.

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 McPherson County: Dickey (ND), McIntosh (ND), Brown, Campbell & Edmunds.

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

  • McPherson County     (The home county of Leola)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Leola, with the one closest to Leola listed first.
    • Long Lake Colony
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Long Lake Colony have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Long Lake Colony
      • Long Lake Colony is located in McPherson County
      • Estimated population in 2014: 332 people
    • Wetonka
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
      • 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
    • Spring Creek Colony
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Spring Creek Colony have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spring Creek Colony
      • Spring Creek Colony is located in McPherson County
      • Population from the 2010 Census: 268 people
    • Long Lake
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Long Lake have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Long Lake
      • Long Lake is located in McPherson County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 31 people
    • Hillsview
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hillsview have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hillsview
      • Hillsview is located in McPherson County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 3 people
  • Brown County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Leola, with the one closest to Leola listed first.
    • Barnard
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
    • Westport
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
      • 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
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
    • Pleasant Vally Development
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Pleasant Vally Development have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Vally Development
      • Pleasant Vally Development is located in Brown County
    • Winship
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
      • 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
    • Gederos Estates
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Gederos Estates have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gederos Estates
      • Gederos Estates is located in Brown County
      • Estimated population in 2014: 212 people
    • Ordway
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
      • 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
    • Aberdeen
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Aberdeen have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Aberdeen
      • Aberdeen is located in Brown County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 28,180 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Aberdeen <2>
    • Prairie Wood Village Addition
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
      • 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
    • Melrose Addition
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Melrose Addition have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Melrose Addition
      • Melrose Addition is located in Brown County
      • Estimated population in 2014: 221 people
  • Edmunds County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Leola, with the one closest to Leola listed first.
    • Craven Corner
      (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Craven Corner
      • Craven Corner is located in Edmunds County
    • Craven
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Craven
      • Craven is located in Edmunds County
    • Ipswich
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
    • Mina
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mina
      • Mina is located in Edmunds County
      • Mina has also been known as:
      • Cortland
      • Cortlandt
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Mina <2>
    • Beebe
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beebe
      • Beebe is located in Edmunds County
    • Roscoe
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Roscoe have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roscoe
      • Roscoe is located in Edmunds County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 285 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Roscoe <2>
    • Hosmer
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
    • Powell
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Powell
      • Powell is located in Edmunds County
  • Dickey County (ND)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Leola, with the one closest to Leola listed first.
    • Forbes
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
      • 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>
    • Ellendale
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
      • 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>
  • McIntosh County (ND)
    • Ashley
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ashley have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ashley
      • Ashley is located in McIntosh County (ND)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 645 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Ashley <2>

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Leola ...

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 51 newspapers that have been published in the area around Leola.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Leola. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Leola and those printed in the larger area surrounding Leola.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<3> of Leola.

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 Leola:

Cemeteries Near Leola ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Leola.

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

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

  • Green Mound Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Green Mound Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Green Mound Cemetery
  • Our Lady of Perpetual Help Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Our Lady of Perpetual Help Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Our Lady of Perpetual Help Cemetery
  • St. Hyacinth Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Hyacinth Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Hyacinth Cemetery
  • Hoffnungs Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Hoffnungs Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Hoffnungs Cemetery
  • Wetonka Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Wetonka Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Wetonka Cemetery
  • Hoffnungs Gemeinde Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Hoffnungs Gemeinde Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Hoffnungs Gemeinde Cemetery
  • Arena Valley Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Arena Valley Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Arena Valley Cemetery
  • Rueb Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Rueb Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Rueb Cemetery
  • Saron Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Saron Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Saron Cemetery
  • Gienger Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Gienger Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Gienger Cemetery
  • Leola Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Leola Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Leola Cemetery
  • Ehpresman Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Ehpresman Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Ehpresman Cemetery
  • Continue List   (49 more) ...
    • Congregational Cemetery
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Congregational Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Congregational Cemetery
    • New Straasburg Cemetery
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
    • Strassburg Cemetery
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Strassburg Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Strassburg Cemetery

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>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Leola had a population of 428 people in 1895 with a post office and no railroad service. In 2020, Leola had a population of 420 people.

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

  • Long Lake
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Long Lake have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Long Lake
    • Long Lake is located in McPherson County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 31 people
  • Ipswich
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
  • Mina
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mina
    • Mina is located in Edmunds County
    • Mina has also been known as:
    • Cortland
    • Cortlandt
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Mina <2>
  • Westport
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
    • 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
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
  • Winship
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
    • 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
  • Roscoe
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Roscoe have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roscoe
    • Roscoe is located in Edmunds County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 285 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Roscoe <2>
  • Lowell
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lowell have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lowell
    • Lowell is located in McIntosh County (ND)
  • Hosmer
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
  • Ordway
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
    • 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
  • Aberdeen
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Aberdeen have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Aberdeen
    • Aberdeen is located in Brown County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 28,180 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Aberdeen <2>

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

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

The official website for State of South Dakota: 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>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Leola) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Leola. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 45.7214, Longitude: -98.9384       In this case, the coordinates for Leola have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<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 Leola, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024