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Our Genealogy Helper

Introduction ...

So far, we found very little information about Lily. The little that we've found leads us believe that the community is historic.<1>

We've added Lily to our Gazetteer with the hope that we can develop more information. If you can help us with Lily, please Contact Us.

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 Lily (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 Lily. 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.

Although our information shows that the community of Lily is historic, it would have been located within present day Clark 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 Clark County: Beadle, Codington, Day, Hamlin, Kingsbury & Spink.

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

  • Clark County     (The home county of Lily)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Lily, with the one closest to Lily listed first.
    • Crocker
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Bradley
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Garden City
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Clark
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
    • Raymond
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Raymond have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Raymond
      • Raymond is located in Clark County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 55 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Raymond <2>
    • Elrod
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Elrod have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elrod
      • Elrod is located in Clark County
      • Estimated population in 2014: 92 people
    • Merton ‑ Historic
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Merton have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Merton
      • Merton is located in Clark County
      • Estimated population in 2014: 55 people
    • Naples
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Naples
      • Naples is located in Clark County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 49 people
    • Vienna
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Vienna. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<4>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vienna
      • Vienna is located in Clark County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 46 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Vienna <2>
    • Willow Lake
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Willow Lake have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Willow Lake
      • Willow Lake is located in Clark County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 244 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Willow Lake <2>
  • Brown County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Lily, with the one closest to Lily listed first.
    • Verdon
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Verdon. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<4>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Verdon
      • Verdon is located in Brown County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 5 people
    • Ferney
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Randolph
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Randolph. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<4>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Randolph
      • Randolph is located in Brown County
  • Codington County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Lily, with the one closest to Lily listed first.
    • Wallace
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Wallace have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wallace
      • Wallace is located in Codington County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 87 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Wallace <2>
    • Henry
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Henry
      • Henry is located in Codington County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 264 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Henry <2>
    • Florence
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Florence have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Florence
      • Florence is located in Codington County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 358 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Florence <2>
    • Kampeska
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kampeska
      • Kampeska is located in Codington County
      • Estimated population in 2014: 331 people
    • Grover
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Grover have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grover
      • Grover is located in Codington County
      • Estimated population in 2014: 171 people
  • Day County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Lily, with the one closest to Lily listed first.
    • Lily
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lily
      • Lily is located in Day County
      • Estimated population in 2019: 4 people
    • Crandall
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crandall
      • Crandall is located in Day County
    • Butler
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Butler. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<4>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Butler
      • Butler is located in Day County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 16 people
    • Bristol
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bristol have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bristol
      • Bristol is located in Day County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 303 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Bristol <2>
    • Holmquist
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holmquist
      • Holmquist is located in Day County
      • Estimated population in 2014: 154 people
    • Webster
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Andover
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
    • Waubay
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Pierpont
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Pierpont have been provided by the GNIS.<3> 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>
  • Hamlin County
    • Hazel
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hazel have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hazel
      • Hazel is located in Hamlin County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 86 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Hazel <2>
  • Spink County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Lily, with the one closest to Lily listed first.
    • Turton
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Turton have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Turton
      • Turton is located in Spink County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 48 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Turton <2>
    • Conde
      (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
    • Doland
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Doland. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<4>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Doland
      • Doland is located in Spink County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 179 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Doland <2>
    • Brentford
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Brentford have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brentford
      • Brentford is located in Spink County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 79 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Brentford <2>
    • Frankfort
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)

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

Cemeteries Near Lily ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Lily.

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

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

  • St. Thomas Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Thomas Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Thomas Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Our Saviors Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Our Saviors Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Our Saviors Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • West Saviors Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the West Saviors Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the West Saviors Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • St. Ansgaar Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Ansgaar Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Ansgaar Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Hillside Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Hillside Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Hillside Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • St. Joseph's Catholic Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Joseph's Catholic Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Joseph's Catholic Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Pioneer Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Pioneer Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Pioneer Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Garden City Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Garden City Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Garden City Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Highland Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Highland Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Highland Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Rose Hill Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Rose Hill Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Rose Hill Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • St. Boniface Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Boniface Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Boniface Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Phipps Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Phipps Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Phipps Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (71 more) ...
    • Hosanger Cemetery
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Hosanger Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Hosanger Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Crandall Cemetery
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Crandall Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Crandall Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Prairie Valley Cemetery
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Prairie Valley Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Prairie Valley Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> 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.

While we didn't find Lily in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Lily.

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

  • Bradley
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
  • Julian ‑ Historic
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Julian have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Julian
    • Julian is located in Clark County
  • Lily
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lily
    • Lily is located in Day County
    • Estimated population in 2019: 4 people
  • Garden City
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
  • Clark
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
  • Butler
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Butler. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<4>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Butler
    • Butler is located in Day County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 16 people
  • Raymond
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Raymond have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Raymond
    • Raymond is located in Clark County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 55 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Raymond <2>
  • Elrod
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Elrod have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elrod
    • Elrod is located in Clark County
    • Estimated population in 2014: 92 people
  • Turton
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Turton have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Turton
    • Turton is located in Spink County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 48 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Turton <2>
  • Henry
    (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Henry
    • Henry is located in Codington County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 264 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Henry <2>
  • Conde
    (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
  • Bristol
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bristol have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bristol
    • Bristol is located in Day County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 303 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Bristol <2>
  • Continue List   (13 more) ...
    • Doland
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Doland. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<4>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Doland
      • Doland is located in Spink County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 179 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Doland <2>
    • Webster
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Verdon
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Verdon. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<4>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Verdon
      • Verdon is located in Brown County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 5 people

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

Newspapers Published in Lily ...

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 40 newspapers that have been published in the area around Lily.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Lily, there are papers which were published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<5>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Lily.

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 Lily:

The official website for State of South Dakota: https://www.sd.gov/

Footnotes ...

<1>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 Lily, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<3>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.
<4>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.
<5>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- Lily) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Lily. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 45.0708, Longitude: -97.7379       In this case, the coordinates for Lily have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 29 Apr 2025