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Home >> State of South Dakota >> Gregory County >> Lucas >> Genealogy HelperIndex...

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 Lucas (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 Lucas. 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.

Lucas is located in Gregory 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 Gregory County: Boyd (NE), Keya Paha (NE), Charles Mix, Lyman & Tripp.

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

  • Gregory County     (The home county of Lucas)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Lucas, with the one closest to Lucas listed first.
    • Burke
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Gregory
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Herrick
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
    • Dixon
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Dixon is located in Gregory County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dixon
      • Estimated population in 2014: 118 people
    • Saint Charles
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Dallas
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
    • East Gregory
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
      • East Gregory is located in Gregory County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Gregory
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 182 people
    • Bonesteel
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Fairfax
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
  • Brule County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Lucas, with the one closest to Lucas listed first.
    • Bijou Hills
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
      • Bijou Hills is located in Brule County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bijou Hills
    • Eagle
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
      • Eagle is located in Brule County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eagle
      • Estimated population in 2014: 17 people
    • Ola
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
      • Ola is located in Brule County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ola
      • Estimated population in 2014: 108 people
  • Charles Mix County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Lucas, with the one closest to Lucas listed first.
    • Platte Colony
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
      • Platte Colony is located in Charles Mix County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Platte Colony
      • Estimated population in 2014: 51 people
    • Academy
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
      • Academy is located in Charles Mix County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Academy
    • Platte
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
      • Platte is located in Charles Mix County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Platte
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,257 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Platte <1>
    • Geddes
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
      • Geddes is located in Charles Mix County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Geddes
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 207 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Geddes <1>
  • Douglas County
    • Joubert
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
      • Joubert is located in Douglas County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Joubert
      • Estimated population in 2014: 126 people
  • Lyman County
    • Iona
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
  • Tripp County
    • Colome
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
  • Boyd County (NE)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Lucas, with the one closest to Lucas listed first.
    • Naper
      (23 miles [37 km] to the south)
      • Naper is located in Boyd County (NE)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Naper
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 74 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Naper <1>
    • Anoka
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Anoka is located in Boyd County (NE)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Anoka
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 6 people
  • Keya Paha County (NE)
    • Mills
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)

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

Cemeteries Near Lucas ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Lucas.

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

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

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

  • Lucas Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
  • Graceland Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
  • Sacred Heart Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
  • St. Joseph Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
  • County Home Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
  • Herrick Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
  • ZCBJ Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
  • Castalia Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
  • LaRoche Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
  • Dixon Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Friesland Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
  • Dallas Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
  • Continue List   (56 more) ...
    • Hillview Cemetery
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
    • Peace Cemetery
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Lake George Cemetery
      (16 miles [25.7 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.<2>

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

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

  • Bijou Hills
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
    • Bijou Hills is located in Brule County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bijou Hills
  • Platte
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
    • Platte is located in Charles Mix County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Platte
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,257 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Platte <1>
  • Wheeler ‑ Historic
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Wheeler is located in Charles Mix County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wheeler
  • Eagle
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
    • Eagle is located in Brule County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eagle
    • Estimated population in 2014: 17 people
  • Ola
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
    • Ola is located in Brule County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ola
    • Estimated population in 2014: 108 people
  • Mills
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
  • Joubert
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
    • Joubert is located in Douglas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Joubert
    • Estimated population in 2014: 126 people

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

Newspapers Published in Lucas ...

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 42 newspapers that have been published in the area around Lucas.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Lucas, there are papers which were published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Lucas.

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 Lucas:

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>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 Lucas, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<3>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Lucas) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.