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A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
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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 Oelrichs (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 Oelrichs. 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.

Oelrichs is located in Fall River 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 Fall River County: Dawes (NE), Sioux (NE), Custer, Oglala Lakota & Niobrara (WY).

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

  • Fall River County     (The home county of Oelrichs)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Oelrichs, with the one closest to Oelrichs listed first.
    • Smithwick
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Oral
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
      • Oral is located in Fall River County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oral
      • Estimated population in 2014: 206 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Oral <1>
    • Heppner
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
      • Heppner is located in Fall River County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Heppner
      • Estimated population in 2014: 267 people
    • Cascade Springs
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
      • Cascade Springs is located in Fall River County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cascade Springs
    • Rocky Ford
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
      • Rocky Ford is located in Fall River County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rocky Ford
      • Estimated population in 2014: 6 people
    • Hot Springs
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Erskine
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
      • Erskine is located in Fall River County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Erskine
    • Rumford
      (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
      • Rumford is located in Fall River County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rumford
    • Ardmore ‑ Historic
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
      • Ardmore is located in Fall River County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ardmore
    • Edgemont
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
    • Provo
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
  • Custer County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Oelrichs, with the one closest to Oelrichs listed first.
    • Buffalo Gap
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
    • Ivanhoe ‑ Historic
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Ivanhoe is located in Custer County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ivanhoe
      • Estimated population in 2014: 144 people
  • Oglala Lakota County
  • Dawes County (NE)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Oelrichs, with the one closest to Oelrichs listed first.
    • Dakota Junction
      (23 miles [37 km] to the south)
      • Dakota Junction is located in Dawes County (NE)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dakota Junction
    • Whitney
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
    • Chadron
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Chadron is located in Dawes County (NE)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chadron
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 5,250 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Chadron <1>
    • Horn
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
      • Horn is located in Dawes County (NE)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Horn
  • Sioux County (NE)
    • Montrose ‑ Historic
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Montrose is located in Sioux County (NE)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Montrose

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

Cemeteries Near Oelrichs ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Oelrichs.

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

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

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

  • Hillside Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
  • Smithwick Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
  • Horsehead Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
  • Fairview Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
  • Hines Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
  • Highland Cemetery
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
  • Buffalo Gap Cemetery
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
  • Hot Springs National Cemetery
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
  • Duck Creek Cemetery
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
  • Evergreen Cemetery
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
  • Greenwood Cemetery
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
  • Pioneer Cemetery
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
  • Continue List   (8 more) ...
    • Shisler Cemetery
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
    • Calvary Cemetery
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Whitney Cemetery
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)

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 Oelrichs had a population of 308 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Oelrichs had a population of 124 people.

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

  • Smithwick
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
  • Buffalo Gap
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
  • Hot Springs
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
  • Dakota Junction
    (23 miles [37 km] to the south)
    • Dakota Junction is located in Dawes County (NE)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dakota Junction
  • Erskine
    (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
    • Erskine is located in Fall River County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Erskine
  • Rumford
    (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
    • Rumford is located in Fall River County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rumford
  • Ardmore ‑ Historic
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Ardmore is located in Fall River County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ardmore
  • Whitney
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
  • Chadron
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Chadron is located in Dawes County (NE)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chadron
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 5,250 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Chadron <1>
  • Minnekahta
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Minnekahta is located in Fall River County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Minnekahta

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Oelrichs ...

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 54 newspapers that have been published in the area around Oelrichs.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Oelrichs. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Oelrichs and those printed in the larger area surrounding Oelrichs.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<4> of Oelrichs.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we start with the websites from Cyndi's List, FamilySearch and Genealogy Trails. These 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 Oelrichs:

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 Oelrichs, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Oelrichs) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.