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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 Pierre (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 Pierre. 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 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.

Pierre is located in Hughes 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 Hughes County: Hyde, Lyman, Stanley & Sully.

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

  • Hughes County     (The home county of Pierre)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Pierre, with the one closest to Pierre listed first.
    • Alto
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alto
      • Alto is located in Hughes County
    • Oahe
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Oahe have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oahe
      • Oahe is located in Hughes County
      • Estimated population in 2014: 474 people
    • Rousseau
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rousseau have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rousseau
      • Rousseau is located in Hughes County
    • Canning
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Canning have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Canning
      • Canning is located in Hughes County
    • Blunt
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Harrold
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Harrold have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harrold
      • Harrold is located in Hughes County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 128 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Harrold <2>
  • Lyman County
    • Vivian
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Vivian have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vivian
      • Vivian is located in Lyman County
      • Estimated population in 2014: 149 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Vivian <2>
  • Stanley County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Pierre, with the one closest to Pierre listed first.
    • Fort Pierre
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Verendrye Hill
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Verendrye Hill
      • Verendrye Hill is located in Stanley County
      • Estimated population in 2014: 5 people
    • Teton
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Teton have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Teton
      • Teton is located in Stanley County
      • Estimated population in 2014: 59 people
    • Lacy
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lacy have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lacy
      • Lacy is located in Stanley County
      • Estimated population in 2014: 66 people
  • Sully County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Pierre, with the one closest to Pierre listed first.
    • Okobojo
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Okobojo. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Okobojo
      • Okobojo is located in Sully County
    • Onida
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)

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

Cemeteries Near Pierre ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Pierre.

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

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

  • Riverside Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Riverside Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Riverside Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located outside and to the southeast of Pierre.
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #97458 <4>
  • Calvary Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Calvary Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Calvary Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Mount Calvary Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
  • Cedar Hill Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Cedar Hill Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Cedar Hill Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Scotty Philip Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
  • Lone Grave Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Lone Grave Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Lone Grave Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Canning Prairie Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Canning Prairie Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Canning Prairie Cemetery is located 8 miles [12.9 km]<5> to the north of Blunt.
    • The Canning Prairie Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Canning Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2383075 <4>
  • Pleasant Hill Cemetery
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Pleasant Hill Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Pleasant Hill Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located less than 2 miles<5> to the east of Blunt.
    • The Pleasant Hill Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Blunt Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #96825 <4>
  • Okobojo Cemetery
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Okobojo Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Okobojo Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Holy Faith Cemetery
    (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Holy Faith Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Holy Faith Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Chapelle Cemetery
    (23 miles [37 km] to the east)

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.<6>

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

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

  • Fort Pierre
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
  • Oahe
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Oahe have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oahe
    • Oahe is located in Hughes County
    • Estimated population in 2014: 474 people
  • Rousseau
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rousseau have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rousseau
    • Rousseau is located in Hughes County
  • Canning
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Canning have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Canning
    • Canning is located in Hughes County
  • Okobojo
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Okobojo. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Okobojo
    • Okobojo is located in Sully County
  • Blunt
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
  • De Grey
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for De Grey have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for De Grey
    • De Grey is located in Hughes County
  • Onida
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Pierre ...

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 76 newspapers that have been published in the area around Pierre.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Pierre. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Pierre and those printed in the larger area surrounding Pierre.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<5> of Pierre.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we first visit the websites from Cyndi's List, FamilySearch and Genealogy Trails. These websites either 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 Pierre:

The official website for Pierre: www.ci.pierre.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>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 from Point A (ie- Pierre) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Pierre. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 44.3730, Longitude: -100.3229       In this case, the coordinates for Pierre have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>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 Pierre, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 29 Apr 2025