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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 Porcupine (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 Porcupine. 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 southwest corner of their home county. During their lives, most hospitals and doctors were in the next county to the west. 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 west 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.

Porcupine is located in Oglala Lakota 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 Oglala Lakota County: Dawes (NE), Sheridan (NE), Bennett, Custer, Fall River, Jackson & Pennington.

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

  • Oglala Lakota County     (The home county of Porcupine)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Porcupine, with the one closest to Porcupine listed first.
    • Manderson - White Horse Creek
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Manderson - White Horse Creek. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Manderson - White Horse Creek
      • Manderson - White Horse Creek is located in Oglala Lakota County
    • Manderson
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Wounded Knee
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Sharps Corner
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sharps Corner
      • Sharps Corner is located in Oglala Lakota County
      • Estimated population in 2014: 77 people
    • Denby
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Denby
      • Denby is located in Oglala Lakota County
    • Kyle
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Batesland
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Batesland have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Batesland
      • Batesland is located in Oglala Lakota County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 113 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Batesland <2>
    • Rockyford
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rockyford
      • Rockyford is located in Oglala Lakota County
    • Pine Ridge
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
    • Oglala
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
  • Bennett County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Porcupine, with the one closest to Porcupine listed first.
    • Swett ‑ Historic
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Swett
      • Swett is located in Bennett County
      • Estimated population in 2014: 283 people
    • Allen
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
    • Plenty Bears
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Plenty Bears have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plenty Bears
      • Plenty Bears is located in Bennett County
      • Estimated population in 2014: 109 people
    • Martin
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
  • Jackson County
    • Potato Creek
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Potato Creek
      • Potato Creek is located in Jackson County
  • Sheridan County (NE)
    • Whiteclay
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)

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

Newspapers Published in Porcupine ...

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 8 newspapers that have been published in the area around Porcupine.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Porcupine, there are papers which were published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Porcupine.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we like to start 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 Porcupine:

Cemeteries Near Porcupine ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Porcupine.

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

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

  • St. Julia Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
  • Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
  • Holy Jumping Eagle Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
  • St. Paul Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
  • St. Luke Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Luke Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Luke Cemetery
  • Lamont Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
  • Native American Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
  • Native American Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Native American Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Native American Cemetery
  • Mediator Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Mediator Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Mediator Cemetery
  • St. Anns Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
  • St. Anns Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Anns Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Anns Cemetery
  • Knight Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Knight Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Knight Cemetery
  • Continue List   (18 more) ...
    • Body of Christ Cemetery
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
    • St. James Cemetery
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Red Cloud Cemetery
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
      • To give a relative sense of its location, the Red Cloud Cemetery is located 3 miles [4.8 km]<4> to the southeast of Pine Ridge.
      • The Red Cloud Cemetery has also been known as:
      • Holy Rosary Cemetery
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Red Cloud Cemetery
      • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #1970722 <5>

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 Porcupine in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Porcupine.

  • Albany ‑ Historic
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Albany have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Albany
    • Albany is located in Sheridan County (NE)

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

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

The official website for Oglala Lakota County: oglalalakota.sdcounties.org/

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

Footnotes ...

<1>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.
<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>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- Porcupine) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Porcupine. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 43.2452, Longitude: -102.3359    
<5>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.
<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 Porcupine, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024