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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 Presho (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 Presho. 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 northwest 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 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 west 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.

Presho is located in Lyman 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 Lyman County: Brule, Buffalo, Gregory, Hughes, Hyde, Jones, Mellette, Stanley & Tripp.

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

  • Lyman County     (The home county of Presho)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Presho, with the one closest to Presho listed first.
    • Kennebec
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Vivian
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Vivian have been provided by the GNIS.<2> 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 <1>
    • Lyman
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lyman have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lyman
      • Lyman is located in Lyman County
      • Estimated population in 2014: 43 people
    • Reliance
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Reliance have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Reliance
      • Reliance is located in Lyman County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 210 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Reliance <1>
    • East Lyman
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for East Lyman have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Lyman
      • East Lyman is located in Lyman County
      • Estimated population in 2019: 145 people
    • Lower Brule
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lower Brule have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lower Brule
      • Lower Brule is located in Lyman County
      • Population from the 2010 Census: 24 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Lower Brule <1>
  • Hughes County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Presho, with the one closest to Presho listed first.
    • Rousseau
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rousseau have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rousseau
      • Rousseau is located in Hughes County
    • Alto
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alto
      • Alto is located in Hughes County
  • Jones County
    • Draper
      (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Draper have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Draper
      • Draper is located in Jones County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 69 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Draper <1>
  • Tripp County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Presho, with the one closest to Presho listed first.
    • Ideal
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
    • Hamill
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hamill have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hamill
      • Hamill is located in Tripp County
      • Population from the 2010 Census: 11 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Hamill <1>

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

Cemeteries Near Presho ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Presho.

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

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

  • Presho Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
  • Holy Angels Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
  • Medicine Creek Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
  • Earling Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Earling Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Earling Cemetery is located 2 miles [3.2 km]<4> to the east of Kennebec.
  • Hillsdale Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
  • Kennebec Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
  • St. Michaels Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
  • Vivian Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Vivian Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Vivian Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Prairie View Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Prairie View Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Prairie View Cemetery is located 8 miles [12.9 km]<4> to the north of Kennebec.
  • Hilmoe Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Holy Faith Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
    • 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.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Trinity Cemetery
    (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Trinity Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Trinity Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (10 more) ...
    • St. Catherine Cemetery
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Red Hill Cemetery
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Red Hill Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Red Hill Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • St. Georges Cemetery
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)

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.<5>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that in 1895, Presho had a post office and no railroad service. In 2020, Presho had a population of 489 people.

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

  • Lyman
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lyman have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lyman
    • Lyman is located in Lyman County
    • Estimated population in 2014: 43 people
  • Lower Brule
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lower Brule have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lower Brule
    • Lower Brule is located in Lyman County
    • Population from the 2010 Census: 24 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Lower Brule <1>
  • De Grey
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for De Grey have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for De Grey
    • De Grey is located in Hughes County
  • Rousseau
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rousseau have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rousseau
    • Rousseau is located in Hughes County

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Presho ...

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 14 newspapers that have been published in the area around Presho.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Presho. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Presho and those printed in the larger area surrounding Presho.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 23 miles [37 km]<4> of Presho.

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 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 Presho:

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

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

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 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.
<3>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.
<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 drawn from Point A (ie- Presho) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Presho. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 43.9072, Longitude: -100.0582       In this case, the coordinates for Presho have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>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 Presho, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 29 Apr 2025