RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of South Dakota >> Brown County >> Randolph >> Genealogy HelperIndex...










Learn About
The Commemorative
Quarter for
South Dakota

The Commemorative Quarter for South Dakota





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 Randolph (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 Randolph. 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.

Randolph is located in Brown 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 Brown County: Dickey (ND), Sargent (ND), Day, Edmunds, Faulk, Marshall, McPherson & Spink.

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

  • Brown County     (The home county of Randolph)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Randolph, with the one closest to Randolph listed first.
    • Verdon
      (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Verdon. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Verdon
      • Verdon is located in Brown County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 5 people
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Verdon
      • From Randolph to Verdon
    • Stratford
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Stratford have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stratford
      • Stratford is located in Brown County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 74 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Stratford <3>
    • Ferney
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Groton
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Groton have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Groton
      • Groton is located in Brown County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,475 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Groton <3>
    • James
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for James. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for James
      • James is located in Brown County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to James
      • From Randolph to James
    • Warner
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
    • Bath Corner
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
    • Bath
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
    • Jobee Acres
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Jobee Acres have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jobee Acres
      • Jobee Acres is located in Brown County
      • Estimated population in 2014: 15 people
    • Mansfield
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
    • Melrose Addition
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Melrose Addition have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Melrose Addition
      • Melrose Addition is located in Brown County
      • Estimated population in 2014: 221 people
    • Aberdeen
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Aberdeen have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Aberdeen
      • Aberdeen is located in Brown County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 28,180 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Aberdeen <3>
  • Clark County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Randolph, with the one closest to Randolph listed first.
    • Crocker
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Raymond
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Raymond have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Raymond
      • Raymond is located in Clark County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 55 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Raymond <3>
    • Bradley
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
  • Day County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Randolph, with the one closest to Randolph listed first.
    • Crandall
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Andover
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
    • Bristol
      (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bristol have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bristol
      • Bristol is located in Day County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 303 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Bristol <3>
    • Butler
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Butler. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Butler
      • Butler is located in Day County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 16 people
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Butler
      • From Randolph to Butler
    • Lily
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
    • Pierpont
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Pierpont have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pierpont
      • Pierpont is located in Day County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 116 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Pierpont <3>
    • Holmquist
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
  • Edmunds County
  • Faulk County
    • Chelsea
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Chelsea have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chelsea
      • Chelsea is located in Faulk County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 26 people
  • Marshall County
  • Spink County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Randolph, with the one closest to Randolph listed first.
    • Conde
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Brentford
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Brentford have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brentford
      • Brentford is located in Spink County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 79 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Brentford <3>
    • Turton
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Turton have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Turton
      • Turton is located in Spink County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 48 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Turton <3>
    • Duxbury
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Duxbury have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Duxbury
      • Duxbury is located in Spink County
      • Estimated population in 2014: 531 people
    • Mellette
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mellette have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mellette
      • Mellette is located in Spink County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 212 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Mellette <3>
    • Northville
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Northville have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Northville
      • Northville is located in Spink County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 144 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Northville <3>
    • Ashton
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Doland
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
    • Frankfort
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
    • Redfield
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)

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

Cemeteries Near Randolph ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Randolph.

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

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

  • Verdon Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Verdon Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Verdon Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • East Rondell Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the East Rondell Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the East Rondell Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Oakwood Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Oakwood Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Oakwood Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Plainview Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Plainview Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Plainview Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • St. Pauls Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Pauls Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Pauls Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Scandinavia Lutheran Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Baldwin Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Baldwin Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Baldwin Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • German Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the German Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the German Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Scotland Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Scotland Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Scotland Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Crandall Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Crandall Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Crandall Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Calvary Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
    • 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.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • St. Joseph Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
  • Continue List   (41 more) ...
    • James Cemetery
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the James Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the James Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Warner Cemetery
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Warner Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Warner Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Clifton Cemetery
      (16 miles [25.7 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.<6>

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

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

  • Verdon
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Verdon. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Verdon
    • Verdon is located in Brown County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 5 people
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Verdon
    • From Randolph to Verdon
  • Conde
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Ferney
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
  • Turton
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Turton have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Turton
    • Turton is located in Spink County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 48 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Turton <3>
  • Duxbury
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Duxbury have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Duxbury
    • Duxbury is located in Spink County
    • Estimated population in 2014: 531 people
  • Mellette
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mellette have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mellette
    • Mellette is located in Spink County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 212 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Mellette <3>
  • Groton
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Groton have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Groton
    • Groton is located in Brown County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,475 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Groton <3>
  • James
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for James. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for James
    • James is located in Brown County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to James
    • From Randolph to James
  • Warner
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
  • Bath
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
  • Rudolph
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rudolph have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rudolph
    • Rudolph is located in Brown County
  • Mansfield
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...
    • Andover
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
    • Northville
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Northville have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Northville
      • Northville is located in Spink County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 144 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Northville <3>
    • Plana
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Plana have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plana
      • Plana is located in Brown County

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

Newspapers Published in Randolph ...

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 61 newspapers that have been published in the area around Randolph.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Randolph, 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 Randolph.

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 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 Randolph:

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

The official website for Brown County: www.brown.sd.us/

The official website for State of South Dakota: https://www.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>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>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<4>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Randolph) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Randolph. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 45.2411, Longitude: -98.2071       In this case, the coordinates for Randolph have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<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 Randolph, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

Copyright 2025
All Rights Reserved

Thank you for visiting our website.

In closing, please keep in mind that we can not guarantee the accuracy or timeliness of the information on this website, so use with care. We encourage you to double-check the information that is critical to you.

If you've found an error or have additional information that you would like to share, please don't hesitate to write: Click here to contact us.

This page was last modified/updated: 29 Apr 2025