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Our Genealogy Helper

Introduction ...

So far, we found very little information about Red Elm. The little that we've found leads us believe that the community is historic.<1>

We've added Red Elm to our Gazetteer with the hope that we can develop more information. If you can help us with Red Elm, please Contact Us.

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 Red Elm (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 Red Elm. 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.

Name Variations for Red Elm ...

When searching records, keep in mind that names and their spelling can change over time. Our sources include documents like maps, railroad schedules, Travel, Express and Shipping Guides. Many of these documents date from the 1800's and it's common to find spelling differences.

Although we can't give a definitive list, hopefully the following will give you a feel for the variations that might have occurred.

Another variation: Redelm.

If you have information about these names (such as the reason for the change, date of change, the origin of the name), please Contact Us.

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 doctors and hospitals 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.

Although our information shows that the community of Red Elm is historic, it would have been located within present day Ziebach 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 Ziebach County: Dewey, Haakon, Meade, Pennington, Perkins & Stanley.

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

  • Ziebach County     (The home county of Red Elm)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Red Elm, with the one closest to Red Elm listed first.
    • Dupree
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Iron Lightning
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Iron Lightning have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Iron Lightning
      • Iron Lightning is located in Ziebach County
      • Estimated population in 2014: 412 people
    • Red Scaffold
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Red Scaffold have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Red Scaffold
      • Red Scaffold is located in Ziebach County
      • Estimated population in 2014: 372 people
    • Glad Valley
      (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
  • Dewey County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Red Elm, with the one closest to Red Elm listed first.
    • Lantry
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
    • Eagle Butte
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Eagle Butte have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eagle Butte
      • Eagle Butte is located in Dewey County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,418 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Eagle Butte <2>
    • Green Grass
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Green Grass have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Grass
      • Green Grass is located in Dewey County
      • Population from the 2010 Census: 35 people
    • North Eagle Butte
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for North Eagle Butte have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Eagle Butte
      • North Eagle Butte is located in Dewey County
      • Population from the 2010 Census: 1,954 people
    • Isabel
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Isabel have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Isabel
      • Isabel is located in Dewey County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 150 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Isabel <2>
  • Meade County
    • Faith
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Faith have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Faith
      • Faith is located in Meade County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 410 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Faith <2>
  • Perkins County
    • Usta
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Usta have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Usta
      • Usta is located in Perkins County
      • Estimated population in 2014: 22 people

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

Cemeteries Near Red Elm ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Red Elm.

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

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

  • Red Elm Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Red Elm Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Red Elm Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Iron Lightning Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Iron Lightning Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Iron Lightning Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Dupree Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
  • Faith Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Faith Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Faith Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • St. Luke Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Luke Cemetery
    • 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.
  • St. Joseph Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Joseph Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Joseph Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • St. James Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. James Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. James Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Lantry Cemetery
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Lantry Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Lantry Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Eaglestaff Cemetery
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Eaglestaff Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Eaglestaff Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • St. Pius Cemetery
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Pius Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Pius Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • St. Marks Cemetery
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Marks Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Marks Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • St. Marks Cemetery
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Marks Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Marks Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (4 more) ...
    • Eagle Butte Cemetery
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
    • Little Dog Cemetery
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Little Dog Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Little Dog Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Green Grass Cemetery
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Green Grass Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Green Grass Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.

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

Newspapers Published in Red Elm ...

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 12 newspapers that have been published in the area around Red Elm.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Red Elm, there are papers which were published within 29 miles [46.7 km]<5>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Red Elm.

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 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 Red Elm:

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

Footnotes ...

<1>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 Red Elm, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<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>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 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Red Elm) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Red Elm. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 45.0557, Longitude: -101.7838       In this case, the coordinates for Red Elm have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).




 

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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