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 Richfield Heights (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 Richfield Heights. 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 Richfield Heights ...
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 occur.
For example, a typical abbreviation for Richfield Heights: Richfield Hts. (in Canada, 'Hgts.' is the more common abbreviation.)
You might be interested in other communities that are also named Richfield Heights. More information can be found on our Tidbits & Trivia Page for Richfield Heights.
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 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.
Richfield Heights is located in Brown County.
To see how the shape of South Dakota's counties may 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 Richfield Heights. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Richfield Heights:
- Brown County (The home county of Richfield Heights)
- The following are listed by their distance from Richfield Heights, with the one closest to Richfield Heights listed first.
- Gederos Estates
(Less than 2 miles to the east)
- Gederos Estates is located in Brown County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gederos Estates
- Estimated population in 2014: 212 people
- Pleasant Vally Development
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
- Aberdeen
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
- Prairie Wood Village Addition
(5 miles [8 km] to the east)
- Prairie Wood Village Addition is located in Brown County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prairie Wood Village Addition
- Estimated population in 2014: 276 people
- Melrose Addition
(5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
- Melrose Addition is located in Brown County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Melrose Addition
- Estimated population in 2014: 221 people
- Ordway
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
- Ordway is located in Brown County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ordway
- Estimated population in 2014: 306 people
- Jobee Acres
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
- Jobee Acres is located in Brown County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jobee Acres
- Estimated population in 2014: 15 people
- Westport
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
- Bath Corner
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
- Bath Corner is located in Brown County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bath Corner
- Bath
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
- Columbia
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
- Warner
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
- Tacoma Park
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
- Tacoma Park is located in Brown County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tacoma Park
- Estimated population in 2014: 413 people
- Edmunds County
- The following are listed by their distance from Richfield Heights, with the one closest to Richfield Heights listed first.
- Mina
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
- Craven Corner
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
- Craven Corner is located in Edmunds County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Craven Corner
- Craven
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
- Craven is located in Edmunds County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Craven
- Ipswich
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
- Powell
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
- Powell is located in Edmunds County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Powell
- Faulk County
- The following are listed by their distance from Richfield Heights, with the one closest to Richfield Heights listed first.
- Chelsea
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
- Chelsea is located in Faulk County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chelsea
- Population from the 2020 Census: 26 people
- Cresbard
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
- McPherson County
- The following are listed by their distance from Richfield Heights, with the one closest to Richfield Heights listed first.
- Wetonka
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
- Wetonka is located in McPherson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wetonka
- Population from the 2020 Census: 7 people
- Long Lake Colony
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
- Long Lake Colony is located in McPherson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Long Lake Colony
- Estimated population in 2014: 332 people
- Leola
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
- Spink County
- The following are listed by their distance from Richfield Heights, with the one closest to Richfield Heights listed first.
- Duxbury
(18 miles [29 km] to the south)
- Duxbury is located in Spink County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Duxbury
- Estimated population in 2014: 531 people
- Mellette
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
- Northville
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
- Brentford
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Richfield Heights, see our County-by-County Page for Richfield Heights.
Cemeteries Near Richfield Heights ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Richfield Heights.
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.
Although we don't have the information ourselves, if you need information about a burial or interment, photos, transcripts, how to contact the cemetery or local authorities, please visit our list of websites on our Genealogy Helper Page for Richfield Heights - one of the links might be able to help.
If not found below, our Cemetery List for Richfield Heights covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Richfield Heights, with the one closest to Richfield Heights listed first.
- St. Marys Cemetery
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
- Riverside Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
- Sacred Heart Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
- Sunset Memorial Gardens
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
- Westport Cemetery
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
- Pembrook Cemetery
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
- Warner Cemetery
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
- Wetonka Cemetery
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
- Scandinavia Lutheran Cemetery
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
- German Cemetery
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
- Richland Cemetery
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
- New Straasburg Cemetery
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
- Continue List (28 more) ...
- Strassburg Cemetery
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
- James Cemetery
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
- Bretheren Cemetery
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
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.<4>
While we didn't find Richfield Heights in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Richfield Heights.
These communities are listed based on their distance from Richfield Heights, with the one closest to Richfield Heights listed first.
- Aberdeen
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
- Ordway
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
- Ordway is located in Brown County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ordway
- Estimated population in 2014: 306 people
- Westport
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
- Bath
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
- Mina
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
- Rudolph
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
- Rudolph is located in Brown County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rudolph
- Plana
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
- Plana is located in Brown County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plana
- Columbia
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
- Warner
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
- James
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
- James is located in Brown County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for James
- Putney
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
- Putney is located in Brown County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Putney
- Estimated population in 2014: 104 people
- Mansfield
(18 miles [29 km] to the south)
- Continue List (14 more) ...
- Duxbury
(18 miles [29 km] to the south)
- Duxbury is located in Spink County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Duxbury
- Estimated population in 2014: 531 people
- Groton
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
- Huffton
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
- Huffton is located in Brown County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Huffton
- Estimated population in 2014: 316 people
We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Richfield Heights. See our List of 1890's Communities around Richfield Heights.
Newspapers Published in Richfield Heights ...
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 49 newspapers that have been published in the area around Richfield Heights.
Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Richfield Heights, there are papers which were published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<2>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Richfield Heights.
Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...
When we do our genealogical research, we first turn to 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 Richfield Heights:
- Websites specific to South Dakota
- Pages specific to Brown County
- Genealogy information for nearby counties
- Edmunds County
- Faulk County
- McPherson County
- Spink County
- Cemetery Information and Directories for South Dakota
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> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a '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- Richfield Heights) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |
| <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> | 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 Richfield Heights, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |