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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 Rousseau (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 Rousseau. 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 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.

Rousseau is located in Hughes 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 Hughes County: Hyde, Lyman, Stanley & Sully.

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

  • Hughes County     (The home county of Rousseau)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Rousseau, with the one closest to Rousseau listed first.
    • Alto
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
      • Alto is located in Hughes County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alto
    • Canning
      (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
      • Canning is located in Hughes County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Canning
    • Blunt
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
    • Pierre
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
    • Harrold
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Oahe
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
      • Oahe is located in Hughes County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oahe
      • Estimated population in 2014: 474 people
  • Hyde County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Rousseau, with the one closest to Rousseau listed first.
    • Holabird
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Stephan
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
  • Lyman County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Rousseau, with the one closest to Rousseau listed first.
    • Presho
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
    • Vivian
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
    • Lower Brule
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Kennebec
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
  • Stanley County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Rousseau, with the one closest to Rousseau listed first.
    • Fort Pierre
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
    • Verendrye Hill
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
      • Verendrye Hill is located in Stanley County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Verendrye Hill
      • Estimated population in 2014: 5 people
    • Teton
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
      • Teton is located in Stanley County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Teton
      • Estimated population in 2014: 59 people
  • Sully County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Rousseau, with the one closest to Rousseau listed first.
    • Onida
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
    • Okobojo
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Okobojo is located in Sully County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Okobojo

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

Cemeteries Near Rousseau ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Rousseau.

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 Rousseau - one of the links might be able to help.

If not found below, our Cemetery List for Rousseau covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.

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

  • Canning Prairie Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Canning Prairie Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Canning Prairie Cemetery is located 8 miles [12.9 km]<2> to the south of Blunt.
    • The Canning Prairie Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Canning Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2383075 <3>
  • Chapelle Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
  • Riverside Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Riverside Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Riverside Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located outside and to the east of Pierre.
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #97458 <3>
  • Holy Faith Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
  • Pleasant Hill Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Hill Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Pleasant Hill Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located less than 2 miles<2> to the west of Blunt.
    • The Pleasant Hill Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Blunt Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #96825 <3>
  • Calvary Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
  • Mt. Calvary Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
  • Cedar Hill Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
  • Scotty Philip Cemetery
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
  • Medicine Hill Cemetery
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Medicine Hill Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Medicine Hill Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located outside and to the south of Harrold.
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #97239 <3>
  • St. John Cemetery
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for St. John Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the St. John Cemetery is located outside and to the southeast of Harrold.
    • The St. John Cemetery has also been known as:
    • St. John Catholic Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #97543 <3>
  • Lone Grave Cemetery
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
  • Continue List   (12 more) ...
    • Presho Cemetery
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
    • Okobojo Cemetery
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Vivian Cemetery
      (28 miles [45.1 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.<4>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Rousseau had a population of 27 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service.

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

  • Canning
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Canning is located in Hughes County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Canning
  • De Grey
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • De Grey is located in Hughes County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for De Grey
  • Blunt
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
  • Fort Pierre
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
  • Oahe
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Oahe is located in Hughes County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oahe
    • Estimated population in 2014: 474 people
  • Onida
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
  • Holabird
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
  • Okobojo
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Okobojo is located in Sully County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Okobojo
  • Presho
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
  • Lower Brule
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)

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

Newspapers Published in Rousseau ...

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 81 newspapers that have been published in the area around Rousseau.

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

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 Rousseau:

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 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Rousseau) 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 Rousseau, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.