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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 Stephan (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 Stephan. 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 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 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.

Stephan is located in Hyde 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 Hyde County: Buffalo, Faulk, Hand, Hughes, Lyman, Potter & Sully.

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

  • Hyde County     (The home county of Stephan)
  • Buffalo County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Stephan, with the one closest to Stephan listed first.
    • Fort Thompson
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Fort Thompson have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fort Thompson
      • Fort Thompson is located in Buffalo County
      • Population from the 2010 Census: 1,282 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Fort Thompson <1>
    • Crow Creek
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Crow Creek. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crow Creek
      • Crow Creek is located in Buffalo County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Crow Creek
      • From Stephan to Crow Creek
    • Shelby
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Shelby have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shelby
      • Shelby is located in Buffalo County
      • Estimated population in 2014: 96 people
    • Gann Valley
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
  • Hand County
  • Hughes County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Stephan, with the one closest to Stephan listed first.
    • Harrold
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Harrold have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harrold
      • Harrold is located in Hughes County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 128 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Harrold <1>
    • Canning
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Canning have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Canning
      • Canning is located in Hughes County
    • Rousseau
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rousseau have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rousseau
      • Rousseau is located in Hughes County
  • Lyman County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Stephan, with the one closest to Stephan listed first.
    • Lower Brule
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lower Brule have been provided by the GNIS.<3> 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>
    • East Lyman
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for East Lyman have been provided by the GNIS.<3> 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
    • Reliance
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Reliance have been provided by the GNIS.<3> 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>
    • Lyman
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lyman have been provided by the GNIS.<3> 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

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

Cemeteries Near Stephan ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Stephan.

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

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

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.<7>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Stephan had a population of 27 people in 1895 with a post office and no railroad service. In 2014, Stephan had a population of 192 people.

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

  • Lower Brule
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lower Brule have been provided by the GNIS.<3> 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>
  • Ames
    (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
  • Highmore
    (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
  • Holabird
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
  • Bramhall ‑ Historic
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bramhall have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bramhall
    • Bramhall is located in Hyde County
  • Ree Heights
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
  • Crow Creek
    (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Crow Creek. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crow Creek
    • Crow Creek is located in Buffalo County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Crow Creek
    • From Stephan to Crow Creek
  • De Grey
    (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for De Grey have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for De Grey
    • De Grey is located in Hughes County
  • Sweetland ‑ Historic
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sweetland have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sweetland
    • Sweetland is located in Hand County
  • Gann Valley
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
  • Lyman
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lyman have been provided by the GNIS.<3> 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
  • Miller
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)

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

Newspapers Published in Stephan ...

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 16 newspapers that have been published in the area around Stephan.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Stephan, there are papers which were published within 29 miles [46.7 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Stephan.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we start with 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 Stephan:

Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Stephan. 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>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.
<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>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- Stephan) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Stephan. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 44.2476, Longitude: -99.4557    
<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>If we found a location and have questions about the accuracy of our information, we will simply say that the marker is 'in the vicinity'. We are not confident about the location and the position of our marker is only a rough guide. If we have too many doubts about the location, we will not include it in our database.
<7>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 Stephan, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 29 Apr 2025