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Our Genealogy Helper

Introduction ...

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

We've added Sweetland to our Gazetteer with the hope that we can develop more information. If you can help us with Sweetland, 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 Sweetland (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 Sweetland. 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.

Although our information shows that the community of Sweetland is historic, it would have been located within present day Hand 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 Hand County: Beadle, Buffalo, Faulk, Hyde, Jerauld & Spink.

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

  • Hand County     (The home county of Sweetland)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Sweetland, with the one closest to Sweetland listed first.
    • Ames
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Ames is located in Hand County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ames
    • Miller
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
    • Saint Lawrence
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
    • Ree Heights
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Florence ‑ Historic
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
      • Florence is located in Hand County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Florence
      • Estimated population in 2014: 374 people
    • Polo
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
      • Polo is located in Hand County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Polo
      • Estimated population in 2014: 227 people
  • Beadle County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Sweetland, with the one closest to Sweetland listed first.
    • Wessington
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Wolsey
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
    • Virgil
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
    • Bonilla
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Bonilla is located in Beadle County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bonilla
  • Buffalo County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Sweetland, with the one closest to Sweetland listed first.
    • Gann Valley
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
    • Shelby
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
      • Shelby is located in Buffalo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shelby
      • Estimated population in 2014: 96 people
    • Crow Creek
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Crow Creek is located in Buffalo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crow Creek
    • Fort Thompson
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Hyde County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Sweetland, with the one closest to Sweetland listed first.
    • Bramhall ‑ Historic
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
      • Bramhall is located in Hyde County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bramhall
    • Stephan
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
    • Highmore
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
  • Jerauld County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Sweetland, with the one closest to Sweetland listed first.
    • Wessington Springs
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Crow Lake
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Crow Lake is located in Jerauld County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crow Lake

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

Cemeteries Near Sweetland ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Sweetland.

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

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

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

  • Ebenezer Baptist Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
  • Rosehill Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
  • G A R Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
  • St. Placidus Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for St. Placidus Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the St. Placidus Cemetery is located 20 miles [32.2 km]<3> to the northeast of Fort Thompson.
    • The St. Placidus Cemetery has also been known as:
    • St. Placidus Catholic Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2168066 <4>
  • Cedar Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
  • New Zion Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
  • St. Anns Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for St. Anns Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the St. Anns Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located outside and to the east of Miller.
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #97512 <4>
  • St. Lawrence Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
  • McNair Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
  • Wessington Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wessington Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Wessington Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located outside of Wessington
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #97801 <4>
  • Morningside Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
  • McCord Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
  • Continue List   (27 more) ...
    • Chery Twp. Pioneer Cemetery
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Earlville Cemetery
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Beulah Cemetery
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)

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.

Sweetland itself is historic and was described in the Rand McNally Atlas as having a population of 16 people in 1895 with a post office and no railroad service.

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

  • Ames
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Ames is located in Hand County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ames
  • Miller
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
  • Saint Lawrence
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
  • Wessington
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Ree Heights
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Bramhall ‑ Historic
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Bramhall is located in Hyde County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bramhall
  • Gann Valley
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
  • Florence ‑ Historic
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
    • Florence is located in Hand County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Florence
    • Estimated population in 2014: 374 people
  • Stephan
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
  • Wolsey
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
  • Highmore
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
  • Burdette
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
    • Burdette is located in Hand County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Burdette
  • Continue List   (6 more) ...
    • Wessington Springs
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Virgil
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
    • Crow Creek
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Crow Creek is located in Buffalo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crow Creek

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

Newspapers Published in Sweetland ...

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 26 newspapers that have been published in the area around Sweetland.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Sweetland, there are papers which were published within 27 miles [43.5 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Sweetland.

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 either 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 Sweetland:

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 Sweetland, 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>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Sweetland) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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.