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Our Genealogy Helper

Introduction ...

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

We've added Swett to our Gazetteer with the hope that we can develop more information. If you can help us with Swett, 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 Swett (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 Swett. 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 northeast corner of their home county. During their lives, most doctors and hospitals were in the next county to the east. 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 east 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 Swett is historic, it would have been located within present day Bennett 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 Bennett County: Cherry (NE), Jackson, Oglala Lakota & Todd.

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

  • Bennett County     (The home county of Swett)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Swett, with the one closest to Swett listed first.
    • Allen
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Plenty Bears
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Plenty Bears have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plenty Bears
      • Plenty Bears is located in Bennett County
      • Estimated population in 2014: 109 people
    • Martin
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
    • Tuthill
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
    • Vetal
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vetal
      • Vetal is located in Bennett County
  • Jackson County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Swett, with the one closest to Swett listed first.
    • Potato Creek
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Potato Creek
      • Potato Creek is located in Jackson County
    • Long Valley
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Long Valley have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Long Valley
      • Long Valley is located in Jackson County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Long Valley <2>
  • Oglala Lakota County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Swett, with the one closest to Swett listed first.
    • Batesland
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Batesland have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Batesland
      • Batesland is located in Oglala Lakota County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 113 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Batesland <2>
    • Kyle
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Porcupine
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
    • Denby
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Denby
      • Denby is located in Oglala Lakota County
    • Wounded Knee
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
    • Manderson - White Horse Creek
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Manderson - White Horse Creek. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<4>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Manderson - White Horse Creek
      • Manderson - White Horse Creek is located in Oglala Lakota County
    • Manderson
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
    • Sharps Corner
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sharps Corner
      • Sharps Corner is located in Oglala Lakota County
      • Estimated population in 2014: 77 people
  • Cherry County (NE)
    • Merriman
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
  • Sheridan County (NE)
    • Gordon
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gordon
      • Gordon is located in Sheridan County (NE)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,486 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Gordon <2>

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

Newspapers Published in Swett ...

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 17 newspapers that have been published in the area around Swett.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Swett, there are papers which were published within 28 miles [45.1 km]<5>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Swett.

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 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 Swett:

Cemeteries Near Swett ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Swett.

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

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

  • St. Mary's Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
  • Red Bear Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Red Bear Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Red Bear Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #97436 <6>
  • Peyote Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
  • Pleasant Hill Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
  • St. Johns Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
  • Knight Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Knight Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Knight Cemetery
  • Body of Christ Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Salaway Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
  • Feather on Head Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Feather on Head Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Feather on Head Cemetery
  • St. Joseph Cemetery
    (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
    • 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.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Joseph Cemetery
  • Mediator Cemetery
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Mediator Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Mediator Cemetery
  • Our Lady of the Lake Cemetery
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
  • Continue List   (19 more) ...

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.

While we didn't find Swett in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Swett.

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

  • Irwin
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Irwin have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Irwin
    • Irwin is located in Cherry County (NE)
  • Merriman
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
  • Albany ‑ Historic
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Albany have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Albany
    • Albany is located in Sheridan County (NE)
  • Gordon
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gordon
    • Gordon is located in Sheridan County (NE)
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,486 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Gordon <2>
  • Eli
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Eli have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eli
    • Eli is located in Cherry County (NE)

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

The official website for State of South Dakota: 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 Swett, 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>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.
<5>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- Swett) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Swett. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 43.1728, Longitude: -101.9501    
<6>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.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024