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 Thunder Butte (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 Thunder Butte. 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 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.

Thunder Butte is located in Ziebach 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 Ziebach County: Dewey, Haakon, Meade, Pennington, Perkins & Stanley.

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

• Ziebach County     (The home county of Thunder Butte)
  • The following are listed by their distance from Thunder Butte, with the one closest to Thunder Butte listed first.
  • Iron Lightning
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Iron Lightning have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Iron Lightning
    • Iron Lightning is located in Ziebach County
    • Estimated population in 2014: 412 people
  • Dupree
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dupree
    • Dupree is located in Ziebach County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 499 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Dupree <2>
  • Red Elm ‑ Historic
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Red Elm have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Red Elm
    • Red Elm is located in Ziebach County
  • Glad Valley
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glad Valley
    • Glad Valley is located in Ziebach County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Glad Valley <2>
• Dewey County
  • The following are listed by their distance from Thunder Butte, with the one closest to Thunder Butte listed first.
  • Isabel
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Isabel have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Isabel
    • Isabel is located in Dewey County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 150 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Isabel <2>
  • Lantry
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lantry
    • Lantry is located in Dewey County
    • Estimated population in 2014: 58 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Lantry <2>
  • Green Grass
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Green Grass have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Grass
    • Green Grass is located in Dewey County
    • Population from the 2010 Census: 35 people
  • Firesteel
    (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Firesteel
    • Firesteel is located in Dewey County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Firesteel <2>
  • Eagle Butte
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Eagle Butte have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eagle Butte
    • Eagle Butte is located in Dewey County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,418 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Eagle Butte <2>
  • North Eagle Butte
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for North Eagle Butte have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Eagle Butte
    • North Eagle Butte is located in Dewey County
    • Population from the 2010 Census: 1,954 people
  • Parade
    (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Parade
    • Parade is located in Dewey County
    • Estimated population in 2014: 34 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Parade <2>
• Meade County
  • Faith
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Faith have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Faith
    • Faith is located in Meade County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 410 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Faith <2>
• Perkins County
  • Usta
    (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Usta have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Usta
    • Usta is located in Perkins County
    • Estimated population in 2014: 22 people

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

Newspapers Published in Thunder Butte ...

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 13 newspapers that have been published in the area around Thunder Butte.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Thunder Butte, there are papers which were published within 25 miles [40.2 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Thunder Butte.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we begin 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 Thunder Butte:

• Websites specific to South Dakota
  • Jump to Cyndi's List
  • Jump to Family Search
  • Jump to Genealogy Trails
  • Website for the South Dakota State Archives

• Pages specific to Ziebach County
  • Jump to Cyndi's List
  • Jump to Family Search
  • Jump to Genealogy Trails

• Genealogy information for nearby counties
  • Dewey County
    • Jump to Cyndi's List
    • Jump to Family Search
    • Jump to Genealogy Trails
  • Meade County
    • Jump to Cyndi's List
    • Jump to Family Search
    • Jump to Genealogy Trails
  • Perkins County
    • Jump to Cyndi's List
    • Jump to Family Search
    • Jump to Genealogy Trails

• Cemetery Information and Directories for South Dakota
  • Cemetery Junction: Cemeteries of South Dakota
  • Cyndi's List
  • Cemeteries of South Dakota
  • Cemeteries of Ziebach County
  • FamilySearch.org: Cemeteries of South Dakota
  • Find-A-Grave: Home Page
  • Interment.net
  • Cemeteries of South Dakota

Cemeteries Near Thunder Butte ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Thunder Butte.

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

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

• St. Luke Cemetery
  (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Luke Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Luke Cemetery
• Iron Lightning Cemetery
  (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Iron Lightning Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Iron Lightning Cemetery
• Dupree Cemetery
  (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
  • To give a relative sense of its location, the Dupree Cemetery is located outside and to the northeast of Dupree.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Dupree Cemetery
  • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2145302 <4>
• Red Elm Cemetery
  (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Red Elm Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Red Elm Cemetery
• St. James Cemetery
  (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. James Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. James Cemetery
• Hillview Cemetery
  (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Hillview Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Hillview Cemetery
• Lantry Cemetery
  (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Lantry Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Lantry Cemetery
• Faith Cemetery
  (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Faith Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Faith Cemetery
• Green Grass Cemetery
  (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Green Grass Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Green Grass Cemetery
• St. Joseph Cemetery
  (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Joseph Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Joseph Cemetery
• Eagle Butte Cemetery
  (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Eagle Butte Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Eagle Butte Cemetery
• St. Marks Cemetery
  (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Marks Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Marks Cemetery
• Our Savior Cemetery
  (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Our Savior Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Our Savior Cemetery
• On-a-Tree Cemetery
  (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the On-a-Tree Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the On-a-Tree Cemetery

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

Off-the-Road Links ...

Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Thunder Butte. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.

The official website for State of South Dakota: sd.gov/