RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of South Dakota >> Hand County >> Vayland >> Genealogy HelperIndex...










Learn About
The Commemorative
Quarter for
South Dakota

The Commemorative Quarter for South Dakota





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 Vayland (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 Vayland. 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 southeast 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 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 east 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.

Vayland is located in Hand 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 Hand County: Beadle, Buffalo, Faulk, Hyde, Jerauld & Spink.

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

  • Hand County     (The home county of Vayland)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Vayland, with the one closest to Vayland listed first.
    • Saint Lawrence
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Saint Lawrence have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saint Lawrence
      • Saint Lawrence is located in Hand County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 181 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Saint Lawrence <2>
    • Miller
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Florence ‑ Historic
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Florence have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Florence
      • Florence is located in Hand County
      • Estimated population in 2014: 374 people
    • Ree Heights
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ree Heights have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ree Heights
      • Ree Heights is located in Hand County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 58 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Ree Heights <2>
    • Ames
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ames
      • Ames is located in Hand County
    • Polo
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Polo have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Polo
      • Polo is located in Hand County
      • Estimated population in 2014: 227 people
  • Beadle County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Vayland, with the one closest to Vayland listed first.
    • Wessington
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Wessington have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wessington
      • Wessington is located in Beadle County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 179 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Wessington <2>
    • Bonilla
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bonilla
      • Bonilla is located in Beadle County
    • Wolsey
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Wolsey have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wolsey
      • Wolsey is located in Beadle County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 400 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Wolsey <2>
    • Hitchcock
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hitchcock have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hitchcock
      • Hitchcock is located in Beadle County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 97 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Hitchcock <2>
    • Broadland
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Broadland
      • Broadland is located in Beadle County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 32 people
    • Virgil
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Virgil have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Virgil
      • Virgil is located in Beadle County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 18 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Virgil <2>
    • Huron Colony
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Huron Colony have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Huron Colony
      • Huron Colony is located in Beadle County
      • Estimated population in 2014: 403 people
    • Huron
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Huron
      • Huron is located in Beadle County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 13,420 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Huron <2>
  • Faulk County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Vayland, with the one closest to Vayland listed first.
    • Rockham
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rockham have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rockham
      • Rockham is located in Faulk County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 33 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Rockham <2>
    • Zell
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Zell have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Zell
      • Zell is located in Faulk County
      • Estimated population in 2014: 65 people
  • Jerauld County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Vayland, with the one closest to Vayland listed first.
    • Wessington Springs
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
    • Alpena
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Alpena have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alpena
      • Alpena is located in Jerauld County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 278 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Alpena <2>
  • Spink County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Vayland, with the one closest to Vayland listed first.
    • Spottswood
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Spottswood have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spottswood
      • Spottswood is located in Spink County
    • Tulare
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Tulare have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tulare
      • Tulare is located in Spink County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 209 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Tulare <2>
    • Redfield
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Spink Colony
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Spink Colony have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spink Colony
      • Spink Colony is located in Spink County
      • Estimated population in 2014: 155 people

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

Newspapers Published in Vayland ...

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 55 newspapers that have been published in the area around Vayland.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Vayland, there are papers which were published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Vayland.

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 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 Vayland:

Cemeteries Near Vayland ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Vayland.

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

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

  • Wessington Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Wessington Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located outside of Wessington
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Wessington Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #97801 <4>
  • Beulah Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Beulah Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Beulah Cemetery
  • St. Lawrence Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Lawrence Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Lawrence Cemetery
  • St. Anns Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
  • McCord Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
  • G A R Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the G A R Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the G A R Cemetery
  • Sunbeam Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Sunbeam Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Sunbeam Cemetery
  • Rosehill Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Rosehill Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Rosehill Cemetery
  • McNair Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the McNair Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the McNair Cemetery
  • Buffalo Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Buffalo Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Buffalo Cemetery
  • Burdette Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Burdette Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Burdette Cemetery
  • St. Johns Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Johns Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Johns Cemetery
  • Continue List   (31 more) ...
    • Bonilla Cemetery
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Bonilla Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Bonilla Cemetery
    • Garfield Cemetery
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Garfield Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Garfield Cemetery
    • St. Johns Cemetery
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Johns Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Johns Cemetery

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.<5>

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

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

  • Wessington
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Wessington have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wessington
    • Wessington is located in Beadle County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 179 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Wessington <2>
  • Saint Lawrence
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Saint Lawrence have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saint Lawrence
    • Saint Lawrence is located in Hand County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 181 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Saint Lawrence <2>
  • Miller
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
  • Sweetland ‑ Historic
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sweetland have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sweetland
    • Sweetland is located in Hand County
  • Burdette
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Burdette have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Burdette
    • Burdette is located in Hand County
  • Bonilla
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bonilla
    • Bonilla is located in Beadle County
  • Wolsey
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Wolsey have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wolsey
    • Wolsey is located in Beadle County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 400 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Wolsey <2>
  • Florence ‑ Historic
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Florence have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Florence
    • Florence is located in Hand County
    • Estimated population in 2014: 374 people
  • Spottswood
    (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Spottswood have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spottswood
    • Spottswood is located in Spink County
  • Ree Heights
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ree Heights have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ree Heights
    • Ree Heights is located in Hand County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 58 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Ree Heights <2>
  • Ames
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ames
    • Ames is located in Hand County
  • Hitchcock
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hitchcock have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hitchcock
    • Hitchcock is located in Beadle County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 97 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Hitchcock <2>
  • Continue List   (9 more) ...
    • Broadland
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Broadland
      • Broadland is located in Beadle County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 32 people
    • Tulare
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Tulare have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tulare
      • Tulare is located in Spink County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 209 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Tulare <2>
    • Virgil
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Virgil have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Virgil
      • Virgil is located in Beadle County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 18 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Virgil <2>

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

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

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

Footnotes ...

<1>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.
<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 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Vayland) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Vayland. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 44.4936, Longitude: -98.7990       In this case, the coordinates for Vayland have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<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.
<5>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 Vayland, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

Copyright 2024
All Rights Reserved

Thank you for visiting our website.

In closing, please keep in mind that we can not guarantee the accuracy or timeliness of the information on this website, so use with care. We encourage you to double-check the information that is critical to you.

If you've found an error or have additional information that you would like to share, please don't hesitate to write: Click here to contact us.

This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024