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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 Volunteer (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 Volunteer. 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.

Volunteer is located in Meade 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 Meade County: Butte, Haakon, Lawrence, Pennington & Ziebach.

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

  • Meade County     (The home county of Volunteer)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Volunteer, with the one closest to Volunteer listed first.
    • Sturgis
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
    • Bend
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
      • Bend is located in Meade County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bend
    • Tilford
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Tilford is located in Meade County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tilford
    • Union Center
      (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
    • Fairpoint
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
      • Fairpoint is located in Meade County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fairpoint
    • Piedmont
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
    • Summerset
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Viewfield
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Viewfield is located in Meade County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Viewfield
      • Estimated population in 2014: 44 people
    • Blackhawk
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
    • Enning
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
  • Butte County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Volunteer, with the one closest to Volunteer listed first.
    • Vale
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Newell
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Nisland
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
    • Fruitdale
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
  • Lawrence County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Volunteer, with the one closest to Volunteer listed first.
    • Centennial City ‑ Historic
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
      • Centennial City is located in Lawrence County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Centennial City
    • Crook City
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
      • Crook City is located in Lawrence County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crook City
    • Whitewood
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
    • Galena
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Galena is located in Lawrence County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Galena
    • Nemo
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Tomahawk
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Tomahawk is located in Lawrence County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tomahawk
      • Estimated population in 2014: 36 people
    • Greenwood
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Greenwood is located in Lawrence County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenwood
      • Greenwood has also been known as:
      • Laflin
    • Saint Onge
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
    • Roubaix
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Roubaix is located in Lawrence County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roubaix
      • Estimated population in 2013: 14 people
    • Deadwood
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
  • Pennington County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Volunteer, with the one closest to Volunteer listed first.
    • Ashland Heights
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
      • Ashland Heights is located in Pennington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ashland Heights
    • Box Elder
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
    • Sioux Village
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
      • Sioux Village is located in Pennington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sioux Village
      • Estimated population in 2014: 262 people
    • Rapid City
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
    • Rapid Valley
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
      • Rapid Valley is located in Pennington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rapid Valley
      • Population from the 2010 Census: 8,260 people
    • South Canyon Country Estates
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
      • South Canyon Country Estates is located in Pennington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Canyon Country Estates
      • Population from the 2010 Census: 364 people

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

Cemeteries Near Volunteer ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Volunteer.

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

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

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

  • Vale Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
  • Wilson Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Beals Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beals Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Beals Cemetery is located less than 2 miles<2> to the west of Vale.
    • The Beals Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Old Vale Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #1305736 <3>
  • Ft. Meade National Cemetery
    (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
  • Bear Butte Cemetery
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
  • Black Hills National Cemetery
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
  • Elk Vale Cemetery
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
  • Hope Cemetery
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
  • Haydraw Cemetery
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
  • Piedmont Cemetery
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
  • Fairpoint Cemetery
    (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
  • Crook City Cemetery
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...
    • Blackhawk Cemetery
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
    • Viewfield Cemetery
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Danish Cemetery
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)

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.<4>

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

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

  • Empire
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Empire is located in Butte County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Empire
  • Vale
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
  • Sturgis
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
  • Tilford
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Tilford is located in Meade County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tilford
  • Bend
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
    • Bend is located in Meade County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bend
  • Piedmont
    (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
  • Crook City
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
    • Crook City is located in Lawrence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crook City
  • Viewfield
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Viewfield is located in Meade County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Viewfield
    • Estimated population in 2014: 44 people
  • Whitewood
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
  • Continue List   (6 more) ...
    • Blackhawk
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
    • Galena
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Galena is located in Lawrence County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Galena
    • Nemo
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Rapid City
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
    • Snoma ‑ Historic
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
      • Snoma is located in Butte County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Snoma
    • Saint Onge
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)

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

Newspapers Published in Volunteer ...

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 37 newspapers that have been published in the area around Volunteer.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Volunteer, there are papers which were published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<2>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Volunteer.

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 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 Volunteer:

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>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or 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- Volunteer) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>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.
<4>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 Volunteer, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.