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 Westport (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 Westport. 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.
Westport is located in Brown 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 Brown County: Dickey (ND), Sargent (ND), Day, Edmunds, Faulk, Marshall, McPherson & Spink.
Below are the counties that are near Westport. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Westport:
- Brown County (The home county of Westport)
- The following are listed by their distance from Westport, with the one closest to Westport listed first.
- Barnard
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
- Ordway
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
- Ordway is located in Brown County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ordway
- Estimated population in 2014: 306 people
- Columbia
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
- Gederos Estates
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
- Gederos Estates is located in Brown County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gederos Estates
- Estimated population in 2014: 212 people
- Pleasant Vally Development
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
- Prairie Wood Village Addition
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
- Prairie Wood Village Addition is located in Brown County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prairie Wood Village Addition
- Estimated population in 2014: 276 people
- Frederick
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
- Aberdeen
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
- Melrose Addition
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
- Melrose Addition is located in Brown County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Melrose Addition
- Estimated population in 2014: 221 people
- Jobee Acres
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
- Jobee Acres is located in Brown County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jobee Acres
- Estimated population in 2014: 15 people
- Bath
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
- Tacoma Park
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
- Tacoma Park is located in Brown County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tacoma Park
- Estimated population in 2014: 413 people
- Bath Corner
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
- Bath Corner is located in Brown County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bath Corner
- Edmunds County
- The following are listed by their distance from Westport, with the one closest to Westport listed first.
- Mina
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
- Craven Corner
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
- Craven Corner is located in Edmunds County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Craven Corner
- Craven
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
- Craven is located in Edmunds County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Craven
- Ipswich
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
- Marshall County
- Amherst
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
- McPherson County
- The following are listed by their distance from Westport, with the one closest to Westport listed first.
- Wetonka
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
- Wetonka is located in McPherson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wetonka
- Population from the 2020 Census: 7 people
- Long Lake Colony
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
- Long Lake Colony is located in McPherson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Long Lake Colony
- Estimated population in 2014: 332 people
- Leola
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
- Spring Creek Colony
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
- Spring Creek Colony is located in McPherson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spring Creek Colony
- Population from the 2010 Census: 268 people
- Spink County
- Duxbury
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
- Duxbury is located in Spink County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Duxbury
- Estimated population in 2014: 531 people
- Dickey County (ND)
- The following are listed by their distance from Westport, with the one closest to Westport listed first.
- Ellendale
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
- Forbes
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
- Silverleaf
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
- Silverleaf is located in Dickey County (ND)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Silverleaf
- Guelph
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
- Guelph is located in Dickey County (ND)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Guelph
- Ludden
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
- Ludden is located in Dickey County (ND)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ludden
- Population from the 2020 Census: 24 people
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Westport, see our County-by-County Page for Westport.
Cemeteries Near Westport ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Westport.
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 Westport - one of the links might be able to help.
If not found below, our Cemetery List for Westport covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Westport, with the one closest to Westport listed first.
- Westport Cemetery
(Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
- St. Marys Cemetery
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
- Sacred Heart Cemetery
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
- Bretheren Cemetery
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
- Frederick Cemetery
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
- Riverside Cemetery
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
- Sunset Memorial Gardens
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
- Wetonka Cemetery
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
- Houghton Cemetery
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
- Savo Cemetery
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
- Pembrook Cemetery
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
- German Cemetery
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
- Continue List (25 more) ...
- Peace Lutheran Cemetery
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
- St. Hyacinth Cemetery
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
- James Cemetery
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
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.<3>
The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Westport had a population of 200 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Westport had a population of 132 people.
These communities are listed based on their distance from Westport, with the one closest to Westport listed first.
- Ordway
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
- Ordway is located in Brown County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ordway
- Estimated population in 2014: 306 people
- Columbia
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
- Aberdeen
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
- Frederick
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
- Plana
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
- Plana is located in Brown County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plana
- Bath
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
- Houghton
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
- Putney
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
- Putney is located in Brown County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Putney
- Estimated population in 2014: 104 people
- James
(18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
- James is located in Brown County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for James
- Mina
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
- Huffton
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
- Huffton is located in Brown County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Huffton
- Estimated population in 2014: 316 people
- Winship
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
- Winship is located in Brown County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Winship
- Estimated population in 2014: 2,862 people
- Continue List (15 more) ...
- Rudolph
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
- Rudolph is located in Brown County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rudolph
- Leola
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
- Warner
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Westport. See our List of 1890's Communities around Westport.
Newspapers Published in Westport ...
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 58 newspapers that have been published in the area around Westport.
Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Westport, there are papers which were published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Westport.
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 Westport:
- Websites specific to South Dakota
- Pages specific to Brown County
- Genealogy information for nearby counties
- Edmunds County
- Marshall County
- McPherson County
- Spink County
- Dickey County
- Cemetery Information and Directories for South Dakota
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> | 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. |
| <3> | 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 Westport, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <4> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Westport) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |