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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 Yale (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 Yale. 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.

Yale is located in Beadle 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 Beadle County: Clark, Hand, Jerauld, Kingsbury, Miner, Sanborn & Spink.

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

  • Beadle County     (The home county of Yale)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Yale, with the one closest to Yale listed first.
    • Cavour
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cavour have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cavour
      • Cavour is located in Beadle County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 126 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Cavour <2>
    • Morningside
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Huron
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Huron Colony
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
      • 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
    • Broadland
      (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
    • Virgil
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
      • 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>
    • Wolsey
      (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
      • 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
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
      • 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>
    • Bonilla
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
  • Clark County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Yale, with the one closest to Yale listed first.
    • Pitrodie ‑ Historic
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Pitrodie have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pitrodie
      • Pitrodie is located in Clark County
      • Estimated population in 2014: 25 people
    • Carpenter
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
    • Willow Lake
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Willow Lake have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Willow Lake
      • Willow Lake is located in Clark County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 244 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Willow Lake <2>
    • Merton ‑ Historic
      (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Merton have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Merton
      • Merton is located in Clark County
      • Estimated population in 2014: 55 people
    • Success ‑ Historic
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Success have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Success
      • Success is located in Clark County
      • Estimated population in 2014: 6,741 people
    • Vienna
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Vienna. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vienna
      • Vienna is located in Clark County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 46 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Vienna <2>
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Vienna
      • From Yale to Vienna
  • Hamlin County
  • Jerauld County
    • Alpena
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
      • 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>
  • Kingsbury County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Yale, with the one closest to Yale listed first.
    • Osceola
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Osceola. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Osceola
      • Osceola is located in Kingsbury County
      • Estimated population in 2014: 90 people
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Osceola
      • From Yale to Osceola
    • Iroquois
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Bancroft
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Bancroft. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bancroft
      • Bancroft is located in Kingsbury County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 19 people
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Bancroft
      • From Yale to Bancroft
    • Manchester
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Manchester have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Manchester
      • Manchester is located in Kingsbury County
      • Estimated population in 2014: 65 people
    • Esmond
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Esmond have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Esmond
      • Esmond is located in Kingsbury County
      • Estimated population in 2014: 60 people
    • De Smet
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
    • Erwin
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Erwin have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Erwin
      • Erwin is located in Kingsbury County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 45 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Erwin <2>
    • Lake Preston
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
  • Miner County
  • Sanborn County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Yale, with the one closest to Yale listed first.
    • Artesian
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Artesian have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Artesian
      • Artesian is located in Sanborn County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 134 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Artesian <2>
    • Forestburg
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
    • Woonsocket
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Spink County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Yale, with the one closest to Yale listed first.
    • Spink Colony
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
      • 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
    • Spottswood
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Spottswood. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spottswood
      • Spottswood is located in Spink County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Spottswood
      • From Yale to Spottswood

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

Cemeteries Near Yale ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Yale.

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

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

  • Trinity Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Trinity Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Trinity Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • St. Patrick Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Patrick Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Patrick Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Cavour Protestant Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Cavour Protestant Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Cavour Protestant Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Dixon Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Dixon Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Dixon Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Shue Creek Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Shue Creek Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Shue Creek Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • St. Williams Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Williams Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Williams Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Faith Mennonite Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
  • Atfield Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Atfield Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Atfield Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • St. Martin Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Martin Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Martin Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Riverside Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Ideal Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Ideal Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Ideal Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • LeSueur Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the LeSueur Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the LeSueur Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (54 more) ...
    • Restlawn Memory Garden
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Restlawn Memory Garden
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Restlawn Memory Garden have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Petrodie Cemetery
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Union Cemetery
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Union Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Union Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.

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.<6>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that in 1895, Yale had a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Yale had a population of 116 people.

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

  • Sheffield
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sheffield have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sheffield
    • Sheffield is located in Beadle County
  • Cavour
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cavour have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cavour
    • Cavour is located in Beadle County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 126 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Cavour <2>
  • Osceola
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Osceola. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Osceola
    • Osceola is located in Kingsbury County
    • Estimated population in 2014: 90 people
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Osceola
    • From Yale to Osceola
  • Iroquois
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
  • Pitrodie ‑ Historic
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Pitrodie have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pitrodie
    • Pitrodie is located in Clark County
    • Estimated population in 2014: 25 people
  • Huron
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Bancroft
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Bancroft. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bancroft
    • Bancroft is located in Kingsbury County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 19 people
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Bancroft
    • From Yale to Bancroft
  • Manchester
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Manchester have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Manchester
    • Manchester is located in Kingsbury County
    • Estimated population in 2014: 65 people
  • James Valley Junction
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for James Valley Junction have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for James Valley Junction
    • James Valley Junction is located in Beadle County
  • Esmond
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Esmond have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Esmond
    • Esmond is located in Kingsbury County
    • Estimated population in 2014: 60 people
  • LaDelle
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for LaDelle have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for LaDelle
    • LaDelle is located in Spink County
  • Broadland
    (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...
    • De Smet
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
    • Willow Lake
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Willow Lake have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Willow Lake
      • Willow Lake is located in Clark County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 244 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Willow Lake <2>
    • Carlton ‑ Historic
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Carlton have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carlton
      • Carlton is located in Clark County

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

Newspapers Published in Yale ...

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 52 newspapers that have been published in the area around Yale.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Yale, 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 Yale.

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 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 Yale:

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

The official website for Beadle County: www.beadlecounty.org/

The official website for State of South Dakota: https://www.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>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.
<4>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 from Point A (ie- Yale) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Yale. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 44.4341, Longitude: -97.9901    
<5>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.
<6>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 Yale, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 29 Apr 2025