This South Dakota state page of our website provides direct links to major databases and historical titles found on South Dakota genealogy and history, whether they exist on our site, or across the web.
South Dakota Cemeteries
South Dakota Census Records
- South Dakota Census Records
- South Dakota 1910 Census Map
- South Dakota, State Census, 1905
Individual census cards arranged in alphabetical order. - South Dakota, State Census, 1915
Name index and images of census cards from the 1915 South Dakota State Census acquired from the South Dakota State Historical Society. - South Dakota, State Census, 1925
Name index and images of census cards from the 1925 South Dakota State Census acquired from the South Dakota State Historical Society. - South Dakota, State Census, 1935
Name index and images of census cards from the 1935 South Dakota State Census acquired from the South Dakota State Historical Society. - South Dakota, State Census, 1945
Name index and images of census cards from the 1945 South Dakota State Census acquired from the South Dakota State Historical Society.
South Dakota Court Records
- South Dakota, County Naturalization Records, 1865-1972
County Circuit and District court naturalization records from county courthouses in South Dakota. Coverage dates vary by county. The records were acquired from the South Dakota State Historical Society. - South Dakota, Minnehaha County, Probate Case Records, 1873-1935
Probate case records located at the South Dakota State Historical Society in Pierre. The files are arranged by box, folder and file numbers. - South Dakota, Pennington County Probate Case Files, 1880-1937
Images of probate case files from the South Dakota State Historical Society in Pierre. The collection is arranged by case number.
South Dakota Genealogy Websites
United States Genealogy
- South Dakota Genealogy
- Marshall County, South Dakota History and Genealogy
Website providing information and genealogical records for researchers of Mitchell County, South Dakota.
- Marshall County, South Dakota History and Genealogy
United States GenWeb Project
Aurora, Beadle, Bennett, Bon Homme, Brookings, Brown, Brule, Buffalo, Butte, Campbell, Charles Mix, Clark, Clay, Codington, Corson, Custer, Davison, Day, Deuel , Dewey, Douglas, Edmunds, Fall River, Faulk, Grant, Gregory, Haakon, Hamlin, Hand, Hanson, Harding, Hughes, Hutchinson, Hyde, Jackson, Jerauld, Jones, Kingsbury, Lake, Lawrence, Lincoln, Lyman, Marshall, McCook, McPherson, Meade, Mellette, Miner, Minnehaha, Moody, Pennington, Perkins, Potter, Roberts, Sanborn , Shannon, Spink, Stanley, Sully, Todd, Tripp, Turner, Union, Walworth, Yankton, Ziebach
American History and Genealogy Project
- SDGenWeb
Clark, Dewey, Kingsbury, Lake, Miner, Minnehaha, Pennington
South Dakota History
- Marshall County, North Dakota History
About the middle of the seventeenth century French explorers passed through what is now Dakota, and again in the beginning of the present century Lewis and Clark explored this region. In 1809 one of the Astor’s parties, conducted by Mr. Hunt on their way across the continent to the mouth of the Columbia River, ascended the Missouri River to the 46 degree parallel, where they procured horses from the Indians and traveled overland. - Life and Adventures of Calamity Jane (Martha Jane Cannary)
My maiden name was Marthy Cannary. I was born in Princeton, Missouri, May 1st, 1852. Father and mother were natives of Ohio. I had two brothers and three sisters, I being the oldest of the children. As a child I always had a fondness for adventure and out-door exercise and especial fondness for horses which I began to ride at an early age and continued to do so until I became an expert rider being able to ride the most vicious and stubborn of horses, in fact the greater portion of my life in early times was spent in this manner. - South Dakota, Grand Army of the Republic Membership Records, 1861-1941
Images of G.A.R post records from the Dakota and South Dakota Departments. The collection includes membership rosters, attendance registration books of various encampments (some include Women’s Relief Corps.), post descriptive books, member deaths, adjutant reports, muster rolls, lists of officers, applications to form a post, reunion rosters, etc. The descriptive books are arranged by post name and number. Most records include item number, name, post name and number. The descriptive books may list name, age, state of birth, residence in South Dakota, occupation, date-rank-company-regiment of service and final discharge, cause of discharge, when mustered into G.A.R., status, and date of death. The collection was acquired from the South Dakota State Historical Society in Pierre. - South Dakota, School Records, 1879-1970
School records, including teacher’s term reports, school census and attendance records located at the South Dakota State Historical Society in Pierre. Records are generally arranged by county, year and school district number. This collection is being published as images become available.
South Dakota Land Records
- U.S., Bureau of Land Management Tract Books, 1820-1908
3,907 land management tract books containing official records of the land status and transactions involving surveyed public lands arranged by state and then by township and range. These books indicate who obtained the land, and include a physical description of the tract and where the land is located. The type of transaction is also recorded such as cash entry, credit entry, homesteads, patents (deeds) granted by the Federal Government, and other conveyances of title such as Indian allotments, internal improvement grants (to states), military bounty land warrants, private land claims, railroad grants, school grants, and swamp grants. Additional items of information included in the tract books are as follows: number of acres, date of sale, purchase price, land office, entry number, final Certificate of Purchase number, and notes on relinquishments and conversions.
South Dakota Military Records
- Military Records
- Dakota Territory Forts
List of colonial forts, trading posts, named camps, redoubts, reservations, general hospitals, national cemeteries, etc., established or erected in the United States from its earliest settlement to 1902. - South Dakota Forts
List of colonial forts, trading posts, named camps, redoubts, reservations, general hospitals, national cemeteries, etc., established or erected in the United States from its earliest settlement to 1902.
- Revolutionary War
- 1840 Pensioners Census
The information contained in this 1840 Pensioners Census database is a compilation of the data on the Revolutionary War pensioners gathered from the 1840 census returns. The information is organized by place – state, county, then township. It also lists the name and age of the veteran, and the name of the head of household with whom the pensioner resided on the census date. - Revolutionary War Pension Records
- 1840 Pensioners Census
- Civil War Records
- Civil War Pensions Index Cards
Each card gives the soldier’s name, unit, the application number, the certificate number and the state from which the soldier served. In some cases, the soldier’s rank, terms of service, date of death and place of death are given. The index cards refer to pension applications of veterans who served in the U.S. Army between 1861 and 1917. The majority of the records pertain to Civil War veterans, but they also include veterans of the Spanish-American War, the Philippine Insurrection, Indian wars, and World War I.
- Civil War Pensions Index Cards
- World War I Records
- World War II Records
- Korean War Casualty List
- Vietnam War Casualty List
South Dakota Native American Tribes
- South Dakota Indian Tribes
- South Dakota Indian Reservations
- Blackfoot Indians and their Stories
- Marshall County, South Dakota Indian Reservations
- South Dakota Indian Honored War Dead
- Oregon and South Dakota Indians Wounded in Action
- Current Federally Recognized Indian Tribes by State
- List of Federally Non-Recognized Tribes
- State Recognized Tribes
South Dakotas Vital Records
- South Dakota Vital Records
- South Dakota Courthouse Addresses
- South Dakota Birth Records Database
This database contains information from birth records with birth dates of over 100 years of age as required by South Dakota Codified Law 34-25-8. At this time this database contains 244,652 records.- South Dakota, Department of Health, Birth and Marriage Indexes, 1843-2014
Index of birth and marriage indexes from 1843 to 2014 provided by the South Dakota Department of Health.
- South Dakota, Department of Health, Birth and Marriage Indexes, 1843-2014
What’s New in South Dakota Genealogy?
Omaha Indians
Omaha Indians. Meaning “those going against the wind or current”; sometimes shortened to Maha. Also called: Ho’-măn’-hăn, Winnebago name. Hu-úmiûi, Cheyenne Dame. Onǐ’hä°, Cheyenne name, meaning “drum beaters” (?). Pŭk-tǐs, Pawnee name. U’-aha, Pawnee name. Connections. The Omaha belonged to that section of the Siouan linguistic stock which included also the Ponca, Kansa, Osage, and Quapaw, and which was called by J. O. Dorsey (1897) Dhegiha. Location. Their principal home in historic times was in northeastern Nebraska, on the Missouri River. (See also Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, and South Dakota.) History. According to strong and circumstantial traditions, the Omaha and others…
Kiowa Indians
Winnebago Indians
Biography of Thomas E. Smith
Thomas E. Smith. The name Thomas E. Smith is at once associated with the wealthy and successful business men of Champaign. Success did not come to him like manna from the skies, but was earned by the hardest kind of effort. He gained some of his early experience as a pioneer on the Northwestern prairies of the Dakotas and Montana. For many years Mr. Smith has been in the meat business at Champaign and is now proprietor of two large cold storage plants and handles his business on a wholesale scale. He was born near Potomac, Vermilion County, Illinois, January…
Sutaio Indians
Dakota Indians
Cheyenne Indians
Arapaho Indians
Possibly from the Pawnee tirapihu or larapihu, signifiying “trader.” Also called: Ähyä’to, Kiowa name. Ano’s-anyotskano, Kichai name. Bĕtidĕĕ, Kiowa Apache name. Detseka’yaa, Caddo name, signifying “dog eaters.” Dog Eaters. E-tah-leh, Hidatsa name, signifying “bison path Indians.” Hitänwo’ǐv, Cheyenne name, signifying “cloud men” or “sky men.” Inûna-ina, own name, signifying “our people.” Ita-Iddi, Hidatsa name (Maximilian). Kaninahoish, Chippewa name. Komséka-Ki`ñahyup, former Kiowa name, signifying “men of the worn-out leggings.” Kun na-nar-wesh or Gene des Vach[es], by Lewis and Clark (1804). Mahpíyato, Dakota name, signifying “blue cloud.” Niă’rharǐ’s-kûrikiwa’ahûski, Wichita name. Särĕtǐka, Comanche and Shoshoni name, signifying “dog eaters”; the Pawnee, Wichita, and…
Mandan Indians
Mandan Indians. Probably a corruption of the Dakota word applied to them, Mawatani. Also called: A-rach-bo-cu, Hidatsa name (Long, 1791) As-a-ka-shi, Us-suc-car-shay, Crow name. How-mox-tox-sow-es, Hidatsa name (?). Kanit’, Arikara name. Kwowahtewug, Ottawa name. Métutahanke, own name since 1837, after their old village. Mo-no’-ni-o, Cheyenne name. Numakaki, own name prior to 1837, meaning “men,” “people.” U-ka’-she, Crow name, meaning “earth houses.” Mandan Connections. The Mandan belonged to the Siouan linguistic stock. Their connections are with the Tutelo and Winnebago rather than the nearer Siouan tribes. Mandan Location. When known to the Whites, the Mandan were on the same part of…
Biographical Sketch of Jo Lu Wolcott
Miss Jo Lu Wolcott, matron, February to June, 1912, was a daughter of the late Dr. Wolcott of Chandler, Oklahoma. She has had considerable experience as a teacher in the public schools of Kansas and Oklahoma, and in the government school for the Indians at Navajo Falls, Colorado. She is now serving as a teacher in an Indian school in South Dakota.
