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?
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.
Treaty of October 2, 1863
Articles of a treaty made and concluded at the Old Crossing of Red Lake River, in the State of Minnesota, on the second day of October, in the year eighteen hundred and sixty-three, between the United States of America, by their commissioners, Alexander Ramsey and Ashley C. Morrill, agent for the Chippewa Indians, and the Red Lake and Pembina bands of Chippewas; by their chiefs, head-men, and warriors. Article 1.The peace and friendship now existing between the United States and the Red Lake and Pembina bands of Chippewa Indians shall be perpetual. Article 2.The said Red Lake and Pembina bands…
Supplementary Agreement with the Chippewa, April 12, 1864
Articles supplementary to the treaty made and concluded at the Old Crossing of Red Lake River, in the State of Minnesota, on the second day of October, in the year eighteen hundred and sixty-three, between the United States of America, by their commissioners, Clark W. Thompson and Ashley C. Morrill, and the Red Lake and Pembina bands of Chippewa Indians, by their chiefs, head-men, and warriors, concluded at the city of Washington, District of Columbia, on the twelfth day of April, in the year eighteen hundred and sixty-four, between the United States, by the said commissioners, of the one part,…
Treaty of September 17, 1851
Articles of a treaty made and concluded at Fort Laramie, in the Indian Territory, between D. D. Mitchell, superintendent of Indian affairs, and Thomas Fitzpatrick, Indian agent, commissioners specially appointed and authorized by the President of the United States, of the first part, and the chiefs, headmen, and braves of the following Indian nations, residing south of the Missouri River, east of the Rocky Mountains, and north of the lines of Texas and New Mexico, viz, the Sioux or Dahcotahs, Cheyennes, Arrapahoes, Crows, Assinaboines, Gros-Ventre Mandans, and Arrickaras, parties of the second part, on the seventeenth day of September, A.…
Biography of James O’Neill
James O’Neill came to the northwest from the far-off Atlantic coast: nor have his travels been limited by his journey across the continent, for he spent some time among the mountains in the distant south. He was born in Rondout, New York, May 6, 1861 his parents being Patrick and Hannah (Mullroy) O’Neill, natives of Ireland. Both crossed the Atlantic to the United States in childhood, and were reared, educated and married in the Empire state. The father, who was a tanner by trade, died when our subject was only about five years old leaving the mother to care for…
Biography of William W. Webb
William W. Webb. A resident of Topeka thirty years, Mr. Webb was at first in the service of the Sants Fe Railway Company, later a merchant, and for many years past had been in the real esfate and insurance business. Successful in private affairs, his enterprise in public matters is worthy of special mention. In 1890 he became identified with the Topeka Commercial Club. Through that medium he had worked in and out of season for the improvement and betterment of his city. He had asslsted in every undertaking prompted by the club, and was particularly active in the movement…
Biography of Carl Judge
Carl Judge. While Carl Judge, the well known journalist, the owner and editor of the Beverly Tribune, at Beverly, Kansas, could ill be spared from the newspaper profession, there are other lines in which he was trained, and in which he would have undoubtedly gained recognition had he chosen to pursue them. Mr. Judge was a man of considerable newspaper experience before he came to Kansas, and had owned and very ably edited other journals than the Tribune. Carl Judge was born in Osage County, Kansas, July 10, 1878. His parents were Martyr C. and Mary (Roberts) Judge. His father…
