Douglas County, SD
SDGenWeb Project

Find Someone

·        About the South Dakota GenWeb Project

·        Douglas County Resources / Lookup Volunteers

·        Locate County Cemetaries

·        Grave Registrations ca 1906

·        Businesses 1909 - 1917

·        Douglas County Land Grants

·        Genealogy Help 1

·        Genealogy Help 2

Places & Things To See

·        Douglas County Map 1895

·        Douglas County Map Today

·        Lost Towns in Douglas County

·        Douglas County Today

·        Armour, SD Today

·        Corsica, SD Today

As the above maps indicate, Douglas County has changed very little, town and village wise, in a century.  With more farm acreage than people (3400 people in 2004), that is probably why farmers settled the region in the first place.

Douglas County South Dakota Genealogy

About the South Dakota GenWeb Project

In June, 1996, a group of genealogists organized the South Dakota Comprehensive Genealogy Database (SDGENWEB). The idea was to provide a single entry point for all counties in South Dakota, where collected databases would be stored. In addition, the databases would be indexed and cross-linked, so that even if an individual were found in more than one county, they could be located in the index. At the same time, volunteers were found who were willing to coordinate the collection of data and photos and generally oversee the contents of the web page.

This particular page is dedicated to all those who have ancestors that settled in Douglas County and may be interested in learning more about their roots or need assistance in the their search for same.  Please contact Curtis Menning if you would like to add your data, photos or requests for help.

If there is no prompt response, contact Joy Fisher

Douglas County Genealogy Photos

Click on any photo for a larger view.

Curtis Menning would like assistance in learning the names of the parents of his great great grandfather, or the town in the Netherlands where he was born, so that his genealogy can be researched further. Harmen Devries (1842 - 1913) first emigrated to Pella Iowa, where his first child was born.  He then moved to New Holland, Nebraska, where his remaining children were born.  The family followed "the call to farms" in Douglas County, SD with the family finally settling there. The boys Gerrit and Herman in the photo are believed to be buried in Graceland Cemetary, Corsica, Douglas, SD.

Promoting the myth that "we Dutch folks all look alike," Harmen's brother Evert is the "spitting image" of his brother.  He should be as Harmen and Evert are surviving twins from triplets.  Finding Evert's parents means Harmen's parents are located as well.  Evert followed a pattern similar to Harmen.  He started his family in Pella, Iowa where the three oldest children were identified from the 1880 census at Knoxville, Marion, Iowa.  By 8/04/1880 he shows up on the Bureau of Land Management Database for the states of Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota as already owning land in South Dakota.  There must be "many a tall tale" surrounding the badge on his chest.

Lost Grandmother.  Curtis Menning has had this photo in his possession for more than 30 years and still has not figured out who she is.  The photo was taken at Hayden Studios in Lincoln, Nebraska, probably late in the 19th century.  Judging from her retention of the Dutch form of dress, her age, probably already a widow (no husband in an expensive portrait), it would appear she emigrated late in life, probably to join the DeVries family already in Nebraska and may have died before the big move to South Dakota.  Hand written clues on the back of the photo suggests she is a great grandmother of one of Evert DeVries' children.  That would make her Harmen's (above) grandmother and Curtis Menning's great-great-great grandmother.  Another clue on the back of the photo indicates she has current DeVries descendants living in California today, so for some of those descendants she could easily be a 5X or 6X great grandmother.  What a find then.  Very few people possess photos of ancestors that far back.

Settling down to farm on the prairie meant families were few and far between, making "socialization" a concerted effort.  Equally difficult would be finding someone to marry.  Often it became a case of "You marry Helen and I will take her sister."  The inter-marrying between the same families is evident in this photo of a Keuning-Menning, extended family outing in 1905 in the Armour-Corsica region.  While a Family Key is presented, it is still difficult to figure out who belongs to what family and for what reason.  Many of these folks, including the Keunings, are buried in Graceland Cemetary, Corsica, SD.

(The original post was…) Are the lasts names of Wesseling or Sterk in your genealogy for the Armour-Harrison, South Dakota areas?  If so, you may recognize this person, believed to be Jennie Wesseling (1875-1961), spouse of Thijs Jans Sterk  Click on her photo to see what information we have located so far.

Your Douglas Genealogy Photos Here

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Harvest Time near Corsica SD about 1940.  The small boy in the foreground of the photo still lives in Corsica.

Two Horsepower was all that was needed for plowing near Armour SD in the 1920s.  Since this is a genealogy web site, we even documented the names of the horses in the photo as Pet and Florie.