South Dakota has the nickname of “The Mount Rushmore State”. Obviously, it is because South Dakota is the state where Mount Rushmore is located. Are you looking for more information about your ancestors who once lived in South Dakota? If so, then here are a bunch of South Dakota genealogy resources that can help you.
Ancestry.com has a page that is filled with links to all of their South Dakota record collections. In order to access these collections, you must have an Ancestry.com membership. Once in a while, a collection or two may be offered for free access. Return to their website often. Ancestry.com does a great job of making it clear when a collection is new, has been updated, or is currently being offered for free.
FamilySearch has a Wiki page about the state of South Dakota. There are links to more FamilySearch Wiki pages that are about each of the counties within the state. You can also find links to more information about major repositories of South Dakota records. Toward the bottom of the page, there are two links to a couple more FamilySearch Wiki pages about specific FamilySearch collections of South Dakota records.
Facebook has a Community Page about FamilySearch South Dakota Genealogy Research. This is a great resource for genealogists who want to connect with other genealogists who are also working on South Dakota research right now. You can also find links to relevant FamilySearch South Dakota collections.
GeneaLinks has a search engine at the top of its website. Put the first name and the surname of your ancestor into it. Choose which type of records you want to search through: vital, birth, death, marriage, divorce, or “Genealogy”. GeneaLinks also has helpful information for genealogists who are new to South Dakota genealogy. Did you know that South Dakota has a number of different types of vital records, and that not all of them are open to the general public?
Interment.net has cemetery records online. Start by putting the first and last name of your ancestor into the search engine at the top of their page. Or, you can start by selecting a specific South Dakota county. If there is a link to that county, it indicates that Interment.net has information about records from cemeteries that are within the county. At a glance, it looks as though slightly less than half of the counties in South Dakota have this type of information.
Image by Becky Houtman on Flickr