SVGS History
The Sioux Valley Genealogical Society (SVGS) was organized in Sioux Falls, South Dakota and the surrounding Sioux Valley area in 1972 by sixteen founding members. The original purpose of SVGS was to assist members in conducting research on their ancestral history through various programs and resources that SVGS has to offer. Members gained the knowledge of how to conduct research and organize the information they needed.
Although SVGS’s initial programming focused on genealogy research methodology and assisting members with their family research, subsequent projects have been initiated in the past fifty years to promote the public’s understanding of the importance of genealogy in their communities, especially in Sioux Falls. These projects have included recording all the grave markers in old, abandoned cemeteries for use in the Genealogy Section of the main Sioux Falls Library. In addition, in 1982, these efforts helped create a state law that made South Dakota counties responsible for the documentation and preservation of abandoned cemeteries (South Dakota State Code, Chapter 7-26-1 through 7-26-7). As a result of this law, Minnehaha County formed an abandoned cemetery board, who in turn allocated funding for preservation of abandoned cemeteries, including at least fourteen cemeteries in Minnehaha County.
SVGS has continued to blaze new trails establishing itself over the years as a leader in genealogical education in the Sioux Valley area of South Dakota with not only membership meetings, but by publishing a newsletter, The Pioneer Pathfinder, and awarding pioneer certificates to persons being direct descendants of people living in South Dakota prior to statehood in 1889. Seminars also promote new areas of genealogical research such as DNA analysis.