Donald Parker, in George A. Hall’s Kingsbury County: A County to Behold, In a State to Behold (Freeman, S. Dak.: Pine Hill Press, 1993), recounted a chronology of events in the area that became Kingsbury County which had been published in a De Smet newspaper over fifty years ago. Here’s the condensed version:

1492 – claimed by Spain
1671 – claimed by France
1742 – granted to Anthony Crozat by the King of France
1747 – Crozat relinquished his claim to the King
1750 – the Sioux Indians begin to migrate into the area that became South Dakota
1762 – claimed by Spain until 1800
1800 – sold to France
1803 – France sold the Louisiana Purchase to the U.S.
1804 – part of the Louisiana District until 1805
1812 – part of Missouri Territory until 1821
1821 – unorganized until 1834
1834 – part of Michigan Territory until 1836
1836 – part of Wisconsin Territory until 1838
1837 – part of Fayette County, Wisconsin, largest county in the U.S.
1838 – part of Iowa Territory until 1846
1846 – part of an unorganized region until 1849
1849 – part of Wabashaw County, Minnesota Territory
1853 – part of Blue Earth County, Minnesota Territory
1855 – part of Brown County, Minnesota Territory
1857 – Settlements made at Medary, Flandreau, and Sioux Falls
1858 – Sioux drove settlers from Medary, Flandreau, and Sioux Falls
1861 – Dakota Territory created by an act of congress
1862 – Sioux uprising killed 500 or so and emptied the Big Sioux Valley
1862 – Brookings and Minnehaha Counties created
1863 – Indians occupied Lake County
1865 – Fort Dakota started at Sioux Falls; abandoned in 1869
1866 – First permanent white settlement began again in Minnehaha County
1867 – An Indian reservation included much of the area until 1869
1869 – About 150 Christian Sioux began to reside in or near Flandreau
1869 – First permanent settlement began again near Medary
1869 – Surveying of eastern Lake County began (Lake County joins Kingsbury to the south)
1870 – First permanent white settlement in Lake County
1873 – Kingsbury County created. First settled by Jacob Hanson, near Lake Albert
1879 – County was named. In the fall of 1879, the railroad had reached Volga, east of Kingsbury County.
1880 – First meeting to organize county government in Kingsbury.