If you haven't visited the Choctaw County GenWeb site then you are missing out on some great collections. They have a fantastic listing of cemeteries, many with tombstone inscriptions and photos. They also have an obituary collection with separate links to each person that has an obit or death notice. It took me three weeks going through the links and identifying those who died pre-1920 and adding them to my database.
Tonight I added 954 entries to my Pre-1920 Oklahoma Death Index. The majority of these entries are from the obituaries at the Choctaw County GenWeb. Some of the entries (about 25) are extracts from Texas Death Certificates available at . Most of the 25 died in Texas but were returned to Oklahoma for burial. Some were former Oklahoma residents who died and wre buried in Texas.
Kudos to Ron Henson for his Choctaw County GenWeb site and for compiling the obituary list, and JoLynn Self for her work on Choctaw County cemeteries.
26 July 2011
22 July 2011
The Tulsa Star
The Tulsa Star was a newspaper in Tulsa from 1913 to at least 1922. Copies have been scanned and scanned images are available at the National Archives "Chronicling Amearica" site.
For the past week I have been extracting notices of death from this newspaper. The unique aspect is that the paper was a Black/Negro/Colored newspaper, so the vast majority of local news articles were about Blacks in Tulsa. At least that is what one would think.
This paper served ALL of northeast Oklahoma and had regular "correspondent" columsn with local news from McAlester, Bartlesville, Okmulgee, Claremore, Boley, Sapulpa, Coweta, and many other towns in Oklahoma.
Most of the death notices simply contain the person's name, death date, perhaps a relationship, date and location of the funeral, and the name of the undertaker/funeral home. BUT...a great source for Tulsans not likely recorded elsewhere.
In all, I was able to find 288 different death notices from 1913 through the end of 1919. Only a few are for the prominent in the community. Many are for infants and those murdered. Many others are from correspondent columns from across northeast Oklahoma or for the Greenwood neighborhood and Gurley Addition in Tulsa.
The search "engine" on Chronicling America leaves much to be desired. In one case I was searching for all occurrences of the word "funeral". It brought up a page with the word funeral highlighted within a death notice. But it failed to recognize the word "funeral" in the headline for another death entry on the same page. So I'm sure I missed many death notices, but that will be the case for all papers I search on-line.
Also added to the index this week are pre1920 burials in Riverside Cemetery at Mangum OK, Fairview Cemetery at Tuttle, and more entries from Oklahoma's Confederate Pension Index cards.
For the past week I have been extracting notices of death from this newspaper. The unique aspect is that the paper was a Black/Negro/Colored newspaper, so the vast majority of local news articles were about Blacks in Tulsa. At least that is what one would think.
This paper served ALL of northeast Oklahoma and had regular "correspondent" columsn with local news from McAlester, Bartlesville, Okmulgee, Claremore, Boley, Sapulpa, Coweta, and many other towns in Oklahoma.
Most of the death notices simply contain the person's name, death date, perhaps a relationship, date and location of the funeral, and the name of the undertaker/funeral home. BUT...a great source for Tulsans not likely recorded elsewhere.
In all, I was able to find 288 different death notices from 1913 through the end of 1919. Only a few are for the prominent in the community. Many are for infants and those murdered. Many others are from correspondent columns from across northeast Oklahoma or for the Greenwood neighborhood and Gurley Addition in Tulsa.
The search "engine" on Chronicling America leaves much to be desired. In one case I was searching for all occurrences of the word "funeral". It brought up a page with the word funeral highlighted within a death notice. But it failed to recognize the word "funeral" in the headline for another death entry on the same page. So I'm sure I missed many death notices, but that will be the case for all papers I search on-line.
Also added to the index this week are pre1920 burials in Riverside Cemetery at Mangum OK, Fairview Cemetery at Tuttle, and more entries from Oklahoma's Confederate Pension Index cards.
18 July 2011
Darlington, Indian Territory newspaper
With Oklahoma Territory being opened to settlement in Apr 1889 I am always surprised to see records predating that date. However, all of Oklahoma was Indian Territory prior to Oklahoma Territory being established. And the US government had military posts and forts scattered throughout the Territory. One Indian agency was the Cheyene/Arapahoe Agency at Darlington IT.
This Agency published a newspaper called The Cheyenne Transporter. Copies have been scanned and are available for research at the Library of Congress' site "Chronicling America".
I searched separately for 12 key words/phrases related to deaths (death, died, murdered, suicide, etc.). In issued from 1880 through 1886 I was able to find 119 recordings of deaths in the bounds of current Oklahoma. These have now been added to the Pre1920 Oklahoma Death Index. The one thing that bothers me about extracting these records is that it takes so long. To get these 119 records, I spent approximately 20 hours of research time over a 10 day period.
One must realize that I skipped over about the same number of obits/death notices for people who died outside of Oklahoma and who had never lived in Oklahoma. Many were residents of southern Kansas and western Missouri, relatives of residents of Darlington IT.
Currently, I'm working on the Tulsa Star, a Black/Colored/Negro/Afro-American newspaper. Scanned issues are available at Chronicling America from 1913-1922.
This Agency published a newspaper called The Cheyenne Transporter. Copies have been scanned and are available for research at the Library of Congress' site "Chronicling America".
I searched separately for 12 key words/phrases related to deaths (death, died, murdered, suicide, etc.). In issued from 1880 through 1886 I was able to find 119 recordings of deaths in the bounds of current Oklahoma. These have now been added to the Pre1920 Oklahoma Death Index. The one thing that bothers me about extracting these records is that it takes so long. To get these 119 records, I spent approximately 20 hours of research time over a 10 day period.
One must realize that I skipped over about the same number of obits/death notices for people who died outside of Oklahoma and who had never lived in Oklahoma. Many were residents of southern Kansas and western Missouri, relatives of residents of Darlington IT.
Currently, I'm working on the Tulsa Star, a Black/Colored/Negro/Afro-American newspaper. Scanned issues are available at Chronicling America from 1913-1922.
08 July 2011
Chronicling America
The National Archives has available on-line digitized images of may newspapers from across the country. In cooperation with the Oklahoma Historical Society, several Oklahoma newspapers were included in the project. I have searched some of these papers for pre-1920 deaths. Papers searched so far are from Anadarko, Beaver and Durant. Today I added 325 deaths recorded in The Farmers' Champion of Elgin, Comanche Co. OK.
These newspaper images will be invaluable to researchers. So much history AND genealogy is recorded in their pages. Currently I am extracting deaths from the Cheyenne Transporter of Darlington IT. This paper was published at the Cheyenne/Arapahoe Agency at Darlington, north of Fort Reno in what is now Canadian County. The time period of 25 Aug 1880 to 12 Aug 1886 is covered. I have found 50 "Oklahoma" deaths in the first two years of the paper.
Of course I have to do several searches. Key words I search by include died, death, burial, cemetery, obituary, along with several others. This is a very slow process, what with multiple searches, checking for duplicates, and slow loading pages. So my progress will slow down on additions to the database.
I am currently working on these sources:
• The Cheyenne Transporter of Darlington IT 1882-1886
• Choctaw County Obituaries from the Choctaw County OK Genweb
• Cemetery Records of Okmulgee County OK ©1974 v1&2
• The Beaver Herald of Beaver OK 1895-1919
• Sexton's records of Fairlawn Cemetery in Oklahoma City OK
These newspaper images will be invaluable to researchers. So much history AND genealogy is recorded in their pages. Currently I am extracting deaths from the Cheyenne Transporter of Darlington IT. This paper was published at the Cheyenne/Arapahoe Agency at Darlington, north of Fort Reno in what is now Canadian County. The time period of 25 Aug 1880 to 12 Aug 1886 is covered. I have found 50 "Oklahoma" deaths in the first two years of the paper.
Of course I have to do several searches. Key words I search by include died, death, burial, cemetery, obituary, along with several others. This is a very slow process, what with multiple searches, checking for duplicates, and slow loading pages. So my progress will slow down on additions to the database.
I am currently working on these sources:
• The Cheyenne Transporter of Darlington IT 1882-1886
• Choctaw County Obituaries from the Choctaw County OK Genweb
• Cemetery Records of Okmulgee County OK ©1974 v1&2
• The Beaver Herald of Beaver OK 1895-1919
• Sexton's records of Fairlawn Cemetery in Oklahoma City OK
30 May 2011
NEW TOTAL: 244,651 Entries!!
The new total as of today, Memorial Day 2011, is 244,651 entries. This means that I have entered information on 244,651 individuals who died in Oklahoma before 1920. This is NOT 244,651 different individuals. For some people there are entries from obits, pension records, tombstones, probate records, etc.
Most recently, I have added people from Stroud (Lincoln Co.) obits and from the official records of Fairlawn Cemetery in Oklahoma City. For the Oklahoma City records, there are two sets of records: the "Old Book" which covers to about 1905, and the "new Book" which covers from about 1905 to about 1967. More information on the availability on these records in my next blog on Wednesday.
This morning, I drove to Norman to visit the Norman IOOF Cemetery. I walked the old sections of the cemetery looking for new tombstones and new bases, as well has inscriptions on the sides of old stones. In all, I found 16 "new" entries for the database. I was able to gather information to correct/add to an additional 26 entries. As I get time, I will be traveling to various cemeteries around Oklahoma to check for new stones for old burials. I guess I shouldn't be surprised at the number of new "old" stones what with the rise in interest in genealogy these days.
Over the next couple of months, my weekly blogs will include lists of sources of information I use and how to obtain those sources. I hope you had a relaxing and patriotic Memorial Day!
Most recently, I have added people from Stroud (Lincoln Co.) obits and from the official records of Fairlawn Cemetery in Oklahoma City. For the Oklahoma City records, there are two sets of records: the "Old Book" which covers to about 1905, and the "new Book" which covers from about 1905 to about 1967. More information on the availability on these records in my next blog on Wednesday.
This morning, I drove to Norman to visit the Norman IOOF Cemetery. I walked the old sections of the cemetery looking for new tombstones and new bases, as well has inscriptions on the sides of old stones. In all, I found 16 "new" entries for the database. I was able to gather information to correct/add to an additional 26 entries. As I get time, I will be traveling to various cemeteries around Oklahoma to check for new stones for old burials. I guess I shouldn't be surprised at the number of new "old" stones what with the rise in interest in genealogy these days.
Over the next couple of months, my weekly blogs will include lists of sources of information I use and how to obtain those sources. I hope you had a relaxing and patriotic Memorial Day!
11 May 2011
Kolb Cemetery, Oklahoma County OK
On a day off from work for my semi-annual dental visit, I stopped at a couple of cemeteries. Now I moved to OKC two years ago, but I still go to the dentist in Stillwater. So after my visit to el dentiste, I traveled east to Oilton (Creek Co.) and walked Highland Cemetery. I had visited there back in the 1980s to get information on possible Civil War veterans. This time I was looking for anyone who died before 1920. I came up with 24 new entries for the database.
Then I drove to the east side of OKC and checked a couple of cemeteries that I had not known of before. But, alas, they were all recently established, even the two that were pet cemeteries! But I did stop at Kolb Cemetery. I had visited this cemetery several years ago, again looking for Civil War veterans. Since tombstone listings are available for it on several internet sites, I walked the cemetery looking for for pre-1920 death dates on new tombstones or tombstones with newly cemented bases. My 30 minute walk netted me 10 corrections to previous entries and 5 new entries. So overall a successful trip!
I ended the visit to Kolb Cemetery with a talk with the man in the uniform and black and white car with flashing lights on top (Spencer Police Dept.). He wanted to make sure I wasn't vandalizing tombstones. He showed quite a bit of interest in the project once I explained what I was doing.
The day ended with 3 hours in the Oklahoma Historical Society Library adding info on Blaine County deaths, followed by the May meeting of the Oklahoma Genealogical Society.
You'd think that would be a big enough genealogy fix to last for a while, but....
...until next time....
Then I drove to the east side of OKC and checked a couple of cemeteries that I had not known of before. But, alas, they were all recently established, even the two that were pet cemeteries! But I did stop at Kolb Cemetery. I had visited this cemetery several years ago, again looking for Civil War veterans. Since tombstone listings are available for it on several internet sites, I walked the cemetery looking for for pre-1920 death dates on new tombstones or tombstones with newly cemented bases. My 30 minute walk netted me 10 corrections to previous entries and 5 new entries. So overall a successful trip!
I ended the visit to Kolb Cemetery with a talk with the man in the uniform and black and white car with flashing lights on top (Spencer Police Dept.). He wanted to make sure I wasn't vandalizing tombstones. He showed quite a bit of interest in the project once I explained what I was doing.
The day ended with 3 hours in the Oklahoma Historical Society Library adding info on Blaine County deaths, followed by the May meeting of the Oklahoma Genealogical Society.
You'd think that would be a big enough genealogy fix to last for a while, but....
...until next time....
06 April 2011
Daily Oklahoman Obituaries
I just finished entering and importing 3672 obituaries, death notices, cards of thanks, murder accounts, etc. from the Daily Oklahoman covering the period 1910 through 1919. I realize this is far from all deaths reported from around Oklahoma in the Daily Oklahoman during that time period, but it is definitely a good start.
I made searches initially on the word "obituary". Then I searched on "card of thanks", "vital statistics", "suicide", and a couple of other possibities. Later I will check for other key words. But currently I am working on the Daily Oklahoman's first nine years: 1901-1909.
So if you are looking for someone who died in the Oklahoma City area, there's a good chance I have that person in my database. I have all known tombstone inscriptions for the county, obits/death notices for the main newspaper in OKC, probate index entries for through 1907, and miscellaneous records I have come across.
Future searches will include the following:
• OKC Health Department Death Index (at OHS)
• Fairlawn Cemetery sexton's records
• Church records
• Funeral Home records
• Other cemetery sexton's recpords
I've also been searching through on-line newspaper archives through the Chronicling America website. So far I've added info from newspapers in Anadarko, Durant and Vinita. It's exciting to be finding so many records. I only wish I had more time!
I made searches initially on the word "obituary". Then I searched on "card of thanks", "vital statistics", "suicide", and a couple of other possibities. Later I will check for other key words. But currently I am working on the Daily Oklahoman's first nine years: 1901-1909.
So if you are looking for someone who died in the Oklahoma City area, there's a good chance I have that person in my database. I have all known tombstone inscriptions for the county, obits/death notices for the main newspaper in OKC, probate index entries for through 1907, and miscellaneous records I have come across.
Future searches will include the following:
• OKC Health Department Death Index (at OHS)
• Fairlawn Cemetery sexton's records
• Church records
• Funeral Home records
• Other cemetery sexton's recpords
I've also been searching through on-line newspaper archives through the Chronicling America website. So far I've added info from newspapers in Anadarko, Durant and Vinita. It's exciting to be finding so many records. I only wish I had more time!
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