For the past two months since my last post, I have been entering records from a variety of sources on-line and in print. However, I had also been entering and verifying burials of Civil War veterans for the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War (SUVCW). So my mornings before work when I spend and hour to an hour and a half have been taken up with data entry for the SUVCW.
Add to that, I renewed my subscription to Ancestry.com. For years I've wanted to upgrade from US to World, but did not care to spend an extra $150. When I renewed, I asked about any specials, For 40 bucks more, I could upgrade to World and have a 13 months subscription. I hopped on that! Now I'm spending some time locating and printing records for Swedish Church records. Since 3/4 of my ancestry is Swedish, this will take some time.
For each of my Swedish ancestral families, I'm copying the marriage of the couple, the household "census" records (usually in 5 year increments) that list all members of the household, births and deaths of each child, and any movings into or out of the parish. It's amazing to be able to have documented evidence of every year of a person's/family's life!
BUT....I am continuing to add approximately 1500 to 200 records to the Oklahoma Pre-1920 Death Index. If I can get a couple of good weeks in, I may actually make my goal of 300,000 entries by the end of the year.
So far I have had 8 requests for records. Most have been "fishing expeditions"- people not sure if their relative died in Oklahoma, but checking to see. I have to give a response with reservations if it is negative: I have not yet found the record of the death, if it in fact occurred in Oklahoma". The two I was able to locate greatly pleased the seekers. That alone makes this endeavor worthwhile.
Until next time....
Showing posts with label Oklahoma. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Oklahoma. Show all posts
06 March 2011
28 November 2010
I have been looking through some published cemetery records and noticed why, several years ago, I made some mistakes in identifying cemeteries and the counties in which they are located.
The six volumes in the Pittsburg County OK Cemetery Records series each deal with an area in Pittsburg County. When I was identifying Civil War veteran burials back in the 1990s, I identified all the veterans in the series as buried in Pittsburg County. I just today found out why I received several letters stating that I was right about the cemetery but wrong about the county where several veterans were buried!
Once again I had ASSUMED a book title told it all. But today I noticed the line at the top of each page. That line listed the name of the cemetery AND the county the cemetery is in. Included in one book were cemeteries across the county lines in Latimer and Atoka counties.
So my advice to genealogists everywhere...NEVER ASSUME ANYTHING when it comes to genealogy records and compilations. ALWAYS look at the following:
- Table of Contents
- Preface (introductory comments and explanations)
- Subtitles
- Headers and footers for each page
- Footnotes
- and any other explanatory notes and paragraphs.
Checking all parts of a book or document will prevent mistakes and misconceptions and perhaps enhance you research with additional and more detailed information that would normally be missed.
The six volumes in the Pittsburg County OK Cemetery Records series each deal with an area in Pittsburg County. When I was identifying Civil War veteran burials back in the 1990s, I identified all the veterans in the series as buried in Pittsburg County. I just today found out why I received several letters stating that I was right about the cemetery but wrong about the county where several veterans were buried!
Once again I had ASSUMED a book title told it all. But today I noticed the line at the top of each page. That line listed the name of the cemetery AND the county the cemetery is in. Included in one book were cemeteries across the county lines in Latimer and Atoka counties.
So my advice to genealogists everywhere...NEVER ASSUME ANYTHING when it comes to genealogy records and compilations. ALWAYS look at the following:
- Table of Contents
- Preface (introductory comments and explanations)
- Subtitles
- Headers and footers for each page
- Footnotes
- and any other explanatory notes and paragraphs.
Checking all parts of a book or document will prevent mistakes and misconceptions and perhaps enhance you research with additional and more detailed information that would normally be missed.
16 July 2010
NEW TOTAL: 149,432 entries
The first two weeks of July have been, as they said on the Saturday Night Live of my youth, "Very, very good to me"! Almost to me end of the year goal of 150,000 pre-1920 death records in Oklahoma. PLEASE...realize that is not 150,000 individuals, but 150,000 individual records. Some individuals have 5 to 10 entries, depending on how "popular" or "famous" they were in their community. Lots more counties to go. I'll shoot for 175,000 by the end of the year!
07 February 2010
114,000 Entries
The total number of entries in my Oklahoma Death Index to 1920 is now at 114,135. For all the work I've put in the past 18 months, that sure doesn't sound like much. But it far exceeds my goal of 1000 entries per week!
I took a break during the month of January 2010 to catch up on a graves registration project for the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War (SUVCW). But am now back at entering data. I have entered deaths from my Payne County OK Cemetery Index for pages 265 through 604. Just 264 pages more to go! At lunch at the office I've been entering deaths from Indian Territory, Oklahoma Territory and Oklahoma from the Civil War pension index. Oddly enough, I've found several men who served in the Indian Wars, Spanish American War, Mexican War, and in peace time; all in the Civil War Pension Index. I've worked my way through the first 600 of about 16,500 records. Slow going....
I will try to post twice a week. One post will be an "article" about a specific record type or record location. The other post will be an update on where I am in the database creation process: number of entries, sources working on, etc.
Next post will be next weekend. I'll be in Houston TX on business til then.
I took a break during the month of January 2010 to catch up on a graves registration project for the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War (SUVCW). But am now back at entering data. I have entered deaths from my Payne County OK Cemetery Index for pages 265 through 604. Just 264 pages more to go! At lunch at the office I've been entering deaths from Indian Territory, Oklahoma Territory and Oklahoma from the Civil War pension index. Oddly enough, I've found several men who served in the Indian Wars, Spanish American War, Mexican War, and in peace time; all in the Civil War Pension Index. I've worked my way through the first 600 of about 16,500 records. Slow going....
I will try to post twice a week. One post will be an "article" about a specific record type or record location. The other post will be an update on where I am in the database creation process: number of entries, sources working on, etc.
Next post will be next weekend. I'll be in Houston TX on business til then.
20 December 2009
Introduction
For over 25 years I have been collecting information on people who lived in the Payne County and North Central Oklahoma area. Most of the information I have gathered centers around cemeteries, obituaries, probate records, etc. In other words, I find out about dead people!
If you have done genealogical research in Oklahoma for any length of time, you recognize the tremendous lack of official State of Oklahoma Death Records. "Officially" they started by law in 1908. But various sources states that "regular" reporting didn't start until 1912 or 1918 or 1936 (or pick any other year after 1908). This dearth of official death records in Oklahoma causes problems for genealogists. Added to that, the State of Oklahoma refuses to release an index to the records they DO have. So we as genealogists and family historians are screwed!
Therefore....I have decided to compile my very own Oklahoma Death Index. It will cover all of time up through 31 Dec 1919. I have no idea how big/extensive this will be, but I would guess that the "final" total will near the 1 million mark.
The purpose of this blog will be multifold:
• To keep readers up to date on my Oklahoma Death Index progress;
• To provide information on records that are available;
• To provide my perspective on genealogy in Oklahoma;
• To identify mistakes genealogists make when checking records;
• To identify unusual records and repositories of death information;
• To provide insight on why you, as a genealogist, are unable to find the records you seek;
If you would like a search of the index for a specific name, the cost (at least initially) is one dollar per name. Please e-mail me at paynecounty@hotmail.com with the name/date/location and I will send you information on how to pay for the service and obtain information.
If you have done genealogical research in Oklahoma for any length of time, you recognize the tremendous lack of official State of Oklahoma Death Records. "Officially" they started by law in 1908. But various sources states that "regular" reporting didn't start until 1912 or 1918 or 1936 (or pick any other year after 1908). This dearth of official death records in Oklahoma causes problems for genealogists. Added to that, the State of Oklahoma refuses to release an index to the records they DO have. So we as genealogists and family historians are screwed!
Therefore....I have decided to compile my very own Oklahoma Death Index. It will cover all of time up through 31 Dec 1919. I have no idea how big/extensive this will be, but I would guess that the "final" total will near the 1 million mark.
The purpose of this blog will be multifold:
• To keep readers up to date on my Oklahoma Death Index progress;
• To provide information on records that are available;
• To provide my perspective on genealogy in Oklahoma;
• To identify mistakes genealogists make when checking records;
• To identify unusual records and repositories of death information;
• To provide insight on why you, as a genealogist, are unable to find the records you seek;
If you would like a search of the index for a specific name, the cost (at least initially) is one dollar per name. Please e-mail me at paynecounty@hotmail.com with the name/date/location and I will send you information on how to pay for the service and obtain information.
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