Death Synonyms

In searching through various on-line scanned newspapers, I run into the problem of time. Do I look trough each page of each issue (like I do with microfilm)? Or do I use the search engine? Well...I have been using the search engine. BUT...I have found that in order to access the most death entries possible, I must use multiple searches. The following are most of the terms and phrases I have searched by:

buried
casualty
casualty list
cemetery
deceased
death
death report
demise
died
drowned
eternal rest
funeral
funeral home
grim reaper
interred
killed
life eternal
mortuary
murdered
obituary
passed away
probate
report of deaths
suicide
undertaker

Choctaw County OK Obituaries

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.

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!

NEW TOTAL: 142,905 entries

As of 1 July 2010, the Oklahoma Death Index to 1920 is now up to 142,905 entries! Considering I was hoping to hit 150,000 by the end of 2010, it looks like I may need to revise that to 175,000! I keep adding info from cemetery records/listings, funeral home records, obituaries, etc. So if you are looking for someone who died in Oklahoma prior to 1920, e-mail me and let me check for you. Results are only $1 per name.

okdeathindex@hotmail.com

Best wishes,

Mahlon Erickson

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.