In my opinion, from the perspective of the purpose of this blog, my pick for the #1 genealogy periodical for all of Oklahoma is The Tree Tracers. This periodical is published by the Southwest Oklahoma Genealogical Society (SWOGS) out of Lawton OK.
Each issue is packed full of plenty of information on deaths in SW Oklahoma. In the issues at the Stillwater Publc Library (volumes 19 through 27) are SO MANY records. These include obituaries from Cotton, Jefferson and Comanche Counties; cemetery transcriptions from Cotton, Jefferson, Stephens and Comanche counties; Bible records; queries, pedigree charts and family group sheets; Indian deaths; and many more records.
Don't forget to check out the local genealogical society newsletters. They often include records unique to that locality. If you have ancestors in SW Oklahoma, you are truly blessed to have such a great resource as The Tree Tracers available! It gets my vote for the best genealogy periodical in Oklahoma!
03 December 2010
01 December 2010
NEW TOTAL: 194,890 entries!!!
The total number of entries in the pre1920 Oklahoma Death Index has broken the 190,000 entries mark. And since last Saturday I have nearly 4,000 more in my temporary files to add. So sometime in the next two weeks the total will surpass 200,000 entries.
Many entries are from southeastern Oklahoma counties. And nearly 6,000 are from the Indian Pioneer History Papers interviews. My plans for the near future are to finish most of Pittsburg County and finish Garfield County.
Once I finish Pittsburg and Garfield Counties, I plan to take a break and catch up on my Civil War veteran research. As the Graves Registration Officer for the Department of Oklahoma, Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War (SUVCW), I locate and document graves of both Union and Confederate veterans in Oklahoma. I have entered many men of the right age to have served, and will spend a week or so comparing their entries to entries from the federal Civil War pension index.
If you have questions, please contact me at okdeathindex@hotmail.com!
Many entries are from southeastern Oklahoma counties. And nearly 6,000 are from the Indian Pioneer History Papers interviews. My plans for the near future are to finish most of Pittsburg County and finish Garfield County.
Once I finish Pittsburg and Garfield Counties, I plan to take a break and catch up on my Civil War veteran research. As the Graves Registration Officer for the Department of Oklahoma, Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War (SUVCW), I locate and document graves of both Union and Confederate veterans in Oklahoma. I have entered many men of the right age to have served, and will spend a week or so comparing their entries to entries from the federal Civil War pension index.
If you have questions, please contact me at okdeathindex@hotmail.com!
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.
10 September 2010
NEW TOTAL: 170,309 Entries!!!!
Lots of new entries mainly from Beckham, Kiowa, Bryan and Major Counties. I hate just sitting and watching sports on TV. BUT...I enjoy working on the computer while listening to the games, and watching a little. So welcome football season!
In the next few months I will be posting some lists of my top 5 or top 10 favorite sources and sites for death information research.
Think I can enter another 30,000 records by the end of the year? That's now my goal: 200,000 entries by Dec 31st...
In the next few months I will be posting some lists of my top 5 or top 10 favorite sources and sites for death information research.
Think I can enter another 30,000 records by the end of the year? That's now my goal: 200,000 entries by Dec 31st...
28 August 2010
Misspelled Names
Yesterday I blogged about a conversation I overheard at the Oklahoma History Center by a man who refused to listen to any suggestions or advice about the man he was researching.
Well, today I was checking for some Civil War veterans buried in Rose Hill Cemetery at Chickasha, Grady Co. OK. A Joseph P. Gross was listed as a CSA vet. His dates were listed as 1 Feb 1834-5 Feb 1994. Now there is now way this could correct. So I checked the 1910 census, but was unable to find him. His wife died in 1903, so I decided to check the 1900 census. Again no luck. I tried several combinations of names and dates, but still no luck.
Then it dawned on me! I checked the 1900 census again, but this time typed in Cross as the last name. There he was with wife Martha and two daughters and a grandchild. Then I checked my database of Civil War veterans buried in Oklahoma. NO Joseph Gross, but a hit on Joseph Cross.
This is the problem with cemetery listings. You have to rely on another person's ability to read different fonts and scripts correctly. I should have realied right of the C vs. G issue. But I, like the researcher at the Oklahoma History Center, failed to consider the obvious. Glad I finally did!
So in my Oklahoma Death Index to 1920 database, I have two entries each for Martha and Joseph. And each entry states that the cemetery list has the surname as Gross, whereas the 1900 census has it as Cross.
Well, today I was checking for some Civil War veterans buried in Rose Hill Cemetery at Chickasha, Grady Co. OK. A Joseph P. Gross was listed as a CSA vet. His dates were listed as 1 Feb 1834-5 Feb 1994. Now there is now way this could correct. So I checked the 1910 census, but was unable to find him. His wife died in 1903, so I decided to check the 1900 census. Again no luck. I tried several combinations of names and dates, but still no luck.
Then it dawned on me! I checked the 1900 census again, but this time typed in Cross as the last name. There he was with wife Martha and two daughters and a grandchild. Then I checked my database of Civil War veterans buried in Oklahoma. NO Joseph Gross, but a hit on Joseph Cross.
This is the problem with cemetery listings. You have to rely on another person's ability to read different fonts and scripts correctly. I should have realied right of the C vs. G issue. But I, like the researcher at the Oklahoma History Center, failed to consider the obvious. Glad I finally did!
So in my Oklahoma Death Index to 1920 database, I have two entries each for Martha and Joseph. And each entry states that the cemetery list has the surname as Gross, whereas the 1900 census has it as Cross.
27 August 2010
NEW TOTAL: 164,420 Entries
August has been a GREAT month so far. The database is up to 164,420 entries. I pick a county to work on at home, a county to work on at work (before and during lunch), and a source to work on on Saturday mornings before picking my daughter up from school at OSSM.
I have been fairly diligent, but I also have responsibilities as a member of the graves registration committee for the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War. I add entries for Oklahoma. I also verify entries submitted to the database before they are entered in the database. Add to that yard work, house work, family life, etc. and it is amazing, at least to me, that over 10,000 entries were added in 3 weeks!
My goal for the year was to reach 150,000. Hmmmm...maybe I should revise my goal. I can just hear Leroy Jethro Gibbs saying "....Ya think!" (and then slapping me on the back of the head).
I have been fairly diligent, but I also have responsibilities as a member of the graves registration committee for the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War. I add entries for Oklahoma. I also verify entries submitted to the database before they are entered in the database. Add to that yard work, house work, family life, etc. and it is amazing, at least to me, that over 10,000 entries were added in 3 weeks!
My goal for the year was to reach 150,000. Hmmmm...maybe I should revise my goal. I can just hear Leroy Jethro Gibbs saying "....Ya think!" (and then slapping me on the back of the head).
Verifying Sources of Information
I was at the Oklahoma History Center this afternoon entering info into my Oklahoma Death Index to 1920. It must be the teacher in me, but I always seem to hear or register the conversations that go on around me. I overheard a man mention to one of the workers that he was looking for a man name Alonzo Drew. For some reason that sounded familiar. He then stated something about Logan County.
So I went up and "peeked" at the document they were discussing- the 1910 census of South Cimarron Twp., Logan County OK. On it were Alonzo Drew, his wife Maude and two children including a son Roy. I then went back to my computer and clicked on the A-E section of my database. Lo and Behold, there was Allonzo Drew (note spelling of given name) born 1874 and died 16 Apr 1911. I went up to the researcher and asked him if he new the man he was looking for was buried in Pleasant Hill Cemetery in Logan County. He proceeded to hem and haw about two Pleasant Hill Cemeteries, one north of Meridian being overgrown and unable to find the stone.
I then went back to my computer to check my source of information (I type in the source for EVERY entry)- it was the tombstone. I had visited the cemetery in the early 1980s during my big time "cemeterying" years. He came over to me and showed me the death certificate (he hadn't told us he had one) for J.A. Smith born 1851 who died in Logan County on 15 Apr 1911. The man buried in Pleasant Hill Cemetery couldn't possibly be his ancestor! I pointed out that the tombstone had the birth year as 1874, the same as the 1910 census. But the informant for the death certificate was the wife! So the man in Pleasant Hill Cemetery couldn't be the man he was looking for.
I pointed out that the man in question most likely would not have given the information for the tombstone or the death certificate. He had it in his mind that 1851 was the correct birth year, despite preponderance of evidence. He then stated he had seen the tombstone....from a picture on-line.
The point of all this: consider ALL the evidence available. Keep looking for more. Trust, to a certain extent, the experts from the area. DON"T assume family tradition is correct- it rarely is (in entirety).
The researcher left the library disappointed with his experience. If only he would have considered the possibilities. Differences in name usage (Alonzo, Joseph, J.A.), differences in death day (15 or 16), differences in birth year (1851 or 1874); and differences in sources (death certificate from 1911; 1910 census, tombstone inscription).
What would you have done? Which source(s) do you think are most reliable? What further avenues does the research (presented above) bring to mind? What strategies could you use to track down Joseph Alonzo Smith on the 1900 census?
Good luck with your OWN research. Just remember, keep your mind open to different possibilities!
So I went up and "peeked" at the document they were discussing- the 1910 census of South Cimarron Twp., Logan County OK. On it were Alonzo Drew, his wife Maude and two children including a son Roy. I then went back to my computer and clicked on the A-E section of my database. Lo and Behold, there was Allonzo Drew (note spelling of given name) born 1874 and died 16 Apr 1911. I went up to the researcher and asked him if he new the man he was looking for was buried in Pleasant Hill Cemetery in Logan County. He proceeded to hem and haw about two Pleasant Hill Cemeteries, one north of Meridian being overgrown and unable to find the stone.
I then went back to my computer to check my source of information (I type in the source for EVERY entry)- it was the tombstone. I had visited the cemetery in the early 1980s during my big time "cemeterying" years. He came over to me and showed me the death certificate (he hadn't told us he had one) for J.A. Smith born 1851 who died in Logan County on 15 Apr 1911. The man buried in Pleasant Hill Cemetery couldn't possibly be his ancestor! I pointed out that the tombstone had the birth year as 1874, the same as the 1910 census. But the informant for the death certificate was the wife! So the man in Pleasant Hill Cemetery couldn't be the man he was looking for.
I pointed out that the man in question most likely would not have given the information for the tombstone or the death certificate. He had it in his mind that 1851 was the correct birth year, despite preponderance of evidence. He then stated he had seen the tombstone....from a picture on-line.
The point of all this: consider ALL the evidence available. Keep looking for more. Trust, to a certain extent, the experts from the area. DON"T assume family tradition is correct- it rarely is (in entirety).
The researcher left the library disappointed with his experience. If only he would have considered the possibilities. Differences in name usage (Alonzo, Joseph, J.A.), differences in death day (15 or 16), differences in birth year (1851 or 1874); and differences in sources (death certificate from 1911; 1910 census, tombstone inscription).
What would you have done? Which source(s) do you think are most reliable? What further avenues does the research (presented above) bring to mind? What strategies could you use to track down Joseph Alonzo Smith on the 1900 census?
Good luck with your OWN research. Just remember, keep your mind open to different possibilities!
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