McCurtain County, Oklahoma Genealogy

United States Oklahoma  McCurtain County McCurtain County, Oklahoma genealogy and family history research page. Guide to genealogy, history, and courthouse sources including birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, wills, deeds and land records, military records, family histories, cemeteries, churches, tax records, and newspapers.

County Courthouse
McCurtain County Courthouse 108 N Central Avenue Idabel, OK 74745 Phone: 580.286-2370 Clerk Court has marriage, divorce, probate and court records from 1907

Parent County
1907--McCurtain County was created 16 July 1907 from Choctaw Lands. County seat: Idabel

See the McCurtain County entry of the Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture for a brief history.

Description
At 1907 statehood McCurtain County was established with Idabel designated as the county seat. The name McCurtain honored a prominent Choctaw family, three of whom had served as principal chiefs of the tribe. The county occupies the extreme southeastern corner of the state, sharing boundaries with Arkansas on the east and Texas on the south. It adjoins Le Flore County on the north and Pushmataha and Choctaw counties on the west.

McCurtain County was created 1907. The Largest city is Idabel. The County seat is Idabel.

Boundary Changes

 * Interactive Formation Boundary Map of Oklahoma - shows boundary changes for Oklahoma Counties
 * Oklahoma Historical Boundary Changes - list of all boundary changes by county provided by Newberry Library

Record Loss
There is no known history of courthouse disasters in this county.

Places/Localities
==== Populated Places ====

Cities

 * Broken Bow
 * Idabel (county seat)

Towns

 * Garvin
 * Haworth
 * Millerton
 * Smithville
 * Valliant
 * Wright City

Unincorporated communities

 * Battiest
 * Bethel
 * Bokhoma
 * Eagletown
 * Hochatown
 * Pickens
 * Ringold
 * Rufe
 * Tom
 * Watson

Neighboring Counties

 * Bowie County, Texas
 * Choctaw
 * LeFlore
 * Little River County, Arkansas
 * Polk County, Arkansas
 * Pushmataha
 * Red River County, Texas
 * Sevier County, Arkansas

American Indians
Census
 * 1851 - 1959 Oklahoma and Indian Territory, Indian Censuses and Rolls, 1851-1959 at Ancestry — index and images ($)
 * 1895 - 1914 U.S., Native American Citizens and Freedmen of Five Civilized Tribes, 1895-1914 at Ancestry — index and images ($)
 * 1898 - 1914 Oklahoma and Indian Territory, Dawes Census Cards for Five Civilized Tribes, 1898-1914 at Ancestry — index and images ($)
 * Dawes Final Rolls - Oklahoma Historical Society

Land and Property
 * 1884 - 1934 Oklahoma and Indian Territory, Land Allotment Jackets for Five Civilized Tribes, 1884-1934 at Ancestry — index and images ($)
 * 1889 Oklahoma County Plats 1889 - Oklahoma Historical Society
 * 1899 - 1907 at FamilySearch — index and images
 * For more information see Indians of Oklahoma

Cemeteries
Battiest, Beachton, Beechtree, Bethel, Big Lick, Bohanan, Bokhoma, Broken Bow, Buffalo, Byrms, Canfield, Clear Creek, Crown Hill, Cusher, Denison, Eagletown, Eastport, Forest Hill, Harris, Harris Mill, Haworth, Hochatown, Joe Slater Memorial, Kulli Tuklo, Kulli-Chito, Lukfata, Manning, Milton, Miners, Moran, Mountain Fork, Naniah Chito, Nani-Chito, Oka Achukma, Old Bohanan, Old Panther, Old Smithville, Panki Bok, Parson, Parsons, Philadelphia, Pine Ridge, Pruitt's Field, Redland, Ringold, Rufe, Sand Hill, Sherwood, Smithville, Sweet Home, Thomas Chapel, Tohwali, Tonka, Valliant, Valliant Upton, Waterhole, Watson, Watsons Memorial, Wheelock, Wilson Chapel, Wright City, Yasho

McCurtain County Cemeteries at Findagrave.com

McCurtain County Cemetery Locations - Satellite Views

State Census Records

 * 1890 Oklahoma Territorial Census 1890 - Oklahoma Historical Societ
 * 1890 and 1907 Oklahoma Territorial Census, 1890 and 1907 at Ancestry — index and image ($)

Federal Census Records
Federal Censuses were taken for Oklahoma starting in 1860. For links to Federal census indexes, see Oklahoma Census.

Church
A brief history of Wheelock Seminary, part of the Wheelock Mission church can be found in the Chronicles of Oklahoma.

Court
Oklahoma Public Court Records

Land
Online Land Records

For more information see Oklahoma Land and Property
 * Land Patent Search - index to federal patents and homesteads on the Bureau of Land Management website, some images available
 * 1796 - 1907 - U.S. General Land Office Records, 1796-1907 at Ancestry - index, info taken from Bureau of Land Management website
 * 1861 - 1936 - U.S. Homestead Records 1861-1936 at Ancestry.com - ($), index and images
 * 1889 Oklahoma County Plats, 1889 - Oklahoma Historical Society
 * El Reno Homesteader Filings - Oklahoma Historical Society

Local Histories
McCurtain County and Southeast Oklahoma: History, Biography, Statistics, a Complete Church, Lodge, School, Professional, Business and Trade Directory of the County

The Choctaw Freedmen and the Story of Oak Hill Industrial Academy, Valliant, McCurtain County, Oklahoma, now called the Alice Lee Elliott Memorial...

Maps

 * Interactive Formation Boundary Map of Oklahoma - shows boundary changes for Oklahoma Counties
 * Maps n More - county and township maps.
 * Oklahoma Civil War Map of Battles


 * Map of 1922 McCurtain County, Oklahoma with numerous small settlements. (My Genealogy Hound)

Military
Also see: Oklahoma Military Records

Revolutionary War

 * 1775 - 1783 - at FamilySearch - images only
 * For more nationwide Revolutionary War databases, see US Military Online Genealogy Records.

Civil War

 * http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=9236 Oklahoma, Confederate Pension Index, 1915-1955] at Ancestry — index (free)
 * For more nationwide Civil War databases, see US Military Online Genealogy Records.

WWI

 * For more nationwide World War I databases, see US Military Online Genealogy Records.

WWII

 * Oklahoma Military Deaths - Oklahoma Historical Society
 * For more nationwide World War II databases, see US Military Online Genealogy Records.

The Oklahoma section of the book World War II Honor List of Dead and Missing Army and Army Air Forces is available at the National Archives website. Soldiers from McCurtain County are listed here and here.

The State Summary of War Casualties from World War II for Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard Personnel from: Oklahoma is also available. It is not broken out by county, however. Note: Casualities include the wounded in addition to those killed.

Newspapers
Oklahoma Newspapers Online Oklahoma Newspaper Catalogs
 * GenealogyBank - ($), contains images of Oklahoma newspapers
 * Newspaper Archive - ($), contains images of Nebraska newspapers
 * Chronicling America - contains images of some Oklahoma newspapers; searching tips
 * Elephind - Free; search engine that retrieves newspaper images from other free newspaper websites
 * Oklahoma State Historical Society - catalog of known Oklahoma newspapers; lists repositories that have the newspapers
 * U.S. Newspaper Directory, 1690-Present on Chronicling America - contains a list of all known newspapers and the dates they cover; once you locate a newspaper name, contact the local library to see if they have copies of the newspaper

Historic Newspapers (no longer published)

Here are the known McCurtain County newspapers, along with where they were published and their years of publication. See the Chronicling America and Worldcatwebsites for libraries and institutions that may hold copies or microfilm.


 * Acme News, Broken Bow, 1912-1913
 * American Socialist, Garvin, 1910-191?
 * B B Developer, Broken Bow, 1911-1913
 * Beacon-Times, Idabel, 1911-191?
 * Broken Bow News and McCurtain County News-Graphic, Broken Bow, 1973-1976
 * Broken Bow News, Broken Bow, 1913-1973
 * Broken Bow News-Graphic, Broken Bow, 1976-1976
 * Challenger, Valliant, 1968-1981
 * Daily Beacon-Times, Idabel, 1913-191?
 * Democrat Record and Beacon-Times, Idabel, 1914-1915
 * Democrat-Record, Idabel, 1910-1914
 * Democrat-Record, Idabel, 1915-191?
 * Garvin Graphic, Garvin, 1903-1919
 * Garvin Pioneer, Garvin, 190?-191?
 * Haworth Herald, Haworth, 1912-192?
 * Idabel News, Idabel, 1919-1922
 * Idabel Signal, Idabel, 1905-190?
 * Little Dixie Beacon, Idabel, 1967-19??
 * McCurtain County American, Smithville, 1907-190?
 * McCurtain County Beacon, Idabel, 1911-1911
 * McCurtain County Journal, Valliant, 1981-1983
 * McCurtain County Record, Valliant, 19??-195?
 * McCurtain Daily Gazette, Idabel, 1969-1972
 * McCurtain Democrat, Idabel, 1922-194?
 * McCurtain Gazette, Idabel, 1907-1969
 * McCurtain Gazette, Idabel, 1972-1978
 * McCurtain Record, Valliant, 1908-1910
 * McCurtain Weekly Gazette, Idabel, 1969-1972
 * Methodist Herald, Broken Bow, 1921-1921
 * Millerton Progress, Millerton, 1908-1910
 * Millerton Progress-News, Millerton, 190?-1908
 * The-Signal, Idabel, 1905-1905
 * Valliant News, Valliant, 1904-190?
 * Valliant Times, Valliant, 1910-1911
 * Valliant Tribune, Valliant, 1911-194?

Historic Newspapers available online

The website Gateway to Oklahoma History has digitized a few issues of McCurtain County newspapers from the early 1900s, including:


 * McCurtain Gazette, Idabel, Oklahoma
 * Millerton Progress, Millerton, Oklahoma
 * Millerton Progress-News, Millerton, Oklahoma

Current Newspapers


 * Broken Bow News, Broken Bow, 1976-Current
 * Southeast Times, Broken Bow, 1988-Current
 * McCurtain Daily Gazette, Idabel, 1978-Current
 * McCurtain Sunday Gazette and Broken Bow News, Idabel, 1977-Current
 * Valliant Leader, Valliant, 1983-Current. A few issues of the Valliant Leader from 2005-2007 have been digitized by Google Newspapers.

Probate
Online Records
 * 1801 – 2008 Oklahoma Wills and Probate Records 1801-2008 at Ancestry.com — index and images $
 * 1887 – 2008 Oklahoma Probate Records 1887-2008 at FamilySearch — images

School Records

 * 1895 - 1936 at | FamilySearch — index and images

Births
Online Birth Records Indexes and Images
 * Early Oklahoma Birth Records

Marriages
Online Marriage Records Indexes and Images
 * 1841 - 1927 - Oklahoma and Indian Territory, Marriage, Citizenship and Census Records, 1841-1927 at Ancestry ($)
 * 1852 - 1948 - at FamilySearch — index
 * 1870 - 1930 - at FamilySearch Index only.
 * 1870 - 1930 - Oklahoma, Select Marriages, 1870-1930 at Ancestry — index ($)
 * 1870 - 1930 - Oklahoma, Marriages, 1870-1930 at My Heritage index ($)
 * 1889 - 1951 - Oklahoma County, Oklahoma, Marriage Index, 1889-1951
 * 1890 - 1995 - at FamilySearch Index and images
 * OKGenWeb Oklahoma Marriages

Deaths
Online Death Records Indexes and Images
 * Obituaries Listed in the Oklahoman - Oklahoma Historical Society — index only
 * 1935 - 2014 - U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014 at Ancestry ($)
 * 1936 - 2007 - U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007 at Ancestry, incomplete ($}
 * 1936 - 2007 - U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007 at Ancestry, incomplete ($}

Divorces
Online Divorce Records Indexes and Images
 * 1923 - 1942 - Oklahoma County, Oklahoma, Divorce Index, 1923-1942

Libraries
The Southeastern Public Library System of Oklahoma serves several counties, including McCurtain.

Individual libraries are:


 * Broken Bow Public Library
 * Idabel Public Library
 * Mattie Terry Public Library (Valliant)

Museums
McCurtain County Veteran's Memorial Museum, Idabel

Museum of the Red River, Idabel

Societies
Mccurtain County Genealogical Society PO Box 1832 Idabel 74745 Website

McCurtain County Historical Society 302 S. E. Adams Idabel, OK. 74745 Telephone: 580-212-3639 E-mail:[mailto:ksivard@hotmail.com ksivard@hotmail.com] Website

The Kiamichi Country Genealogy Society (Broken Bow) has published the newsletter Kiamichian since 1990. See worldcat.org for libraries' holdings and PERSI (within HeritageQuest) for a catalog of their subjects.

McCurtain County Genealogical Society has published the newsletter Intikba since 1985. See worldcat.org for libraries' holdings and PERSI (within HeritageQuest) for a catalog of their subjects.

McCurtain County Historical Society (also see their Facebookpage.)

Family History Centers
Introduction to Family History Centers

Web Sites

 * Gateway to Oklahoma History
 * Indian Pioneer Collection- University of Oklahoma
 * Linkpendium: Oklahoma: McCurtain County
 * OKGenWeb: McCurtain County