We receive several email inquiries each month from the web page. Most of them say something like, "My Uncle John and Aunt Martha made the run. What can you tell me about them?" Of course we?d like to help, but that's not necessarily the role of the Society. To become a Descendant Member, you are supposed to know all about where Uncle John settled already. Here are straightforward ways to find out.We asked around and found two good sources of information for this article: June Stone, our long-time member, and Brian Basore of the Oklahoma Historical Society Library.
For most of us, The Source of Sources for information about your 1889er ancestor is the Oklahoma Historical Society Library, 2401 North Laird, Oklahoma City, OK, (near 23rd & Lincoln). There you?ll find The Federal Tract Books, Smith's Directory, and the 18990 Census.
The most comprehensive land locator in the library is the Index to the homestead files of Oklahoma Territory: the Federal Tract Books of Oklahoma (Territory). These are arranged by township and range, but the Southwestern Oklahoma Geneological Society has compiled a surname index to the Tract Books.
Smith's First Directory of Oklahoma Terrirory lists names of individuals & address or legal description of land, and there is an Index for Smith's Directory, too.
Then there is the 1890 Territorial Census on microfilm. This is important because people are eligible for 1889ERS Descendant Membership if they lived in the Terrirory between 4/22/89 and 12/31/89, even if they did not "make the run". There is also a Card file for persons listed in the 1890 OK Territorial Census (incomplete).
More hard work! A volunteer from the Oklahoma Genealogical Society has been extracting information from the 1890 OK Territorial Census and the OGS has been publishing it since 1996. They're still on County #1 (Logan) so it will take years to get it done.
We've only scratched the surface!! There are many more resources available at the Historical Society, and the experts there can refer you to even more. As a special favor to applicants to The 1889ers Society, our former President June C. Stone has volunteered to help you lookup your ancestors... even if you live far away.
June said "I would be glad to look in the index to the track books and Smith's Directory to see if their ancestor is listed. I volunteer over there every Thursday unless I'm ill or the roads are slick. I won't do a lot of research for free but it doesn't take long to use those two sources to validate a Membership Application." Contact her at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view itThanks, June!