Oklahoma, School Records - FamilySearch Historical Records

United States Oklahoma 

What is in the Collection?
The collection includes school records, primarily annual censuses, of pupils who attended schools in Oklahoma counties between 1895 and 1936. This collection will be published as records and images become available. The Woodward County records were indexed by the Northwest Oklahoma Genealogical Society. The records are generally arranged by years and then in numerical order by school district; many of them list the name of each pupil and include the pupil's date of birth and the names of parents or guardians.

Woodward County was formed in 1893 from the Cherokee Outlet. It was originally "N" County. On November 6, 1894, the new citizens voted to change the name to Woodward and establish the town of Woodward as the county seat. All of present Harper and Woodward counties, the northern part of Ellis and the western end of Woods counties were contained within the borders of county "N", Oklahoma Territory, when it was opened for settlement September 16. 1893. The first school was established in Woodward in January 1894.

The records helped local governments determine funding needs for individual schools so the information is generally reliable.

What Can this Collection Tell Me?
The records may include any of the following information:


 * Name of town and county
 * School District Number
 * Names of pupils
 * Ages of pupils
 * Gender of pupils
 * Beginning and ending dates of grading period
 * Beginning and ending dates for school year

How Do I Search the Collection?
School records can be very helpful as they can often be used as a reliable substitute for birth records or they can lead you to birth records. To begin your search it is helpful to know at least some of the following:
 * The name of the child.
 * The approximate age or birth date of the child.
 * The years the child attended school.
 * The names of the child's parents.
 * The place where the family lived.

Fill in the requested information in the initial search page. This search will return a list of possible matches. Compare the information in the list to what you already know about your ancestor to determine if it is the correct family or person. You may need to compare several persons in the list before you find your ancestor.

Search by Name by visiting the Collection Page:

View images in this collection by visiting the Browse Page[url] then: ⇒Select the "County" ⇒Select the "Year Range", which will take you to the images.

For tips about searching on-line collections see the on-line article FamilySearch Search Tips and Tricks.

What Do I Do Next?
Whenever possible, view the original records to verify the information and to find additional information that might not be reported. These pieces of information can lead you to additional records and family members.

I Found Who I was Looking for, What Now?

 * Use the age to calculate a birth date and to find other records such as birth, christening, marriage, census, land and death records.
 * Use the information to find additional family members. Witnesses or bondsmen were usually relatives.
 * Repeat this process with additional family members found, to find more generations of the family.
 * Church Records often were kept years before government records were required and are a good source for finding ancestors before 1900.

I Can’t Find Who I’m Looking for, What Now?

 * Try viewing the original record to see if there were errors in the transcription of the name, age, residence, etc. Remember that there may be more than one person in the records with the same name.
 * Collect entries for every person who has the same surname. This list can help you identify possible relations that can be verified by records.
 * If you cannot locate your ancestor in the locality in which you believe they lived, then try searching records of a nearby locality in an area search.
 * Standard spelling of names typically did not exist during the periods our ancestors lived in. Try variations of your ancestor’s name while searching the index or browsing through images.
 * Remember that sometimes individuals went by nicknames or alternated between using first and middle names. Try searching for these names as well.
 * Search the indexes and records of Oklahoma, United States Genealogy.
 * Search in the Oklahoma Archives and Libraries.

Citing this Collection
Citing your sources makes it easy for others to find and evaluate the records you used. When you copy information from a record, list where you found that information. Here you can find citations already created for the entire collection and for each individual record or image.

Collection Citation:

Record Citation (or citation for the index entry):

Image Citation