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.

Collection Content
Click on image for a larger view.

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 the following:


 * Name of the child
 * Other identifying information such as age or approximate birth date, years of attendance, parents' names, or residence

Search the Collection
To search the collection by name: Fill in the requested information on the initial search page. This search will return a list of possible matches. Compare the information about the individuals in the list to what you already know about your ancestors to determine if this is the correct family or person. You may need to compare the information about more than one person to find your ancestor. Keep in mind:


 * There may be more than one person in the records with the same name.
 * You may not be sure of your own ancestor’s name.
 * Your ancestor may have used different names, or variations of their name, throughout their life.
 * If your ancestor used an alias or a nickname, be sure to check for those alternate names.
 * Even though these indexes are very accurate they may still contain inaccuracies, such as altered spellings, misinterpretations, and optical character recognition errors if the information was scanned.

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

What Do I Do Next?
When you have located your ancestor’s record, carefully evaluate each piece of information about them. These pieces of information may give you new biographical details that can lead you to other records about your ancestor. For example:


 * Use the age to calculate an approximate birth date.
 * Use the age or birth date along with the parents’ names and residence to find the family in census records.
 * Use the residence and names of the parents to locate church and land records.

Tips to Keep in Mind

 * It is often helpful to extract the information on all children with the same parents. If the surname is unusual, you may want to compile the entries for every person of the same surname and sort them into families based on the names of the parents. Continue to search the birth records to identify other relatives such as cousins who attended the same school or other nearby schools.
 * Earlier records may not contain as much information as the records created after 1885.
 * There is also some variation in the information given from record to record.

What If I Can’t Find Who I’m Looking For?

 * Look for variant spellings of the surnames. You should also look for nicknames and abbreviated names.
 * Look for an index. Local genealogical and historical societies often have indexes to local records.
 * Search the records of nearby districts.
 * Try alternative search methods such as only filling in the surname search box (or the given name search box) on the landing page leaving the other box empty and then click on search. This should return a list of everyone with that particular name. You could then browse the list for individuals that may be your ancestor.

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):

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