1907
Help Wanted
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History
In 1831 the Choctaw began arriving to the newly created Choctaw Nation, which included present Haskell County. Many came by steamboat and landed at Tamaha. In 1849 Capt. Randolph B. Marcy mapped out the California Road, which ran through the present county. Cooper Creek on the California Road later served as a stage stop.
The area also witnessed action during the Civil War. The Choctaw sided with the Confederacy, and Camp Pike, near present Whitefield, served as a Confederate base. At different times as many as two thousand men camped at this location, named for Albert Pike, prior to expeditions against Federal troops. After the Battle of Honey Springs in July, a skirmish occurred on August 28, 1863, at Camp Pike as Confederate Brig. Gen. W. L. Cabell's rear guard engaged Col. W. F. Cloud's troops after the Southern soldiers had already begun their march east. Another engagement took place two days later near Sans Bois Creek between the same troops and another occurred the next day in present Le Flore County as the Confederates moved toward the Poteau River. In June 1864 Col. Stand Watie and his Confederate forces captured the steamboat J. R. Williams and its load of Federal supplies near Tamaha at Pleasant Bluff on the Arkansas River. The next morning Col. John Ritchie's men, who were stationed at the mouth of the Illinois River, engaged Watie's men as they tried to plunder the boat. The soldiers were on opposite sides of the river, which was rising, and they fought to a standoff. The advance of Union troops from Ft. Smith, Arkansas, caused Watie to burn the J. R. Williams and much of its cargo. During this episode a number of Watie's men skirmished with Federal forces at Ironbridge, a community on Sans Bois Creek, where the U.S. government had built an iron bridge to facilitate a mail route along the California Road. The bridge was destroyed during the Civil War, and the proposed mail route was never completely operational.
Haskell County was part of the Choctaw Nation's Sans Bois County. As Oklahoma statehood approached and the Choctaw government dealt with allotment, losing the rights to its Segregated Coal Lands and ultimately its right to self-government, Greenwood McCurtain held the office of principal chief. McCurtain, the last of three brothers to hold this illustrious position, lived and made his headquarters at Sans Bois in southern Haskell County. His house there is listed in the National Register of Historic Places (NR 71000661), as is the Sans Bois home (NR 80003265) of his brother, Edmund McCurtain (principal chief from 1884 to 1886).
Links
Free Records Search at Familysearch Org
Haskell County Cemetery Listings
Haskell County CemeteryListings on Interment Net
Haskell County Cemetery Listings on Find A Grave
The McCurtain Genealogical Society
Oklahoma Birth Certificates
- Search for Oklahoma Birth Cetificates and how to order from the Vital Records Office.
State of Oklahoma Genealogy Records Guide
- Search for death certificates and how to order them from The Vital Records Office
Oklahoma State Archives
- Dept. of Libraries
Third Floor
200 NE 18th St.
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73105
Phone: (405) 522-3579 - The Oklahoma State Archives provides an excellent library of genealogy records including: Commissioner of Confederate Pensions Applications, 1915-33, Commissioner of Confederate Pensions Pension Files, 1915-49, U.S. District Land Office Homestead Registers, 1889-1908, Oklahoma Supreme Court Applications to the Bar, 1907-42, Oklahoma Board of Medical Examiners Deceased Files, 1907-86, Oklahoma Board of Pharmacy Deceased Pharmacist Files, 1907-75, and Oklahoma Board of Chiropractic Examiners Inactive License Files, 1921-84.
Oklahoma Genealogical Society Library and Archives
- 2100 N. Lincoln Blvd.
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73105-4997
Phone: (405) 522-5225 - The Oklahoma Genealogical Society maintains a library and archives that the public is allowed to visit. The Library and Archives contains over 62,000 volumes with emphasis on Oklahoma, Native American, and western history. In addition to these materials -- many of which are rare and out-of-print -- the library also houses a number of special collections.
202 East Main St.
Stigler, OK 74462
Phone (918)967-2884
202 East Main St.
Stigler, OK 74462
Phone (918)967-3323
Fax (918)967-2819
Email Lists and Query Boards
Haskell County Mail List on Rootsweb
Haskell County Message Board on Rootsweb
Haskell County Message Board on Genforum
Adjacent Counties
