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Our Genealogy Helper

Introduction ...

We have a couple of goals for our Gazetteer:

  • That it be a tool which helps us with planning our trips.
  • We're trying to shape our Gazetteer as a tool to help us understand the community in which our ancestors lived, the community that was part of their daily lives.
  • On our trips, we try to visit those places where our ancestors left their footprints.

By learning about Sweetwater (and the surrounding area) during the time that our ancestors lived, we hope to have a better understanding of both their community and its relationship to their lifes. We hope that this tool helps to give us an insight into their world.

As we add data and organize our Gazetteer to help with our family research, we will be adding to this our Genealogical Helper for Sweetwater. While we don't have information that is specific to any given person or family, we intend to expand our understanding about where and how people lived.

Name Variations for Sweetwater ...

When searching records, keep in mind that names and their spelling can change over time. Our sources include documents like maps, railroad schedules, Travel, Express and Shipping Guides. Many of these documents date from the 1800's and it's common to find spelling differences.

Although we can't give a definitive list, hopefully the following will give you a feel for the variations that might have occurred.

Another variation: Sweet Water.

If you have information about these names (such as the reason for the change, date of change, the origin of the name), please Contact Us.

Neighboring Counties ...

When searching for family records, we have frequently made the mistake of not checking the neighboring counties.

For example, we have great-grandparents who lived in the southeast corner of their home county. During their lives, most hospitals and doctors were in the next county to the east. Almost all of the nearby churches and cemeteries were in the county to the south.

So when searching for records, we had our best success by looking in neighboring counties instead of the county in which they lived:  their home county contained property and probate records; the county to the east contained birth and death records; the county to the south contained their burial records. If we hadn't included the neighboring counties, we would have missed many valuable sources of information.

If you're in a similar situation, we hope that the following information helps.

Sweetwater is primarily located in Beckham County. A portion of Sweetwater extends into Roger Mills County.

To see how the shape of Oklahoma's counties have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Beckham County: Custer, Greer, Harmon, Kiowa, Roger Mills, Washita, Collingsworth (TX) & Wheeler (TX).

Below are the counties that are near Sweetwater. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Sweetwater:

  • Beckham County     (The home county of Sweetwater)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Sweetwater, with the one closest to Sweetwater listed first.
    • Mayfield
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Erick
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
    • Texola
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Texola have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Texola
      • Texola is located in Beckham County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 34 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Texola <1>
    • Sayre
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sayre have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sayre
      • Sayre is located in Beckham County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 4,435 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Sayre <1>
    • Delhi
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Delhi
      • Delhi is located in Beckham County
    • Carter
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Elk City
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Elk City have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elk City
      • Elk City is located in Beckham County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 11,354 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Elk City <1>
  • Roger Mills County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Sweetwater, with the one closest to Sweetwater listed first.
    • Reydon
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Reydon have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Reydon
      • Reydon is located in Roger Mills County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 205 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Reydon <1>
    • Berlin
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Berlin
      • Berlin is located in Roger Mills County
    • Cheyenne
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
    • Strong City
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Strong City have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Strong City
      • Strong City is located in Roger Mills County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 46 people
    • Roll
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roll
      • Roll is located in Roger Mills County
    • Crawford
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
    • Durham
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
  • Wheeler County (TX)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Sweetwater, with the one closest to Sweetwater listed first.
    • Allison
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Twitty
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Twitty
      • Twitty is located in Wheeler County (TX)
    • Zybach ‑ Historic
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Zybach
      • Zybach is located in Wheeler County (TX)
    • Wheeler
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wheeler
      • Wheeler is located in Wheeler County (TX)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,456 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Wheeler <1>
    • Shamrock
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Shamrock have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shamrock
      • Shamrock is located in Wheeler County (TX)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,720 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Shamrock <1>
    • Briscoe
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Briscoe have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Briscoe
      • Briscoe is located in Wheeler County (TX)
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Briscoe <1>
    • Magic City
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Magic City have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Magic City
      • Magic City is located in Wheeler County (TX)
    • Mobeetie
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)

For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Sweetwater, see our County-by-County Page for Sweetwater.

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Sweetwater ...

An ongoing effort between the Library of Congress and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) has resulted in the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP).

To share their results, the partnership has created the Chronicling America website. The goal of this partnership is to assemble a database about the current and historic newspapers of the United States. This includes a growing collection of scanned images from selected papers. All of it available to the public on their website.

Using information that we've taken from the Chronicling America website, we've identified 50 newspapers that have been published in the area around Sweetwater.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Sweetwater. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Sweetwater and those printed in the larger area surrounding Sweetwater.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<3> of Sweetwater.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we first visit the websites from Cyndi's List, FamilySearch and Genealogy Trails. These websites either offer the information directly or else point to where you can find it. Their information is open to everyone.

To help you get started, the following links will take you to the pages that are relevant to Sweetwater:

Cemeteries Near Sweetwater ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Sweetwater.

This is a new section and is likely to have errors. If you find an error, such as a missing cemetery or we have the wrong name, please let us know. If you know of them, we would also appreciate learning about previous or alternate names.

If you need information about a burial or interment, photos, transcripts, how to contact the cemetery or local authorities, please visit our selection of Genealogy Websites (see below).

If not found below, our Cemetery List for Sweetwater covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Sweetwater, with the one closest to Sweetwater listed first.

  • Mulberry Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Mulberry Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Mulberry Cemetery
  • Salem Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Salem Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Salem Cemetery
  • Brookside Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Brookside Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Brookside Cemetery
  • Buffalo Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Buffalo Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Buffalo Cemetery
  • Mayfield Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Mayfield Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Mayfield Cemetery
  • Wayland Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Wayland Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Wayland Cemetery
  • Dempsey Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Dempsey Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Dempsey Cemetery
  • Kelton Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Kelton Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Kelton Cemetery
  • Rosehill Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Rosehill Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Rosehill Cemetery
  • Rock Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
  • Davis Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Davis Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Davis Cemetery
  • Lone Oak Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Lone Oak Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Lone Oak Cemetery
  • Continue List   (46 more) ...
    • White Rose Cemetery
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the White Rose Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the White Rose Cemetery
    • Pioneer Cemetery
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Pioneer Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Pioneer Cemetery
    • Center Cemetery
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Center Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Center Cemetery

Nearby Communities in 1895 ...

We've built the following list with information that came from an Atlas published by Rand McNally in 1895. The Atlas had details such as the population of the community (which appears to have come from the 1890 Census) and whether there was a post office and/or railroad service available. We also indicate if the community no longer exists and is now historic.<4>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that in 1895, Sweetwater had no post office or railroad service. In 2020, Sweetwater had a population of 82 people.

These communities are listed based on their distance from Sweetwater, with the one closest to Sweetwater listed first.

  • Cheyenne
    (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
  • Delhi
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Delhi
    • Delhi is located in Beckham County
  • Aberdeen
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Aberdeen have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Aberdeen
    • Aberdeen is located in Collingsworth County (TX)

We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Sweetwater. See our List of 1890's Communities around Sweetwater.

Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Sweetwater. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.

The official website for State of Oklahoma: https://www.ok.gov/

Footnotes ...

<1>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<2>The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required.
<3>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Sweetwater) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Sweetwater. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 35.4223, Longitude: -99.9114    
<4>We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Sweetwater, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024