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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 Lake Creek (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 Lake Creek. 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 Lake Creek ...

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 occur.

For example, a typical abbreviation for Lake Creek: Lk. Creek

You might be interested in other communities that are also named Lake Creek. More information can be found on our Tidbits & Trivia Page for Lake Creek.

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.

Lake Creek is located in Greer County.

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

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Greer County: Beckham, Harmon, Jackson & Kiowa.

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

  • Greer County     (The home county of Lake Creek)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Lake Creek, with the one closest to Lake Creek listed first.
    • Granite
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Willow
      (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Mangum
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Bloomington
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
      • Bloomington is located in Greer County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bloomington
    • Hester
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
      • Hester is located in Greer County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hester
    • Jester
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
      • Jester is located in Greer County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jester
    • Reed
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
      • Reed is located in Greer County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Reed
  • Beckham County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Lake Creek, with the one closest to Lake Creek listed first.
    • Carter
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
    • Delhi
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Delhi is located in Beckham County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Delhi
    • Sayre
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Sayre is located in Beckham County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sayre
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 4,435 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Sayre <1>
    • Elk City
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
    • Erick
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
  • Harmon County
  • Jackson County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Lake Creek, with the one closest to Lake Creek listed first.
    • Blair
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
    • Martha
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
    • Friendship
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Friendship is located in Jackson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Friendship
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 22 people
    • Altus
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
      • Altus is located in Jackson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Altus
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 18,162 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Altus <1>
    • Duke
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
    • East Duke
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
      • East Duke is located in Jackson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Duke
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 383 people
    • Victory
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
      • Victory is located in Jackson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Victory
  • Kiowa County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Lake Creek, with the one closest to Lake Creek listed first.
    • Lone Wolf
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Lugert ‑ Historic
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Lugert is located in Kiowa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lugert
    • Hobart
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
    • Roosevelt
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Gotebo
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
  • Washita County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Lake Creek, with the one closest to Lake Creek listed first.
    • Sentinel
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Rocky
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Dill City
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
    • Burns Flat
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Canute
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
    • New Cordell
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
      • New Cordell is located in Washita County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Cordell
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,708 people
      • New Cordell has also been known as:
      • Cordell
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for New Cordell <1>

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

Cemeteries Near Lake Creek ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Lake Creek.

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.

Although we don't have the information ourselves, if you need information about a burial or interment, photos, transcripts, how to contact the cemetery or local authorities, please visit our list of websites on our Genealogy Helper Page for Lake Creek - one of the links might be able to help.

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

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

  • Pleasant Valley Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
  • Rock Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
  • Brinkman Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
  • Willow Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Lutheran Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
  • Granite Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Retrop Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
  • Quartz Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
  • Roselawn Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
  • Lone Wolf Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
  • Marie Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Riverside Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Continue List   (77 more) ...
    • Poarch Cemetery
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
    • Spring Creek Cemetery
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Port Cemetery
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)

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.<2>

While we didn't find Lake Creek in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Lake Creek.

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

  • Mangum
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Bloomington
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
    • Bloomington is located in Greer County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bloomington
  • Jester
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
    • Jester is located in Greer County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jester
  • Delhi
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Delhi is located in Beckham County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Delhi
  • Reed
    (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
    • Reed is located in Greer County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Reed
  • Martha
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
  • Duke
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
  • Victory
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
    • Victory is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Victory
  • Altus
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
    • Altus is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Altus
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 18,162 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Altus <1>
  • Rainy ‑ Historic
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
    • Rainy is located in Washita County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rainy

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

Newspapers Published in Lake Creek ...

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 116 newspapers that have been published in the area around Lake Creek.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Lake Creek, there are papers which were published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Lake Creek.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we begin with the websites from Cyndi's List, FamilySearch and Genealogy Trails. These professional and volunteer websites 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 Lake Creek:

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>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 Lake Creek, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<3>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Lake Creek) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.