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A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Oklahoma >> Wagoner County >> Okay >> Genealogy HelperIndex...

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 Okay (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 Okay. 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.

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 southwest corner of their home county. During their lives, most doctors were in the next county to the west. 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 west 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.

Okay is located in Wagoner 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 Wagoner County: Cherokee, Mayes, Muskogee, Okmulgee, Rogers & Tulsa.

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

  • Wagoner County     (The home county of Okay)
  • Adair County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Okay, with the one closest to Okay listed first.
    • Rocky Mountain
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
      • Rocky Mountain is located in Adair County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rocky Mountain
    • Wauhillau
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
  • Cherokee County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Okay, with the one closest to Okay listed first.
    • Hulbert
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Woodall
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
      • Woodall is located in Cherokee County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodall
    • Lost City
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Zeb
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
      • Zeb is located in Cherokee County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Zeb
    • Shady Grove
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Shady Grove is located in Cherokee County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shady Grove
    • Keys
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
      • Keys is located in Cherokee County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Keys
    • Tahlequah
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
    • Gideon
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Park Hill
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
    • Pettit
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
      • Pettit is located in Cherokee County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pettit
    • Tsa La Gi Indian Village
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
    • Peggs
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
  • Mayes County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Okay, with the one closest to Okay listed first.
    • Mazie
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
    • Cedar Crest
      (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
    • Pin Oaks Acres
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
      • Pin Oaks Acres is located in Mayes County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pin Oaks Acres
    • Ballou
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
    • Murphy
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
      • Murphy is located in Mayes County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Murphy
    • Chouteau
      (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
    • Iron Post
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
      • Iron Post is located in Mayes County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Iron Post
    • Sams Corner
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
    • Locust Grove
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
    • Snake Creek
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Snake Creek is located in Mayes County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Snake Creek
    • Sportsmen Acres
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
      • Sportsmen Acres is located in Mayes County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sportsmen Acres
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 310 people
    • Rose
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
  • McIntosh County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Okay, with the one closest to Okay listed first.
    • Rentiesville
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
    • Shady Grove
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
      • Shady Grove is located in McIntosh County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shady Grove
    • Checotah
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
  • Muskogee County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Okay, with the one closest to Okay listed first.
    • Wybark
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Bacone
      (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Fort Gibson
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Muskogee
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Summit
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
      • Summit is located in Muskogee County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Summit
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 136 people
    • Braggs
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Taft
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Taft is located in Muskogee County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Taft
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 236 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Taft <1>
    • River Bottom
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
      • River Bottom is located in Muskogee County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for River Bottom
    • Beland
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Sour John
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
      • Sour John is located in Muskogee County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sour John
    • Jamesville
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
    • Haskell
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
  • Rogers County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Okay, with the one closest to Okay listed first.
    • Inola
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Gregory
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Gregory is located in Rogers County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gregory
  • Sequoyah County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Okay, with the one closest to Okay listed first.
    • Paradise Hill
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Paradise Hill is located in Sequoyah County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Paradise Hill
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 80 people
    • Gore
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
      • Gore is located in Sequoyah County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gore
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 946 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Gore <1>
    • Redbird Smith
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Redbird Smith is located in Sequoyah County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Redbird Smith
    • Box
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Evening Shade
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Carlisle
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Tulsa County

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

Cemeteries Near Okay ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Okay.

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 Okay - one of the links might be able to help.

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

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

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.<3>

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

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

  • Keith
    (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
    • Keith is located in Rogers County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Keith
  • Martin
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
    • Martin is located in Muskogee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Martin

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

Newspapers Published in Okay ...

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 93 newspapers that have been published in the area around Okay.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Okay, there are papers which were published within 28 miles [45.1 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Okay.

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 helpful 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 Okay:

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 Find-a-Grave website is an excellent research tool with information about a cemetery's location and interments. They also offer a forum for their members which can provide additional help. More information about Find-a-Grave can be found on their website: findagrave.com.
<3>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 Okay, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>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- Okay) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.