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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 Oriental (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 Oriental. 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 northeast corner of their home county. During their lives, most doctors were in the next county to the east. Almost all of the nearby churches and cemeteries were in the county to the north.

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 north 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.

Oriental is located in Okfuskee 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 Okfuskee County: Creek, Hughes, Lincoln, McIntosh, Okmulgee, Pottawatomie & Seminole.

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

  • Okfuskee County     (The home county of Oriental)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Oriental, with the one closest to Oriental listed first.
    • Okfuskee
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
      • Okfuskee is located in Okfuskee County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Okfuskee
    • Mason
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
      • Mason is located in Okfuskee County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mason
    • Okemah
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Ixl
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
      • Ixl is located in Okfuskee County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ixl
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 48 people
    • Clearview
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
      • Clearview is located in Okfuskee County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clearview
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 46 people
    • Pharoah
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Pharoah is located in Okfuskee County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pharoah
    • Castle
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Castle is located in Okfuskee County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Castle
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 103 people
    • Weleetka
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
    • Boley
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
      • Boley is located in Okfuskee County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Boley
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,167 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Boley <1>
    • Bearden
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Bearden is located in Okfuskee County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bearden
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 126 people
    • Paden
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
  • Creek County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Oriental, with the one closest to Oriental listed first.
    • Slick
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
    • Bristow
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Pulaski ‑ Historic
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Pulaski is located in Creek County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pulaski
    • Depew
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Milfay
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Mounds
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
    • Kellyville
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
    • Kiefer
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
  • Hughes County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Oriental, with the one closest to Oriental listed first.
    • Wetumka
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
    • Dustin
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Dustin is located in Hughes County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dustin
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 367 people
    • Yeager
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
      • Yeager is located in Hughes County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Yeager
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 73 people
  • Lincoln County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Oriental, with the one closest to Oriental listed first.
    • Prague
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
    • Stroud
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
  • McIntosh County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Oriental, with the one closest to Oriental listed first.
    • Hitchita
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
    • Hanna
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Okmulgee County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Oriental, with the one closest to Oriental listed first.
    • Schulter
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
    • Spelter City
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
      • Spelter City is located in Okmulgee County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spelter City
    • Henryetta
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Coalton
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
      • Coalton is located in Okmulgee County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coalton
    • Dewar
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
    • Okmulgee
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
    • Beggs
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Beggs is located in Okmulgee County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beggs
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,229 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Beggs <1>
    • Preston
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
    • Salem
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
      • Salem is located in Okmulgee County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Salem
    • Grayson
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
      • Grayson is located in Okmulgee County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grayson
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 156 people
    • Hoffman
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
      • Hoffman is located in Okmulgee County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hoffman
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 125 people
    • Morris
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
  • Pottawatomie County
    • Bellemont
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
      • Bellemont is located in Pottawatomie County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bellemont
  • Seminole County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Oriental, with the one closest to Oriental listed first.
    • Cromwell
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Wewoka
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Tulsa County
    • Liberty
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Liberty is located in Tulsa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Liberty
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 219 people

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

Cemeteries Near Oriental ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Oriental.

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

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

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

  • Nuyaka Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
  • Morse Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
  • Manwarring Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
  • Okfuskee Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Okfuskee Cemetery
    • The Okfuskee Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Okfuskee Free Cemetery
  • Montezuma Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
  • White Rose Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Douglas Family Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
  • Buckeye Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Highland Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Highland Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Highland Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located outside and to the northeast of Okemah.
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #98641 <2>
  • Ebenezer Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
  • Harjo Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
  • Tuskegee Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
  • Continue List   (175 more) ...
    • Renkie Cemetery
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Nuyaka Cemetery
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Old Nuyaka Cemetery
      (8 miles [12.9 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.<3>

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

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

  • Morris
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
  • Arlington
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
    • Arlington is located in Lincoln County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Arlington
  • Stroud
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)

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

Newspapers Published in Oriental ...

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 110 newspapers that have been published in the area around Oriental.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Oriental, there are papers which were published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Oriental.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we like to start 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 Oriental:

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 Oriental, 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- Oriental) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.