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Home >> State of Oklahoma >> Atoka County >> Payton Crossing >> 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 Payton Crossing (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 Payton Crossing. 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 Payton Crossing ...

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 Payton Crossing: Payton Xing.

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 southwest corner of their home county. During their lives, most hospitals and 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.

Payton Crossing is located in Atoka 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 Atoka County: Bryan, Choctaw, Coal, Johnston, Pittsburg & Pushmataha.

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

  • Atoka County     (The home county of Payton Crossing)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Payton Crossing, with the one closest to Payton Crossing listed first.
    • Farris
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Lane
      (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Lone Pine
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
      • Lone Pine is located in Atoka County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lone Pine
    • Bentley
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Bentley is located in Atoka County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bentley
    • Bruno
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
      • Bruno is located in Atoka County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bruno
    • Atoka
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Stringtown
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Tushka
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
      • Tushka is located in Atoka County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tushka
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 400 people
    • Daisy
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
    • Caney
      (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
    • Wardville
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
  • Bryan County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Payton Crossing, with the one closest to Payton Crossing listed first.
    • Matoy
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Matoy is located in Bryan County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Matoy
    • Bennington
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
    • Bokchito
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
    • Caddo
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Kenefic
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
    • Wade
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
      • Wade is located in Bryan County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wade
    • Armstrong
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Armstrong is located in Bryan County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Armstrong
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 111 people
  • Choctaw County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Payton Crossing, with the one closest to Payton Crossing listed first.
    • Boswell
      (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
    • Soper
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Apple
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
      • Apple is located in Choctaw County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Apple
    • Hugo
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Hugo is located in Choctaw County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hugo
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 5,070 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Hugo <1>
  • Coal County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Payton Crossing, with the one closest to Payton Crossing listed first.
    • Lehigh
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Phillips
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
      • Phillips is located in Coal County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Phillips
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 130 people
    • Coalgate
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
  • Johnston County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Payton Crossing, with the one closest to Payton Crossing listed first.
    • Coleman
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
    • Wapanucka
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
  • Pittsburg County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Payton Crossing, with the one closest to Payton Crossing listed first.
    • Kiowa
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
      • Kiowa is located in Pittsburg County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kiowa
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 676 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Kiowa <1>
    • Pittsburg
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
  • Pushmataha County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Payton Crossing, with the one closest to Payton Crossing listed first.
    • Moyers
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
    • Antlers
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
    • Eubanks
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
      • Eubanks is located in Pushmataha County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eubanks
    • Ethel
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
      • Ethel is located in Pushmataha County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ethel
    • Finley
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
    • Belzoni
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
      • Belzoni is located in Pushmataha County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Belzoni
    • Adel
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Adel is located in Pushmataha County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Adel
    • Rattan
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
    • Snow
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
    • Stanley
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Stanley is located in Pushmataha County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stanley
  • Lamar County (TX)
    • Garretts Bluff
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
      • Garretts Bluff is located in Lamar County (TX)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Garretts Bluff

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

Cemeteries Near Payton Crossing ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Payton Crossing.

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 Payton Crossing - one of the links might be able to help.

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

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

  • Butler Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Butler Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Butler Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located 2 miles [3.2 km]<2> to the southeast of Lane.
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #98066 <3>
  • Farris Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
  • Double Springs Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
  • Crystal Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Darwin Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Sugarloaf Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
  • Zoraya Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
  • Miller Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
  • Buffalo Creek Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
  • Bera Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bera Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Bera Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located 5 miles [8 km]<2> to the east of Tushka.
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #1980933 <3>
  • Bentley Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Rocky Point Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
  • Continue List   (125 more) ...
    • Harmony Cemetery
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Cane Hill Cemetery
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
    • New Zion Cemetery
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)

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

Newspapers Published in Payton Crossing ...

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 68 newspapers that have been published in the area around Payton Crossing.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Payton Crossing, there are papers which were published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<2>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Payton Crossing.

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 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 Payton Crossing:

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>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Payton Crossing) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>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.