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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 Rayford (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 Rayford. 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.

Rayford is located in Murray 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 Murray County: Carter, Garvin, Johnston & Pontotoc.

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

  • Murray County     (The home county of Rayford)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Rayford, with the one closest to Rayford listed first.
    • Cedar Village
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cedar Village have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Village
      • Cedar Village is located in Murray County
    • Dougherty
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Dougherty have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dougherty
      • Dougherty is located in Murray County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 221 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Dougherty <2>
    • Davis
      (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Davis have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Davis
      • Davis is located in Murray County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,854 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Davis <2>
    • Crusher
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Crusher. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crusher
      • Crusher is located in Murray County
    • Washita
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Washita
      • Washita is located in Murray County
    • Sulphur
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Hickory
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hickory have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hickory
      • Hickory is located in Murray County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 75 people
  • Carter County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Rayford, with the one closest to Rayford listed first.
    • Gene Autry
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gene Autry
      • Gene Autry is located in Carter County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 166 people
      • Former names for Gene Autry:
      • Berwyn
      • Dresden
      • Lou
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Gene Autry <2>
    • Springer
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Springer have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Springer
      • Springer is located in Carter County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 698 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Springer <2>
    • Woodford
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Woodford. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodford
      • Woodford is located in Carter County
    • Milo
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Ardmore
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
    • Dickson
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Dickson have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dickson
      • Dickson is located in Carter County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,256 people
    • Pooleville
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
    • Lone Grove
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Graham
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
    • Oil City
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oil City
      • Oil City is located in Carter County
    • Clemscott
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clemscott
      • Clemscott is located in Carter County
    • Tatums
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Tatums have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tatums
      • Tatums is located in Carter County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 149 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Tatums <2>
  • Garvin County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Rayford, with the one closest to Rayford listed first.
    • Wynnewood
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
    • Hennepin
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
    • Katie
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Katie have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Katie
      • Katie is located in Garvin County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 354 people
    • Elmore City
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Elmore City have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elmore City
      • Elmore City is located in Garvin County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 753 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Elmore City <2>
    • Pauls Valley
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
    • Foster
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Foster have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Foster
      • Foster is located in Garvin County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 161 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Foster <2>
    • Whitebead
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Whitebead
      • Whitebead is located in Garvin County
      • Whitebead has also been known as:
      • White Bead
    • Pernell
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
    • Stratford
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
    • Antioch
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Antioch
      • Antioch is located in Garvin County
    • Paoli
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Paoli have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Paoli
      • Paoli is located in Garvin County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 612 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Paoli <2>
  • Johnston County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Rayford, with the one closest to Rayford listed first.
    • Mill Creek
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mill Creek have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mill Creek
      • Mill Creek is located in Johnston County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 311 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Mill Creek <2>
    • Mannsville
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mannsville have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mannsville
      • Mannsville is located in Johnston County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 844 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Mannsville <2>
    • Reagan
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Reagan
      • Reagan is located in Johnston County
    • Ravia
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
    • Connerville
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
    • Tishomingo
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Tishomingo have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tishomingo
      • Tishomingo is located in Johnston County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,997 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Tishomingo <2>
  • Love County
  • Marshall County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Rayford, with the one closest to Rayford listed first.
    • Oakland
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Oakland have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oakland
      • Oakland is located in Marshall County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,161 people
    • Madill
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
  • McClain County
    • Byars
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Byars have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Byars
      • Byars is located in McClain County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 274 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Byars <2>
  • Pontotoc County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Rayford, with the one closest to Rayford listed first.
    • Roff
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Roff have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roff
      • Roff is located in Pontotoc County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 715 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Roff <2>
    • Fitzhugh
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Fitzhugh have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fitzhugh
      • Fitzhugh is located in Pontotoc County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 234 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Fitzhugh <2>
    • Fittstown
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Franks
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Franks. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Franks
      • Franks is located in Pontotoc County
    • Harden City
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Harden City have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harden City
      • Harden City is located in Pontotoc County

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

Cemeteries Near Rayford ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Rayford.

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 Rayford covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.

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

  • Price Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Price Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Price Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • James Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the James Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the James Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Dougherty Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Dougherty Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Dougherty Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Green Hill Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
  • Oak Ridge Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Oak Ridge Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Oak Ridge Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Big Canyon Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Big Canyon Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Big Canyon Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Howell Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Drake Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Drake Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Drake Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Oak Ridge Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Oak Ridge Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Oak Ridge Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #99116 <4>
  • Springer Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Springer Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Springer Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Calvary Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Calvary Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Calvary Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Buckhorn Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Buckhorn Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Buckhorn Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (143 more) ...
    • Sandy Baptist Church Cemetery
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Sandy Baptist Church Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Sandy Baptist Church Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Wheeler Flats Cemetery
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Wheeler Flats Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Wheeler Flats Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Henderson Cemetery
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Henderson Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Henderson Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.

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.<5>

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

  • Woodford
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Woodford. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodford
    • Woodford is located in Carter County

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

Newspapers Published in Rayford ...

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 99 newspapers that have been published in the area around Rayford.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Rayford, there are papers which were published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<6>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Rayford.

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 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 Rayford:

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

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

Footnotes ...

<1>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.
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<3>An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace.
<4>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.
<5>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 Rayford, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<6>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- Rayford) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Rayford. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 34.4345, Longitude: -97.0947       In this case, the coordinates for Rayford have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 29 Apr 2025