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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 Selman (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 Selman. 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 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.

Selman is located in Harper 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 Harper County: Clark (KS), Comanche (KS), Beaver, Ellis, Woods & Woodward.

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

  • Harper County     (The home county of Selman)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Selman, with the one closest to Selman listed first.
    • Charleston ‑ Historic
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Charleston. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Charleston
      • Charleston is located in Harper County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Charleston
      • From Selman to Charleston
    • Buffalo
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • May
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Laverne
      (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
    • Rosston
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rosston have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rosston
      • Rosston is located in Harper County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 31 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Rosston <2>
  • Ellis County
    • Fargo
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Fargo have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fargo
      • Fargo is located in Ellis County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 341 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Fargo <2>
  • Woods County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Selman, with the one closest to Selman listed first.
    • Haskew ‑ Historic
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Haskew came from an uncertain source and they still need to be verified:<4>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Haskew
      • Haskew is located in Woods County
    • Freedom
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Freedom have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Freedom
      • Freedom is located in Woods County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 284 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Freedom <2>
  • Woodward County
  • Clark County (KS)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Selman, with the one closest to Selman listed first.
    • Sitka
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Sitka. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sitka
      • Sitka is located in Clark County (KS)
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Sitka
      • From Selman to Sitka
    • Ashland
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Comanche County (KS)

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

Cemeteries Near Selman ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Selman.

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

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

  • Goldenrod Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Goldenrod Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Goldenrod Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Hopewell Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Hopewell Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Hopewell Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Kibby Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Kibby Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Kibby Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Lutheran Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Lutheran Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Lutheran Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • High Point Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
  • Spring Valley Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Spring Valley Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Spring Valley Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Otter Creek Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Otter Creek Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Otter Creek Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Gyp Valley Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Gyp Valley Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Gyp Valley Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Fern Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Fern Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Fern Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Willow Creek Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Willow Creek Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Willow Creek Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Nixon Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
  • Lookout Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
  • Continue List   (38 more) ...

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.<6>

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

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

  • Fort Supply
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
  • Sitka
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Sitka. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<1>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sitka
    • Sitka is located in Clark County (KS)
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Sitka
    • From Selman to Sitka
  • Alston
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Alston have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alston
    • Alston is located in Woodward County
  • Protection
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Selman ...

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 66 newspapers that have been published in the area around Selman.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Selman. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Selman and those printed in the larger area surrounding Selman.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<7> of Selman.

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 either 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 Selman:

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

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

Footnotes ...

<1>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.
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<3>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.
<4>If we found a location and have questions about the accuracy of our information, we will simply say that the marker is 'in the vicinity'. We are not confident about the location and the position of our marker is only a rough guide. If we have too many doubts about the location, we will not include it in our database.
<5>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.
<6>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 Selman, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<7>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Selman) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Selman. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 36.8029, Longitude: -99.4899    









 

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This page was last modified/updated: 29 Apr 2025