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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 Waynoka (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 Waynoka. 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 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.

Waynoka is located in Woods 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 Woods County: Barber (KS), Comanche (KS), Alfalfa, Harper, Major & Woodward.

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

  • Woods County     (The home county of Waynoka)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Waynoka, with the one closest to Waynoka listed first.
    • Heman
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
      • Heman is located in Woods County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Heman
    • Avard
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Avard is located in Woods County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Avard
    • Hopeton
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Dacoma
      (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
    • Alva
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
      • Alva is located in Woods County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alva
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 4,882 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Alva <1>
    • Freedom
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
    • Haskew ‑ Historic
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
      • Haskew is located in Woods County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Haskew
    • Winchester
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
      • Winchester is located in Woods County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Winchester
    • Capron
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Capron is located in Woods County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Capron
      • Population from the 2010 Census: 23 people
  • Alfalfa County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Waynoka, with the one closest to Waynoka listed first.
    • Carmen
      (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
    • Aline
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
    • Lambert
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
      • Lambert is located in Alfalfa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lambert
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 6 people
    • Yewed
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
      • Yewed is located in Alfalfa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Yewed
    • Ingersoll
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Ingersoll is located in Alfalfa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ingersoll
  • Dewey County
    • Seiling
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
  • Major County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Waynoka, with the one closest to Waynoka listed first.
    • Phroso ‑ Historic
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
      • Phroso is located in Major County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Phroso
    • Chester
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
    • Cleo Springs
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Orienta
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
  • Woodward County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Waynoka, with the one closest to Waynoka listed first.
    • Quinlan
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Quinlan is located in Woodward County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Quinlan
    • Curtis
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Curtis is located in Woodward County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Curtis
    • Mooreland
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Richmond
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
      • Richmond is located in Woodward County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Richmond
    • Mutual
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Woodward
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)

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

Cemeteries Near Waynoka ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Waynoka.

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

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

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

  • Waynoka Municipal Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
  • Memorial Hill Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
  • Walnut Grove Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
  • West Creek Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Lone Star Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
  • Highland Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
  • Red Top Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Galena Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Avard Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Highland Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
  • Union Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
  • Manila Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
  • Continue List   (67 more) ...
    • Connor Cemetery
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
    • Pleasant View Cemetery
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
    • Fairvalley Cemetery
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)

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>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that in 1895, Waynoka had railroad service and no post office. In 2020, Waynoka had a population of 902 people.

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

  • Heman
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Heman is located in Woods County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Heman
  • Cora
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
    • Cora is located in Woods County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cora
  • Noel
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Noel is located in Woods County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Noel
  • Curtis
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Curtis is located in Woodward County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Curtis
  • Alva
    (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
    • Alva is located in Woods County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alva
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 4,882 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Alva <1>
  • Aline
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
  • Alston
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Alston is located in Woodward County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alston
  • Winchester
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
    • Winchester is located in Woods County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Winchester
  • Richmond
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
    • Richmond is located in Woodward County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Richmond

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Waynoka ...

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 83 newspapers that have been published in the area around Waynoka.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Waynoka. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Waynoka and those printed in the larger area surrounding Waynoka.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<4> of Waynoka.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we first turn to 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 Waynoka:

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 Waynoka, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>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- Waynoka) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.