Cherokee County, Oklahoma Genealogical Records Information

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Cherokee County History and Information

Cherokee County Facts

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Cherokee County was created on July 16, 1907 from Cherokee Lands. The County was named for the Cherokee tribe of Indians. The word is said to have been derived from a Chickasaw word "Chiluk-ki," meaning cave people. The County Seat is Tahlequah. See also County History for more historical details.

Counties adjacent to Cherokee County are Delaware County (north), Adair County (east), Sequoyah County (south), Muskogee County (southwest), Wagoner County (west), Mayes County (northwest)

Cherokee County Cities & Towns Include Briggs, Dry Creek, Eldon, Fort Gibson, Hulbert, Keys, Lost City, Oaks, Park Hill, Peggs, Pettit, Scraper, Shady Grove, Tahlequah, Tenkiller, Welling, Woodall, Zeb

Records at the Cherokee County Courthouse

See Also Oklahoma Land Records, Marriage Records, Court & Probate Records

PLEASE READ!! Please call the clerk's department to confirm hours, mailing address, fees and other specifics before visiting or requesting information because of sometimes changing contact information.

All Departments below can be contacted at the Cherokee County Courthouse at 213 W Delaware, Room 202, Tahlequah, OK 74464-3600; Phone: (918) 456-4121. NOTE: The record dates below are from the earliest date to present time.

Cherokee County Clerk's Office has Birth Records from 1908, Death Records from 1908 and , Land Records from 1907.
The County Clerk's office is responsible for preserving all the legal instruments filed by private citizens and public officials with the County Clerk's office. The office maintains files of all real estate records, plats, judgments, liens, patents, military discharges, school records, county personnel, insurance and retirement records for employees, meeting notices, commissioners' proceedings and other documents. Although county clerks record births and deaths and provide information on request, certificates are available only from the Vital Records Section, State Department of Health

Cherokee County Court Clerk's Office has Probate Records from 1907, Marriage Records from 1907, and Court Records from 1907.
The Court Clerk has the primary responsibility to record, file, and maintain permanent records of the proceedings of the District Court. We collect fines, fees, and forfeitures, and distribute the collected monies as provided by law to the appropriate agencies. There are numerous types of cases filed with the Court Clerk's Office some of which include: Civil, Small Claims, Probate, Guardianship, Adoption, Felony, Misdemeanor, Search Warrants, Licenses and more...

Click Here to Search Oklahoma Court, Land, Wills & Financial Records! - Researchers often overlook the importance of court records, probate records, and land records as a source of family history information.

Below is a list of online resources for Cherokee County Court Records. Email us with websites containing Cherokee County Court Records by clicking the link below:

Cherokee County Vital Records

See Also Research In Tax Records

Heavy spring rains with severe flooding in 1902 awakened Oklahoma's citizens to the need for better roads. Territorial laws placed responsibility with townships, and a road overseer was to be elected for each district. General property tax and some funds from liquor licenses collected by counties and townships were used to finance the building of public roads along section lines. A road tax was required, along with the requirement that all males between the ages of twenty-one and forty-five donate four eight-hour days a year to work on highways. Those who did not work or provide a substitute were fined $5 for each absence.

The county treasurer or assessor may have tax or assessment records. Some tax records are stored in museums, historical, and/or genealogical societies' repositories. Published tax records for Oklahoma are almost nonexistent. Some duplicated copies of county tax records are stored in the Oklahoma Department of Libraries, State Archives Division for security purposes, but are not available for research. Koplowitz, Guide to the Historical Records of Oklahoma, indicates location of county records, including those of tax and assessments.

Below is a list of online resources for Cherokee County Tax Records. Email us with websites containing Cherokee County Tax Records by clicking the link below:

Cherokee County Tax Assesors Office, 213 W Delaware, Room 202, Tahlequah, OK 74464-3600; Phone: (918) 456-4121
The county assessor has the responsibility to appraise and assess the real and personal property within the county for the purpose of ad-valorem taxation. Also, the county assessor is required to compute the ad-valorem taxes due on all the taxable property. By law, the county assessor appraises all the taxable real property according to its fair cash value for which the property is actually being used.
Cherokee County, Oklahoma Tax Books at Amazon.com

Cherokee County Genealogical Addresses

See Also Other Oklahoma Genealogical Addresses

The Repositories in this section are Archives, Libraries, Museums, Genealogical and Historical Societies. Many County Historical and Genealogical Societies publish magazines and/or news letters on a monthly, quarterly, bi-annual or annual basis. Contacting the local societies should not be over looked. State Archives and Societies are usually much larger and better organized with much larger archived materials than their smaller county cousins but they can be generalized and over look the smaller details that local societies tend to have. Libraries can also be a good place to look for local information. Some libraries have a genealogy section and may have some resources that are not located at archives or societies. Also, take a special look at any museums in the area. They sometimes have photos and items from years gone by as well as information of a genealogical interest. All these places are vitally important to the family genealogist and must not be passed over.

Below is a list of online resources for Cherokee County Genealogical Addresses. Email us with websites containing Cherokee County Genealogical Addresses by clicking the link below:

Cherokee National Historical Society, P.O. Box 515, Tahlequah 74465-0515
Local Oklahoma Researchers, Find a local researcher or become a local researcher.
The Federation of Oklahoma Genealogical Societies, P.O. Box 2531, Ponca City, Oklahoma 74602
Oklahoma Historical Society, 2100 North Lincoln Boulevard, Oklahoma City, OK 73105
Oklahoma Genealogical Society, P.O. Box 12986, Oklahoma City 73157-2986
Oklahoma Department of Libraries, Division of State Archives and Records, 200 N.E. 18th Street, Oklahoma City, OK 75105
National Archives; Southwest Region, 501 West Felix Street, Building 1, Fort Worth, Texas 76115-3405; E-mail: ftworth.archives@nara.gov. Mailing Address: P.O. 6216, Fort Worth, Texas 76115-0216
Oklahoma Newspapers & Periodicals Records - Newspapers and periodicals are the diaries of local communities. They are excellent sources of family history details - often recorded nowhere else. Look for obituaries, marriages, legal notices, and more found in our Historical Newspaper Archives.
Oklahoma Genealogical Society Books at Amazon.com

Cherokee County Church & Cemeteries

Click Here to Search Oklahoma Obituary Records! - This database is a compilation of obituaries published in U.S. newspapers, collected from various online sources. Obituaries can vary in the amount of information they contain, but many of them are genealogical goldmines, including information such as names, dates, places of birth and death, marriage information, and family relationships.

There are many churches and cemeteries in Cherokee County. Some transcriptions are online. A great site is the Cherokee County Tombstone Transcription Project.

There are no centralized repositories dealing with church records in Oklahoma. Scattered records can be found in genealogical publications, the DAR compilations, and on microfilm. The Spanish missions have played a central role in Oklahoma's religious history.

Printed secondary sources of transcribed cemeteries exist for most Oklahoma counties. The Oklahoma State Society of the DAR has collected hundreds of such records. Transcripts are housed both at the national DAR and with some local chapters and libraries.

Below is a list of online resources for Cherokee County Cemetery & Church Records. Email us with websites containing Cherokee County Cemetery & Church Records by clicking the link below:

Family Trees & Genealogy Tidbits

Click Here to Search Oklahoma Family Tree Records! - The use of published genealogies, electronic files containing genealogical lineage, and other compiled sources can be of tremendous value to a researcher.

When view family trees online or not, be sure to only take the info at face value and always follow up with your own sources or verify the ones they provide. Below is a list of online resources for Cherokee County Family Trees, web forums and other family type information. Email us with websites containing Cherokee County Family Trees, web forums and other family type information by clicking the link below:

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Oklahoma Pioneer Project - The Oklahoma Pioneer List (CPL) is a list of settlers to Oklahoma who migrated to or were born in Oklahoma prior to 1880 (included in the 1880 Oklahoma Census) and obtained from those sent (e-mailed) directly from individuals doing genealogical research.
Genealogical Document Search and Retrieval Service
Cherokee County USGenweb Archives
Cherokee County, Oklahoma Family Books at Amazon.com

County History

Cherokee County adjoins Muskogee and Wagoner counties on the east and Adair County on the west. It contains about seven hundred square miles of land of diversified quality. It contains some rocky, hilly land, some upland of medium quality, some open prairie and some fertile river and creek bottom land. With the exception of the limited amount of prairie, this county was formerly heavily timbered, much of the timber, especially along the numerous streams, being still undisturbed. A farmer in search of a home would indeed be hard to please, who could not find a farm here to suit his taste. If he should happen to be a back-woodsman and desires to remain such, he can find a virgin forest home where he can build his own log cabin, with free stone for his chimney and free back-logs for his fireplace. If he were inclined to be lonesome at night, the owls and coyotes may keep him company.

If he be a Northern farmer, he can find suitable soil for his favorite crops of corn, wheat and oats. If he hails from Texas-or Arkansas, he will find land here that will produce cotton, tobacco and goobers. If interested in livestock, he will have no difficulty in finding cheap land suitable for raising cattle and hogs. If he should happen to be a fruit grower from Vermont or Italy, ideal locations for orchards and vineyards can easily be found.

No section of Oklahoma furnishes more sparkling streams of pure water, more bubbling springs or more picturesque scenery than is found in Cherokee County. These fascinating gifts of nature doubtless attracted the eyes of the nature-loving Indians, who wended their way westward from Georgia in search of a new location a hundred years ago, for here they built their first council fires and selected the site of Tahlequah as the future capital of the Cherokee Nation.

Tahlequah

Their first tribal councils after arriving at their new Indian Territory were, by common consent, held in the vicinity of the present site of Tahlequah, on account of the beautiful natural surroundings and the numerous sparkling springs which bubbled up from the level ground on all sides, but in the Autumn of 1841 the Cherokee National Council enacted a law making Tahlequah the capital of the Cherokee Nation, and it continued to be their capital, their principal town and their principal public meeting place from that date until the final dissolution of the tribal government. Their first council house and the first homes of the village were built of hewn logs but in the course of a few years many of them built substantial houses of stone, brick and lumber. They reserved the most central block of ground in the village for their council meetings and in the course of a few years they erected a commodious two-story brick building, with assembly halls for their two legislative bodies designated as the "National Committee" and the "Council," the two branches combined being known as "The Cherokee National Council." On the sixth day of September, 1839, their National Council, in session at Tahlequah, adopted a constitution, patterned somewhat after the Constitution of the United States, and which was, without doubt, the most complete and comprehensive document of its kind that had ever been adopted by any Indian tribe or nation. Their constitution divided the powers of their government into three departments-legislative, executive and judicial-and defined the duties and authority of each department. This constitution continued to be the supreme law of the tribe, without change or amendment, until 1866, when the treaty entered into with the Federal Government, soon after the close of the Civil war, necessitated several amendments.

The Cherokees were far in advance of the United States in adopting prohibition, as the records of the proceedings of their council meetings at Tahlequah disclose the fact that in October, 1841, they enacted a law which provided that from and after the first day of January, 1842, the introduction and vending of ardent spirits within the Cherokee Nation would be unlawful and their prohibition law was never repealed by any of their successive councils.

Tahlequah, the county seat of Cherokee County and the former capital of the Cherokee Nation, is the only town of any size or importance in the county. 'The geographies of forty years ago gave Tahlequah as the capital of Indian Territory, although it has never been other than the capital of the Cherokee Nation. Each of the Five Tribes has had its own capital ever since they came to this territory, but Tahlequah early became quite a village and an important educational center, while the capitals of the other four tribes were, prior to the coming of railroads, merely meeting places for the tribal councils.

The history of Tahlequah and Cherokee County is but a repetition of the history of the Cherokee Nation, for here their council fires were held, their tribal laws enacted, their political conventions assembled, their treaties discussed and- agreed upon, their tribal moneys distributed, and as Tahlequah was the only town worthy of being so-called, most of their money was spent here. Although the abolition of tribal government and the individual allotment of lands and tribal moneys have robbed Tahlequah of. much of its former importance and distinction, its historic events and associations, together with its natural picturesqueness, will, for generations to come, continue to make it very near and dear to the hearts of all Cherokees.

The famous treaty made with the Federal Government at New Echota, Ga., in 1835, sounded the death knell of the tribe in the east, and the long, dreary march to their Indian Territory home began soon thereafter. Indeed, some of them became wearied with the persistent encroachments of the avaricious Georgians and left their Eastern reservation several years before this treaty was made, and crossed the Mississippi River in search of homes where they would be beyond the reach of the white man, and where they could live in accordance with their time-honored customs, free from molestation. These first emigrants stopped in Arkansas and built their homes there, in the vicinity of White River. The border line between Arkansas and Indian Territory was not at that time very clearly known and some of these first emigrants drifted across the line. These first settlers afterwards became known in Cherokee history as the "Old Settlers," while the great army of emigrants who came in 1838 and 1839 and settled on their new reservation, of which Tahlequah was the center, were denominated as "Eastern Cherokees."

For many years Tahlequah continued to be the principal trading point for the Cherokees and for the whites who had drifted into the territory, but it remained an inland town until the branch of the Frisco railroad was built from Okmulgee to Muskogee and on through Tahlequah to Fayetteville, Ark., in the early part of the present century. Prior to the arrival of the railroad, a regular stage line was maintained between Tahlequah, Fort Gibson and Muskogee.

The National Council was required by law to hold annual meetings at Tahlequah and special meetings were often called by the chief. These sessions of the council were made the occasion of a general gathering of the people, Indians and non-citizens, many of whom came seeking certain legislation in which they were specially interested, while many others came to meet old acquaintances and renew old friendships.

The Cherokees were divided into two political parties, one faction being followers of John Ross, their long-time chief, and the others being followers of John Ridge. This division into two parties originated back in Georgia, where the "Ridge" men favored giving up their eastern possessions in exchange for the Indian Territory reservation, while the "Ross" party bitterly opposed their leaving Georgia. These parties were afterward known as the "Nationals" and the "Downings," and these party divisions were strictly maintained until the final dissolution of the tribe. They were fond of politics and adept in the political game, many of their political campaigns being bitterly fought, and the schemes, tricks and arguments which they could devise during a campaign would do credit to a presidential campaign. They were naturally fond of holding office, and many of them have not yet been able for forsake that habit. One of them, Hon. Robt. L. Owen, has represented Oklahoma in the United States Senate ever since statehood, and as a debater and financier he holds high rank in the Senate. Another Cherokee, William W. Hastings, a graduate of their male seminary and a prominent lawyer of Tahlequah, has represented this district in Congress, but was defeated a year ago by Miss Alice Robertson, the only female member of Congress, by a small majority. From 1891 to 1906, Mr. Hastings was the national attorney of the Cherokees and rendered valuable assistance in settling up the somewhat complicated affairs of his tribe. O. H. P. Brewer, another prominent Cherokee and a product of their seminary, has just recently retired from the office of postmaster of Muskogee after filling that office for four years. Many other Cherokees have held and now hold important positions in the new State of Oklahoma.

The firm of Stapler & Sons was one of the first merchandise firms to locate in Tahlequah and during all the years that have since come and gone, they have been among the leading merchants and builders of the town. The Wyly Brothers were among the pioneers in business and still remain in business there.

Other merchants who are entitled to be classed among the pioneers were : A. E. Brown, druggist; R. W. Foster, lumber dealer; J. W. McSpadden, proprietor of a roller mill; T. J. Adair, general store, and J. A. Lawrence, general store. The Bank of Tahlequah, a private institution, was established about forty years ago, and was managed principally by the Stapler family, James S. Stapler being its president. John W. Stapler, the elder, was a white man who settled in Tahlequah many years before the Civil war. He married Miss Jane Hicks, a niece of John Ross, the old chief, and for many years was a man of influence among the Cherokees. He died in 1885 and his business was continued by his two worthy sons. The Stapler store and old family residence adjoining were destroyed by fire in the early morning of October 19, 1897, incurring a loss of $18,000. Houston B. Tehee, a clerk in the store and who has just recently retired from the office of register of the United States Treasury, was sleeping on the second floor of the store, and barely escaped with his life. The store was soon rebuilt, but as in those days all goods had to be hauled across the country from Fort Gibson, there was some delay in restocking it.

Societies

A number of societies were established and permanently maintained at Tahlequah in an early day, perhaps the most important of which was the Woman's Christian Temperance Union. This society was active from the beginning of its organization and wielded a wholesome influence in the cause of temperance, an influence that was very much needed in the early days. This society was honored by a visit from Frances E. Willard, the noted temperance evangelist.

In the years gone by Tahlequah has entertained many persons of national distinction among whom were : John J. Ingalls, United States Senator from Kansas ; Henry L. Dawes, Senator from Massachusetts, and his gifted daughter; Washington Irving; Hon. James Bryce, former ambassador from Great Britain, and numerous notables, including prominent Union and Confederate generals of the Civil war period.

Tahlequah Arrow

The old Cherokee Advocate was succeeded by the Tahlequah Arrow, a good weekly newspaper which, for many years was edited by Mr. Waddie Hudson, one of the substantial citizens of the town for many years. Mr. Hudson retired from the newspaper business a few years ago and is now conducting a bank at the town of Park Hill, just a few miles south of Tahlequah. The Sentinel, also a weekly newspaper, was edited years ago by Mr. F. P. Shields.

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