Oklahoma Territory 1900

[Lincoln, Logan, & Oklahoma Counties]

Luther Township is the center of our area study, so I started there in working on the 1900 census then expanded into neighboring Townships including those in adjoining Lincoln and Logan Counties. I found many parts of it to be extremely difficult to read and when I tried to simply transcribe them, I found I had more question marks than data. So I set up these Worksheets instead. Details below, if you want to know how I've done it. Just bear in mind that these are works in progress, subject to frequent change.

Key to Townships in Lincoln County.

Key to Townships in Logan County.

Key to Townships in Oklahoma County.

Lincoln County

There is no separate worksheet for the 1900 Census of Bryan Township, Lincoln County, Oklahoma Territory. It was apparently combined with Kickapoo and Wellston Townships, so locations aren't as precise as most others.

	Index for 1900 Census of Kickapoo Township, Lincoln County, Oklahoma Territory. At least some of present-day Bryan Township is also included, so locations aren't as precise as most others. Lists most Heads of Household, in the order enumerated.
	Index for 1900 Census of Tohee Township, Lincoln County, Oklahoma Territory. Lists most Heads of Household, in the order enumerated.
	Index for 1900 Census of Wellston Township, Lincoln County, Oklahoma Territory. Lists most Heads of Household, in the order enumerated. The city of Wellston is listed separately, and I found some families I would have expected to see in Bryan Township listed in Wellston Township.

Logan County

	Index for 1900 Census of Iowa Township, Logan County, Oklahoma Territory. Lists most Heads of Household, in the order enumerated, but a few names were unreadable.
	Index for 1900 Census of Springer Township, Logan County, Oklahoma Territory. Lists most Heads of Household, in the order enumerated, although many names were unreadable and some could be deciphered only by comparison with cemetery & land records for the area.
	Index for 1900 Census of Springvale Township, Logan County, Oklahoma Territory. Lists most Heads of Household, in the order enumerated. This is the most complete of the set, as the census-taker was meticulous. The only guesswork came from names over-written when the census was tallyed. The corresponding Map uses locations from the 1890 Directory of Homesteaders to plot the census-taker's route.

Oklahoma County

	Index for 1900 Census of Britton Township, Oklahoma County, Oklahoma Territory. Lists most Heads of Household, in the order enumerated, although a few names were unreadable.
	Index for 1900 Census of Deep Fork Township, Oklahoma County, Oklahoma Territory. Lists most Heads of Household, in the order enumerated, although many names were unreadable and some could be deciphered only by comparison with cemetery & land records for the area. The corresponding Map uses locations from the 1890 Directory of Homesteaders to plot the census-taker's route.

	Index for 1900 Census of Dewey Township, Oklahoma County, Oklahoma Territory. Lists most Heads of Household, in the order enumerated, although a few names were unreadable.
	Index for 1900 Census of Hartzell Township, Oklahoma County, Oklahoma Territory. Lists most Heads of Household, in the order enumerated, but a few names were unreadable.
	Index for 1900 Census of Luther Township, Oklahoma County, Oklahoma Territory. Lists almost all Heads of Household, in alphabetical order, although many names were unreadable and a large portion could be deciphered only by comparison with cemetery & land records for the area and working with people who knew the families well.
	Index for 1900 Census of Luther Township, Oklahoma County, Oklahoma Territory. Lists most Heads of Household, in the order enumerated, although many names were unreadable and some could be deciphered only by comparison with cemetery & land records for the area.
	Index for 1900 Census of Spring Creek Township, Oklahoma County, Oklahoma Territory. Lists most Heads of Household, in the order enumerated, although many names were unreadable and some could be deciphered only by comparison with cemetery & land records for the area.
	Index for 1900 Census of Springer Township, Oklahoma County, Oklahoma Territory. Lists most Heads of Household, in the order enumerated, although quite a few names were unreadable.

Tennessee [Obion Co.]

This study is centered on the old Crystal Community, which was in northern Obion Co. very near the Kentucky state line. It started as an attempt to sort out the various COLE families of the area, then expanded to treat allied families as well.

Worksheet for selected families, 1830 Census of Obion Co., Tennessee.

Worksheet for selected families, 1840 Census of Obion Co., Tennessee.

Worksheet for selected families, 1850 Census of Obion Co., Tennessee.

Worksheet for selected families, 1860 Census of Obion Co., Tennessee.

Worksheet for selected families, 1870 Census of Obion Co., Tennessee.

Worksheet for selected families, 1880 Census of Obion Co., Tennessee.

Tools

Old handwriting can be difficult to interpret, but I've found that it often helps if I assemble a chart of examples showing the way a specific census-taker wrote different letters.

William Caldwell [Obion Co. TN, 1860]

How'd She Do That?

The "Owned or Rented" column provided a good starting point for matching families with locations, although reporting wasn't always exact. A homesteader who had received his/her patent was recorded as an "Owner", as was a landowner who had purchased a farm from the original homesteader. A Head of Household who was renting from an individual landowner was recorded as a "Renter". In 1900, however, there were still many homesteaders who had filed claims but not yet proven them and received their patents – some of those were reported as owners & others as renters. Anyone living in Luther's School Land Addition in 1900 was recorded as a Renter, although the typical home was owner-built.

Among the relatively few entries that were clearly readable, I recognized some Heads of Household as the original, successful homesteaders and some as the surviving spouse or children of the original homesteader. Some homesteaders, of course, I know to have moved to town after Luther was founded -– so they would not be found living on their farms and I'd look for renters in that area. I recognized other Heads of Household as early businessmen, or farmers who leased the set-aside compensatory school lands. I thus determined to make the best use I could of the clearly readable portions of the census by comparing them with other available information.

I started by plotting the locations of homesteaders' dwellings on a Township map and used that to determine an approximate area covered by each page of the census. With an average of 11-12 families per page, that brought the possibilities to be explored down to a manageable level.

Using my annotated map as a guide, I found I could decipher quite a few more entries by comparing the census page with land records. At this point, the map began to show both the census taker's route and some intriguing gaps in coverage.

With a list of landowners from 1907, a map showing dwellings of the era – plus the help of Ceil's Circle – I was able to fill in quite a few of those gaps. We already had extensive data for many of them, so it was simply a matter of cross-checking the database entry for the suggested candidate against the census itself to bring something that looked like "T or F or H ~~~~~" into focus as "Thomas".

The accuracy and completeness of the surrounding townships vary considerably. Some have relatively easy-to-read pages but I have little for use in comparison. Others are as difficult to read as Luther Township, but I have a considerable amount of other information that enables me to identify families. If you find a promising candidate, please check the corresponding Township page [linked from the worksheet] for additional information about the area and the source material available. Good Luck!

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