Jackson County - OKGenWeb

Jackson County
Oklahoma

Welcome to the OKGenWeb site for Jackson County Genealogy!

The Jackson County flag above is from the Jackson County Government site, described there as "the result of a poster contest during County Government Week in 1997. It is the product of three students in Mrs. Joyce Wikoff's class, Matthew Mills, Tina Butler and Leslie Moss. These students have made a great contribution to their county and we are very proud to display the flag."

We are proud to be a part of and invite you to visit:

Linda Simpson, State Coordinator - Mel Owings, Asst. State Coordinator

And do also visit these great sites with more info and , e.g. history, census, vitals, cemeteries, newspapers and much more!
Oklahoma Resources	OKGenWeb Counties	USGenWeb Special Projects	USGenWeb Archives	WorldGenWeb Project

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WHAT'S NEW?

All links reviewed/fixed

Jackson County was formed in 1907 from "Old Greer" County when Oklahoma became the 46th state. Old Greer has a fascinating history: thanks to a surveying error, the territory was in dispute between Texas and Oklahoma for many years until a Supreme Court decision in 1896 when the territory was assigned to Oklahoma Territory.
A brief history of the dispute and resolution can be read at Greer County OKGenWeb page.
Another good history of Jackson County is at the Oklahoma Historical Society's Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History & Culture.

An interactive map of the formation of OK counties
(Scroll down when you arrive to the page)
(Available as slide show or pick by year)

Jackson County is bordered by
Harmon, Greer, Kiowa, Tillman Counties in OK
and Hardeman and Wilbarger in TX.
Click on a county name to visit their site.
New, 29 Feb 2016 - Harmon County has now moved, the new url is "http://okgenweb.net/~okharmon/"

The civil townships in Jackson are:
Baucum
Carmel
Duke
Elmer
Eldorado
Headrick
Martha,
Navajo
Olustee.
(In 1910 there was also
a township called Jay.)
N.B. These are not the same as and are not based on the township-range-section method of land division. They were used for census, voting precincts, and various other civil activities.

Jackson is home to the following
cities and towns:
(Click a number for various articles about the town)

Altus*, the county seat (1) (2)
Blair (1) (2), originally called Dot
Duke/East Duke (1) (2) (3)
Eldorado (1)
Elmer (1)
Headrick (1)
Martha (1)
Olustee (1)

*Note: Altus was called Leger
from 10 July 1901-14 May 1904

1915 map from OKGenWeb's Maps 'n' More
with an overlay of future Jackson County

Some lesser populated or no longer existing towns are:
Aaron Alfalfa (changed to Friendship) Alsford Bonnie Butte Carmel Chilton (changed to Dunbar)	Creta (formerly Era) Crista Dunbar (formerly Chilton) Duncan Era (changed to Creta) Frazer, forerunner of Altus	Friendship (1) (2) (formerly Alfalfa) Gladys Granville Hampton Hazel Hess	Humphreys Jay Lemon Lincoln Lock Madden Marty Mesquite	Morris Navajoe Odema Otis Ozark Poe Prairie Hill Ricks	Roark (Jct.) Victory Warren Welon Wellington Jct. Willowvale Wilmoth Yeldell

Another list of towns in Jackson County (with a few more names) can be found at:
Maps 'n' More, a special project at OKGenWeb created by Sharon McAllister.

Old Greer County Post Offices 1886-1907
lists the various post offices, postmasters,
dates of appointment, and notes on discontinuation.
This area included what is now Jackson.

Jackson County Courthouse
101 N. Main St.
Altus, OK 73521
Telephone: (580) 482-4420
The Court Clerk has marriage, divorce, and civil court records from 1907.
The County Clerk has land records.

Historic images of the courthouse

Featured Photo of Jackson

The Altus - Jackson County Well
Hand dug in 1889-90 by Mr. Sam Neal who homesteaded the lands that comprise downtown Altus this well was 35 feet deep and was walled with brink.
Rediscovered in 1989, this restoration project has been a part of the "89" centennial celebration for the state of Oklahoma.
Info from Exploring Oklahoma History
Photo by B. D. Miller, 28 March 2013

Jackson Libraries, Museums, Historical and Genealogical Societies

Altus Public Library 421 North Hudson, Altus, OK 73521 Phone: (580) 477-2890, Toll Free number: (888) 302-9053 The library has cemetery books, contributed family files, early newspapers, etc. Tammy Davis, who works at the Altus library, will do lookups in their holdings as time permits. Contact Tammy for information and cost - be sure to give relevant information (names, dates, etc.).
Western Trail Historical Society P.O. Box 11 Altus, OK 73522	Museum of the Western Prairie	Images from the Museum of the Western Prairie	Facebook page for Museum of the Western Prairie (open to public viewing)
Western Trails Genealogical Society	Southwest Oklahoma Genealogical Society	Greer County Genealogical and Historical Society	Oklahoma Historical Society

History of Jackson County

1907 - A New State - A New County Map of the New State of Oklahoma in the Newspapers, with an error!
Jackson County in the Encyclopedia of OK History & Culture	A History of Jackson by Jodean Martin	OK Historic Places Database Jackson County	National Register of Historic Places (10 entries)
Jackson Bridges at Oklahoma Bridges (great photos)	Jackson in the Oklahoma Archeological Survey	No markers listed at the Historical Markers Database!! Can you help?	Old Greer (parent county of Jackson)
----
Books about Jackson County and its communities General reference books about the county, specific record books, community histories, etc.

Records and Data of Jackson County OK

Please submit your Jackson County data to share!

Jackson County People and Statistics from the first Oklahoma State Manual 1909
Name Entries in Who's Who in Jackson County (1927)
Marriage Records Greer (pre-Jackson) 1901-1907 Jackson 1907-1920	Land Records
Probate General Index Entries for Dockets 1-3 (1907-1920s)	Greer Co TX Tax Lists (= Jackson, Greer, Harmon, and part of Beckham)
Military and Veterans Records	They Came to Jackson Foreign Born Residents 1900-1910 Jackson

Jackson County in the News
Articles concerning Jackson
and its people from various
OK Newspapers, through 1907 (statehood and county formation)

Google news digital issues of
The Altus Times Democrat
5 issues each
from January of
1920, 1930, 1940, 1950, 1960, 1970, and 1980.

Cemeteries of Jackson with links to listings
Various Jackson County Obituaries can be found at:
Genealogy Trails	USGenWeb Archives	Altus Times Obits USGenWeb Archives	Oklahoma Cemeteries
Obituary Central Pg: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6		Kincanon Funeral Home Obituaries	Lowell-Tims Funeral Home Obituaries

Old Library in Olustee
Photo by P. A. Miller taken 28 March 2013

Family Sites with Jackson County Connections
Submit your site here!
You will need to do a text search for "Jackson" on some of these pages to find the Jackson connection.

Message boards and query sites for Jackson County:

Jackson County Message Board at rootsweb (now ancestry)
Jackson County, OK Genealogy Forum at genforum
(N.B. Genforum works differently now, searches need Jackson included in the terms.)
Subscribe to the Rootsweb mail list for Jackson County

Archived Researchers and Queries from December 1996 - March 2002
Researcher Profiles: A thru L	Researcher Profiles: M thru Z	-	Surname Register and Query Index: A thru L,	Surname Register and Query Index: M thru Z
Dec 1996 - Jan 1997	Feb - Jun 1997	Aug - Nov 1997	Dec 1997 - Feb 1998	Mar 1998 - May 1999
Jun - Jul 1999	Aug - Nov 1999	Dec 1999 - Feb 2000	Mar - May 2000	Jun - Sep 2000
Oct 2000 - Jan 2001	Feb - Apr 2001	May - Aug 2001	Sep 2001 - Feb 2002	March 2002

Links to other sites with Jackson County Info
(The search for Jackson County is already done for your convenience - these are the results pages, with lots more links to follow)

USGenWeb Archives Project	Cyndi's List	---	familysearch.org wiki	Family History Library Catalog
Genealogy Trails History Group	linkpendium.com	---	tqpeiffer's Jackson County	USGenNet
-	Southwest Oklahoma Family History	OK Historical Society Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History & Culture	Wikipedia Articles	-

Jackson County Today

Jackson County Government Official County Site	CopperMines Off Road Park near Eldorado. Visit an unofficial Facebook page for fun pictures and info! Photo by P. A. Miller, 28 March 2013	flickr photos for Jackson Co OK
County QuickLinks from US Census Bureau		City of Altus
County QuickFacts from US Census Bureau		Altus Times
National Weather Service Current and 7 Day Forecast		Altus Air Force Base

Visit again soon!

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This page updated 19 Apr 2021

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14 Nov 2012