Land & Census Records for Deep Fork Township

Oklahoma County, Oklahoma Territory

Updated May 15, 2006

By combining information from the Federal Land Tract Records, the 1890 census, the 1900 census, and the 1907 land ownership map, it is possible to form a much clearer picture of an area and its families than can be obtained from any one source.  The map and chart below provide an overview for Deep Fork Township, while details about a specific homestead or family can be found in the original sources. (For more information about the families of this area, go to Ceil's Corner.)

Deep Fork Township

Census Analysis

On this modern map:

• Green indicates a homestead that can be matched with a family on the 1900 census, and the Dwelling #'s are from that census. 

• Blue indicates a parcel on the 1907 map that could be matched with a family on the 1900 census, although it no longer belonged to the original homesteader.

With this many known locations, it's possible to reconstruct the route the census-taker traveled and thus identify the probable areas where other households were located.  The census pages are dated, but the pattern suggests that the census taker dated each page as he started and undoubtedly finished some of them the following day.  There are families split between pages bearing different dates and a number of breaks in his path that involve a new start on the Luther-Deep Fork border.

For example, on 14 June 1900 he finished the southwest corner of Luther Township and started at the southeast corner of Deep Fork Township with Dwelling #215.  Section 36 was school land, so the first few dwellings he encountered were occupied by renters.  The first owner-occupied farm was #218, that of Fremont C. DOWELL.  He apparently recorded through Dwelling #225 (on the western border of Deep Fork Township) that day, then returned to his home in Luther Township. 

Dwelling #226 was on the border with Luther Township.  From there, he again worked westward with Dwelling #233 the last one on the last page dated 14 June.  

Worksheet

Each 160-acre parcel has up to three entries.  The 1890 entry shows who had filed on it, if it had indeed been claimed, and the 1907 entry shows who owned it at that point. 

• The homesteads that had been staked by 1890, proven during the interim, and were still in the hands of the original patent holder in 1907 serve as benchmarks.  They are shown in green on the above map and in the table below the Page and Dwelling # are listed for those individuals or families that still lived on their homesteads or there's a comment if they have been found elsewhere.    

• Other useful landmarks are those homesteads for which patents had been received before 1900, subsequently sold to new owners, and the new owners can be matched to the 1900 census.  These are shown in blue on the above map and the Page and Dwelling # are listed for those individuals or families that can be matched with the 1900 census.    

• "Rented?" means that the homesteader had received his or her F. C. and was free to rent or sell the property, could not be found in the area on the 1900 census, but there were renters reported in that area.

Sources

The Federal Land Tract Records are not online, but I have prepared a List of Homesteaders, with the names & pertinent dates for those who received patents. This not only helps define the timeline, but I've found that these original entries are often more legible than the census so are helpful in determining the correct spelling of many names. 

The 1890 Directory of Homesteads, as transcribed by Bob Chada, can be seen on the Logan Co. GenWeb site.  (which includes the location of each homestead but only the name of the Homesteader) The 1900 census is not online, but there is an index.  (which provides information about family members but no location) The 1907 map is not online, but I have transcribed the portions I could read into the chart below. Together, these three sources provide more information than any one does alone.