Murray County, Oklahoma


A County of the OKGenWeb/USGenWeb ® Project

                             

                                                                                 

Last Updated: 12/18/2024 17:41:16

Hello, and welcome to the Murray County OKGenWeb site. 
My name is Rebecca Maloney and I am the Host of this 
website.  If you have questions about or additions to this 
site, please drop us a line. With your help, this page 
will become a great site for the history and genealogy of 
the south-central Oklahoma region.

Sulphur, the county seat, was originally called Sulphur Springs for the bromide and sulphur waters that attracted thousands of people to the area early in the century. The Arbuckle Mountains, Turner Falls and the Chickasaw National Recreational Area, including the 2,400-acre Lake of the Arbuckles, have made Murray County a leading tourist attraction. For a hundred years after the Louisiana Purchase, the area that became Oklahoma was called Indian Territory.  More than fifty tribes and bands were voluntarily or forcibly relocated to this area.  The Choctaw and Chickasaw located in the area that became Murray County.

With the Treaty of 1855, the Chickasaw finally received a nation with defined boundaries.  The Nation was divided into "districts" named Panola, Pontotoc, Tishomingo and Pickens.  Murray county was a part of Tishomingo and Pickens District. 

 Murray County did not exist until it was decided to name a county after "Alfalfa" Bill Murray, the president of the constitutional convention for the new state of Oklahoma and later governor.  The counties of Johnston, Pontotoc, Garvin and Carter did exist in the proposed State of Sequoyah.  To honor Murray, it was decided to take the corners of the four counties and make a new county named for Bill Murray.  Alfalfa county, OK is also named after him.

 

Murray County became the third smallest County on 16th Nov. 1907 Oklahoma  became  the  46th State.  The  County seat is Sulphur, located in the south-central section of the State, in the 1,000 square mile Arbuckle Mountains, and Platt National Park / Chickasaw National Recreation Area. It is bounded by Garvin & Pontotoc Counties on the North; Johnson County on the Southeast; and Carter County to the Southwest.

 

Sulphur, Oklahoma is located at the foot of the Arbuckle Mountains, on both the Santa Fe and the Frisco railroad lines. Many Indian legends and traditions are recounted in connection with the springs, that surround the county. The Indians knew of "Medicine Springs." Kickapoo Chiefs had taken their sick to the springs for 500 years. This would have been 41 years before

The earliest date mentioning Sulphur was about 1867. In a report by George Conover, a member of the 6th United States Infantry, was going from Ft. Smith to Ft. Arbuckle when the group camped between present-day Sulphur and Davis. Cholera brOKe out and 18 men died. They were buried in shallow graves without coffins. He said there was not a house between Stonewall and Ft. Arbuckle.

 

In 1878, a Chickasaw rancher named Noah Lael built his ranch house near the present park headquarters.

The first store was established about 1885 and the town, named Sulphur Springs, began to develop. The U.S. Post Office was established on Oct.2, 1895.


In 1902 the government secured about 700 acres from the Chickasaws and called the area "Sulphur Springs Reservation." The town had to move, with the government paying the expenses. Some moved out of the park area to the north on a hill on east side of Rock Creek.


In 1904, the Sulphur Springs Reservation was changed to Platt National Park, named for U.S. Senator Orville H. Platt who sponsored the bill for the park. The town boasted over 4,000 population at time of statehood in 1907.  The next year, the Oklahoma School for the Deaf was established in East Sulphur.   In 1921, the Oklahoma Veteran's Hospital was established at the southwest corner of Platt National Park.   Sulphur Springs became the health resort of Oklahoma and the Nation.

 

What is now known as Oklahoma became a part of the Arkansas Territory in 1819,  but the relevant history dates from 1866 when the Indian tribes ceded the West part of their domain to the United States. Oklahoma land was not opened to white settlement until 1889.  The Indian Territory (about the Eastern one-third of present day Oklahoma) was not officially organized. Oklahoma became a Territory in 1890 and a state in 1907.  The first Oklahoma Census taken in 1900 consisted of two separate census - one of Oklahoma Territory and one of Indian Territory. Here is a brief history on Murray County Oklahoma

Arbuckle (Ft. Arbuckle) baseball team - 1919.

A listing of the latest additions, with links, to the most recently added files since you last visited.


   

 

 

MAIN MENU BOARD

Books, Newspapers, Newsletters

Census of Murray County


Cemetery Registries of Murray County

Chickasaw Nation Links

Church Records of Murray County

Fort Arbuckle

Frequently Asked Questions

Geography of Murray County

History of Murray County

Indian Pioneer Papers-Murray County

Lawmen and Outlaws of Chicksaw Nation


Libraries

Links for Genealogy Research

Marriages - Chickasaw Nation


Marriages - Murray County

Military Records and Vital Records

Murray County Archives

Murray County Caves


Murray County Courthouse

Murray County Queries (Old)

 
Murray County Resources

Murray County Vital Record Addresses


Myths, Legends & Stories


Notables of the Chickasaw Nation

Murray County Obituaries A-K  |  L-Z

Odds and Ends  Some strange stuff.

Penny Postcards from Murray County OK

Photos of Murray County Oklahoma

Photos of Old Sulphur, OK


Photos / Family Pages  / Water & Bridges

Pioneer Recipes, Help & Hints


Platt National Park - CNRA


Populated Places in Murray County

Schools of Murray County    

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Garvin County   Pontotoc County
  Murray County  
Carter County   Johnston County

Other Communities

Communities in Murray County History

Buckhorn  Big Canyon Chigley
Crusher Davis Denny
Dougherty Drake Falls Creek
Gilsonite Goose Nest Hickory
Iona Joy Nebo
Number 2 Oak Grove Others
Palmer Scullin Sorghum Flat
Sulphur   Sulphur Springs, I. T.
Turner Falls Washita White Mound

 

Murray County, OK Census lookups

Candace Gregory has volunteered to do lookups for the various census

not listed on this website.  You can email her your question by clicking HERE.

 

Other Genealogy Links

Chickasaw Nation History


USGenWeb ® Archives for Oklahoma (Has vital records, genealogical records and more)

USGenWeb ® Special Projects (Has many topics organized by State and County)


Index to Oklahoma Counties


OKGenWeb Project

Oklahoma County Formation Maps

SULPHUR TIMES DEMOCRAT - Newspaper - online.

Oklahoma School for the Deaf 

MAP OF MURRAY COUNTY 

TOWNSHIP MAP - MURRAY COUNTY 

MAPS of Indian Territory - 1820 - 1907.

1895 Chickasaw Nation Map

 

The Chickasaw Nation covers all or parts of the following counties:

| Bryan | Carter | Coal | Garvin | Grady | Jefferson | Johnston | Love | Marshall

McClain | Murray | Pontotoc | Stephens |

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© 2000 -2024 by Dennis Muncrief for use by OKGenWeb Project

Oklahoma State Coordinator: Linda Simpson

Oklahoma Asst State Coordinator: Mel Owings

Murray County Coordinator: Rebecca Maloney

         

Last Updated: 12/18/2024 17:41:16

  

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