Oklahoma Genealogy

Nowata has seven churches, representing an investment of $130,000, which are served by able ministers. The churches exercise a wider and deeper uplifting influence than the average church of the modern day. They represent a membership of over fifteen hundred, an average Sunday morning attendance of over twelve hundred and a Sunday school attendance of over one thousand. Nowata has a live Rotary Club, devoting most of its energies toward Boys’ Work, a hustling Lions’ Club, whose activities are along the lines of civic improvements, a large Community Club composed of citizens not only of the City of Nowata, but…

Nowata County is located in the northern part of the state bordering on the State of Kansas and lying between Craig and Washington counties. It contains more than five hundred square miles of land, nearly all being of good quality, capable of producing good crops. In the olden days when the cattle men. had control of the greater part of this country, that portion now included in Nowata County was much sought after on account of its nutritious prairie grass and the abundant supply of water. In their drives to the northern markets with great herds of fat cattle the…

The City of Nowata, the county seat, is located in the south central section of the county on the St. Louis and Iron Mountain Railroad, not far from the Verdigris River. It is now a flourishing city of 5,000 people and is supplied with a system of water works, electric lights, telephones, natural gas, paved streets, cement sidewalks and all modern conveniences usually found in an up-to-date city of its size. It is surrounded by rich farm land, which is especially adapted to small grain. This is also an ideal dairying and stock raising country. The City of Nowata is…

One of Muskogee’s most important institutions is the Oklahoma Free State Fair, organized in 1916 and chartered by the state February 26, 1917. During the years gone by, Muskogee had held various fairs with more or less success, but all of them had been dependent upon admission fees to meet their expenses, and the gate receipts were not always sufficient to insure the payment of premiums offered, the stockholders being called upon to make up the deficits. When it was proposed to organize a Free State Fair with “the gates wide open” to all visitors, many of the directors of…

Another indication of the growth of Muskogee and of Masonry therein is the fact that two new Masonic lodges have been created, now making three in all. Oriental Lodge No. 430 was chartered February 15, 1912, and now has nearly five hundred members. It is very prosperous and is growing rapidly. Trinity Lodge, the baby lodge, was granted a dispensation December 14, 1921, and was granted a charter at the last meeting of the Grand Lodge held at Guthrie in March, 1922. This lodge gives promise of a rapid and healthy Masonic growth. Muskogee Chapter No. 14, Order Of The…

Boynton The Town of Boynton, now a thriving little city of 1400 inhabitants, is located in the western part of Muskogee County on the St. Louis & San Francisco Railroad, half way between Muskogee and Okmulgee. Twenty years ago it was but a part of a broad prairie pasture, but as soon as the proposed railroad was surveyed, in 1902, the town site promoters quickly selected its site as a suitable location for a promising town. Actual building began in the spring of 1903. Messrs. H. L. Wineland, W. S. Whaley, Junia Williams, W. E. Claire and Dr. J. A.…