Welcome!

I first became interested in the poor, when I was searching through the census and came across the term "County Farm". I guess you can say that my curiosity got the best of me, because I had no idea what the term meant. Through some posting's on the internet, that I learned that the term "county farm" was a place for the poor.  In speaking with people whose families had lived on these farms, they said the  are still "embarrassed" to admit to their unfortunate circumstance. 

In my search for the county farm's in Oklahoma on the internet, I found the information to be scarce, at best. Taking my research one step further, I was able to identify the location of the farms and other institutions in the State of Oklahoma.  It is my hope that this site will help to make your research easier, by identifying the county and town where these institutions were located. I have started with the census for 1930, and will be working my way back to 1900.

IMPORTANT !

I used the 1920  Institutions  Soundex for the census information.  Unfortunately, that film DOES NOT  have ALL of the Institutions on that film.  I realized this when I started double checking my information and noticed that there were a lot of items missing. After much hair pulling, screaming and you know what else, I found the reason.  The majority of the takers did not list them under Institutions as they should have.  So, I need your assistance.  If you have census information on a Orphanage, School etc. for 1920 would you please e-mail me at awise120@cox.net so it can be shared by all.

Thank you!

The institutions covered in this web site are the county farm, or alms house, orphanages, sanitariums, state homes and hospital's.

The following link has some very good information concerning orphanages http://www.geocities.com/victorianlace12/innocence.html I think you will enjoy it.

GeneaSearch
http://geneasearch.com

Find genealogy lookups, family surname newsletters, books from genealogy societies and individuals, surname queries, female ancestors, announce new sites, beginner's genealogy guide, free clip art.  Other genealogy resources are free genealogy tools, links, and lists of societies.  See the state genealogy pages for free genealogy databases and genealogy resources for each state.

If anyone knows of a farm, orphanage or sanitarium or any other institutions that are not included on this site, please e-mail me at awise120@cox.net .  I did my best to identify these institutions, but there are some I may have missed.  Also, if someone out there has any photo's or additional information they would like to share, I would welcome the opportunity to include them on this site.

Copyright © 2003 by Karen Wise. All rights reserved.