Henryetta Public Library

Have you ever wanted to find out more information about your deceased family members? Would you like to have a copy of your great-grandmother's obituary? You know she died in or around Henryetta, or at least you're pretty sure, but you don't remember the exact date, or even the exact year? You want to find this out but you don't have three weeks to spend reading newspapers? We have one service which may help you - our OBITUARY INDEX.

A very special friend in our community, Carolyn Purvine, did a lot of genealogical research for her own family, and decided she wanted to help other families. She also wanted the Henryetta Public Library to have something only a few other libraries have -- an obituary index. In 1996 she began the arduous task of reading through every page (on microfilm) of every Henryetta newspaper from 1903 to the present and making an individual card for each death notice and/or obituary listed in the paper. The project is now complete to the present and new obituary listings are added weekly.

We are extremely proud of our Obituary Indexer and our Obituary Index. Because of her work, we have already helped many people find information about their families that might otherwise not have been found or would have taken many hours or days to find. Many people have been very impressed to find that a small library such as ours has such a wonderful service available.

Each obituary card will have the following information: Name, Age at death, Date (s) the obituary is listed in the paper (not death or burial dates), page number in paper, and cemetery name (if given).

EXAMPLE:
Meriwether, Priscilla Ann
Nov. 23, 1924
West Lawn Cemetery

This index includes not only Henryetta, but also surrounding cities and towns that were covered by the local newspapers. It will also include a former resident's death and place of burial, if that was in the obituary.

Sometimes neither an obituary nor any kind of death notice was found, but a Card of Thanks would be found, saying something like, "Thank you for remembering us in our recent loss of our loved one, John Doe. (Signed) His loving wife, Jane and children." Even this merits an index card with a notation of the date it appeared in the paper and the page number. No exact death and burial dates are given but it will get you much closer to your goal. Someone may find a long lost "branch" in his or her family tree.

Many of the boys killed in World War II have several entries, one for each mention in the paper: the actual day of death, notice of burial overseas, notice of body being brought, notice of burial here at home.

Of course, we can't find every obituary. If a paper is missing from the microfilm or if the obituary or death notice was not put in the paper, it can't be found. If a woman married or remarried, and we don't know the name, we can't find it. If a name is misspelled in the paper, it's hard to find. We do look for alternative spellings of names.

If you'd like us to look up an obituary from the Henryetta newspapers for you, we will do it. We charge $1.00 per page to print out obituaries or other information from the newspapers on microfilm. We will also ask you to send a self-addressed stamped envelope (SASE) with the money you send. Contact us at hplib@henryettalibrary.org or write to us at:
Henryetta Public Library
518 W. Main
Henryetta, OK 74437

Thanks to our indexer, we can look it up for you, copy it and get it out to you.