Orphanages in Oklahoma - Family History & Genealogy Message Board

Re: Catholic Orphanage-Bethany Ok

clouvarcanga68 — 2013-03-21 02:30:33Z

Scott Goss, I have to tell you I am reading this a few years later and my parents are soo proud of you. I have 3 siblings and my oldest brother, Edmund, was named after your older brother. They are very happy to hear you have done well and would be delighted to touch base with you if you were interested. They remember exactly who you are! Take care and thanks.

adoption information

afreshstartforme — 2013-03-07 18:47:05Z

I am desperately seeking information about my father-in-laws biological information. I have a son who has a history of cancer and would like to know this information for health purposes. My father-in-law has since pasted away but laid in a nursing home from age 35 to age 62 with a brain tumor. This is what I know about his history: He was born March 20th 1941. His biological mother was a full blood native American woman from Texas. She came to Oklahoma to put him up for adoption. He was in St. Joseph Orphanage in Bethany Oklahoma until he was adopted. Please let me know if you have any information.

Re: Ozark Mountain Orphans Home

redgrier1 — 2012-11-24 04:24:56Z

The home was run by JW and Margaret Barnhurst who were Seventh Day Adventists. It opened in 1920 and closed in 1937. My ex-husband's great-grandfather bought the property in 1939. The dorm is gone, the only remnants of it are the stairs that face the creek. The sign over the front gate is now attached to the barn. Information on the school and home can be found in the Adventist, Heritage, Volume 14, Number 2. Here is the link to the publication: http://archives.llu.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/advher...

Raymond Finamore Keating

michaelbraniff1 — 2012-07-16 08:14:39Z

Born October 29, 1927 Raymond Finamore Keating was adopted out of St. Joseph's Orphenage, Bethany, OK. Before April 8, 1928 when he was baptized under his adopted name, my father John Paul Braniff, this is all we know. Oklahoma County Clerk's office searched and did not find his adoption records nor did Catholic Charities. Who were the parents of Raymond Finamore Keating? The question remains? Contact me at michaelbraniff@rocketmail.com

Re: Park Hill Indian Orphanage or Cherokee Female Seminary

draye777 — 2012-02-17 02:43:07Z

try northeastern state normal school, their colored high school,nuyaka boarding schools, eufaula high, wealaka mission, colored orphan home, and pecan

Re: St. Joseph's - OK City

twoj1757 — 2012-01-05 02:01:47Z

The St. Joseph Orphanage building is still there in Bethany, OK. It was sold in the early 1970's to the International Pentecostal Holiness Church for their denominational headquarters. I understand that they welcome visitors.

Re: St. Joseph's - OK City

twoj1757 — 2012-01-05 01:53:12Z

Information on St. Joseph Orphanage may be obtained from the office of Catholic Charities in Oklahoma City. They will give you non-identifying information if you are the adopted child. For $400 they will do a "search" of the information you request. Telephone number is 1-800-375-8514.

If you were in the orphanage they will probably give you whatever info you request.

Good Luck!

Gran

Re: St. Joseph's - OK City

twoj1757 — 2012-01-05 01:53:11Z

Re: St. Joseph's - OK City

twoj1757 — 2012-01-05 01:53:08Z

Re: OK Methodist Orphanage--Jones Siblings 1930

1_landis34 — 2011-11-09 03:07:04Z

My father entered the orphanage in 1932. The home was moved to eastern Okla in Talequah around 1941 and is still in existence. You might check with them to see if any old records are still available.

Re: Park Hill Indian Orphanage or Cherokee Female Seminary

trailblaze — 2011-09-17 23:07:34Z

I was reading OKlahoma postings and ran across yours. It this the Sterling Angel from Wilburton, OK? I lived there.
mh

Orphanage in Panhandle Area

Teresa_Grissom — 2011-08-19 22:02:20Z

I am looking for any information on an Orphanage in the Panhandle area of Oklahoma. It would have to be around the year 1888 - 1992 or so. My grandfather was in an orphanage in the Panhandle area from about the age of 12 to about 16. He later went by the name of William Henry Singer, or just Bill Singer, but we have recently been told that his last name was something longer like Lessinger but was shortened at the orphanage. Any information would help.

Thanks.

Re: Oklahoma Orphanages

Teresa_Grissom — 2011-08-19 21:57:49Z

I would love to see the list of Orphanages in Oklahoma as I recently found out that my Grandfather was in one at one time. Unfortunately the link that you posted no longer works. Does anyone have such a list?

Thanks!

Re: Orphanages near Holdenville

DianeHesse — 2011-08-19 19:50:48Z

Thank you for the info. As it turns out this relative was taken from an orphanage without any formality and was never even legally adopted. She was taken to care for a younger child that had been left abandoned on someones doorstep. Hard to believe it isn't it? Then when she had to get a passport the 'mom' had to lie that she was the mother and a birth certificate had to be generated. Didn't even have a real date of birth. It was made up. Very sad.

Re: Orphanages near Holdenville

dolliejanice — 2011-08-19 18:20:06Z

You can call oklahoma city adoption dept. and ask what county your relative was adopted in. Then wright a letter to the judge in that county asking him to open up the adoption files on her. That is what I did to find my adoptive relative. If the clerk has time to look for the information, she will. If she is to busy, you may have to go yourself to look for the files. Janice Vowell e-mail
dolliejanice@gmail.com

Re: Warf children in Oklahoma Orphanage (Dustin??)

sallygrammy — 2011-08-18 04:29:53Z

In 1924 the Tipton Home was established in Tipton, OK. Many children were placed there when their parents could not provide for them or died. Possibly your people were there. The Tipton Home is still in the same location, same structure, although it is currently the business offices. They are very helpful and pleased to give any information that is available. My dad lived there for several years and it was one of the most positive experiences in his troubled life.

Re: OK Website: lists poor farms, orphanages, sanitariums, state homes and institutions for Oklahoma beginning with the 1930 census.

Sandyspastimes — 2011-07-14 19:54:13Z

Doesn't work

Park Hill Indian Orphanage or Cherokee Female Seminary

Sandyspastimes — 2011-07-14 19:52:25Z

I know there were boys there also per family history and 1910 census. Looking for something on Sterling Angel being there prior to that (he was 18 in 1910 and not on census) his future wife Bertha Bryant was, that's were we were told they met. Any history of this orphanage would be greatly appreciated.

Re: Cherokee orphanages in Oklahoma

Sandyspastimes — 2011-07-14 19:47:46Z

Park Hill was a major orphanage and it is in the census for 1910. I found my husbands grandmother and her sister on the census. http://search.ancestry.com/Browse/View.aspx?dbid=7884&pa... is the link I have. 49 pages.

This is from Wiki:
(not to be confused with the first Cherokee Female Seminary), serves as the centerpiece of Northeastern State University, located in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, United States. The building was constructed to replace the original Cherokee Female Seminary that burnt to the ground Easter Sunday 1887. The Cherokee Council chose to rebuild the school on a 40-acre (160,000 m2) site north of Tahlequah. Two years later, on May 7, 1889, the dedication ceremonies were held in honor of the new building. The Female Seminary was owned and operated by the Cherokee Nation until March 6, 1909 when the State Legislature of Oklahoma passed an act providing for the creation and location of Northeastern State Normal School at Tahlequah, Oklahoma, and for the purchase form the Cherokee Tribal Government of the building, land, and equipment of the Cherokee Female Seminary. At the start of the next academic year, on September 14, the first classes were held at the newly created Northeastern State Normal School, now NSU.)

Indian orphanges

Nsimoneau1 — 2011-06-25 01:34:35Z

My great grandmother born in the 1800s was native american adopted by a white family. they did not register her and we have no tribal history. My father thought she might have been adopted at Tipton but after my research Tipton was not founded in OK until 1921. Looking for orphanages in SE OK during the 1800's
Appreciate any help

Re: Catholic Orphanage-Bethany Ok

Nsimoneau1 — 2011-06-25 01:28:12Z

Bethany is west of OKC there was an orphanage there years ago but is gone now it was on the old route 66 which is now 39th expressway
Sorry cannot remember the name

Re: St. Joseph's - OK City

skwindiana — 2011-03-27 00:25:47Z

Wanted to get more information from you about where EXACTLY the school was. I don't even know that much. Currently I am thinking of setting up a Facebook page for anyone interested in this topic. Thanks for any help. skw_indiana@yahoo.com

Re: Oklahoma Orphanages

CatherineEdwards59 — 2011-01-17 16:42:11Z

I tried your website and it if no longer there. I would really like a list of orphanages in Oklahoma if I could get it. I am looking for someone in the years 1910 to 1920. We knew him as Dave Edwards but think his birth name could be William Allen born in 1906. I would appreciate all the help I can get.

Thank you so very much.

Cathy

Orphanages near Holdenville

DianeHesse — 2011-01-07 21:39:37Z

Roberta Bessie and Irene Brandon where given to an orphanage in the very early 1900's. Roberta was later given to Mary Elizabeth Oyer. No formal adoption took place. Is there any way I can possibly track Roberta as an orphan?

Re: LOOKING FOR ANSWERS

lanhamscott — 2010-10-11 16:45:56Z

was there 60 65 recall going to school on premesis. mid sixties it converted to lay people supervision and we bussed to st johns in yukon for class

Re: Catholic Orphanage-Bethany Ok

lanhamscott — 2010-10-11 16:36:20Z

i should remember you if you were there in the 60's. did you have a relative that worked as a custodian.

Re: Catholic Orphanage-Bethany Ok

lanhamscott — 2010-10-11 16:33:32Z

this is a response only to the attention of mr. louvar. i do recall when he was the top adminstrator and i recall when they gave birth during their time there. i left in jan 65 when mr louvar gave me a ride to okc to hook up with one of my older brothers. to put it in a capsule life turned out good, completed highschool, entered the navy, began a career with the us govt, and retired in 2005. am sending my regards. my name was scott goss and i was one of several native american families that resided there. god bless

Re: St. Joseph's - OK City

lanhamscott — 2010-10-11 16:22:41Z

i have been searching for a site for st josephs, me and siblings were placed there in 1960, all left prior to 65 i was the last one out. it seems like the powers that existed utilized great pains to ensure seperated families lost contact with each other. so much so that one of my brothers birth certificate indicated caucasion, problem is we are all identifiable indian people. at any rate, we all got reunited eventually, years later, four boys and one girl. so you might say we got the last laugh on that system. and i do drive by and look at the old place, as recent as about a week ago. have not entered into the grounds since the day we drove down the long drive. i often wondered what what becameo of some of the children i knew as a child.

Re: Taft orphanage

Bobbi_Atkinson — 2010-08-21 03:13:29Z

The prison located in Taft, OK at one time was an orphanage. It has also been a mental hospital. My uncle was deputy warden at the prison in the early eighties. My grandfather was committed and passed away there in 1958. During a search of my ancesters, we found a link to black orphans from the Tulsa riot there and they carried our last name.

Cherokee rphanages in Oklahoma

scoffron1 — 2010-07-30 17:48:40Z

My grandmother grew up in an orphanage and was born into a Cherokee family. What were the names of orphanages in the 1930s and 1940s in Oklahoma, or where can I find more information? Her surname is Owens, but that doesn't help much unless I can find out where she grew up.

Re: St. Joseph's - OK City

JulieKlindworth_Kidder — 2010-07-16 01:58:15Z

I have a poor copy of the brochure it shows a little boy and girl on the front cover. send me a reply and I will make a copy for you. Julie I was there in the 50's The Nuns were very cruel.

Re: St. Joseph's - OK City

EllenThompsonDickinson — 2010-06-22 04:37:30Z

My situation is the same as yours as they were placed there also due to family hardship and were not adopted out..my mother stayed at the orphanage until she was 18 years old...when she got out she and my dad eventually got her 2 brothers out to live with them. The only 'stories' I heard from my mom was how much she missed her parents and brothers, and that she wasn't allowed to see her brothers. She said the nuns were mean to them and she didn't like it there.

Re: St. Joseph's - OK City

skwindiana — 2010-06-21 16:08:59Z

I was told by Catholic Charities in Oklahoma City that they do have the records of the old St. Joseph Orphanage. The problem for me has been that you must provide several documents to get to that information. My Mother was not there for adoption, but was placed there due to family hardship during the depression. She and all her siblings eventually returned to their parents. Since my Mother died in 2006 I can not see those records without a Death Certificate (hoping to secure). I was hoping to communicate with other families who had been there or knew of the home. Can you share stories? I would be grateful! KW

Re: St. Joseph's - OK City

EllenThompsonDickinson — 2010-06-21 03:46:33Z

I didn't know records existed? How do we find out? My mother and her brothers were there around 1937...Ivy (or Aivy) Overton and brothers Utah and Gilbert.

Re: St. Joseph's - OK City

JulieKlindworth_Kidder — 2010-06-21 00:57:54Z

ok, you need to join face book first than put Saint Joseph Orphanage bethany
and things will come up for you, I am also on there under Julie kidder Klindworth

Re: LOOKING FOR ANSWERS

JulieKlindworth_Kidder — 2010-06-21 00:23:09Z

I know this is an old post, but I was also a child of Saint Joseph Orphanage in Bethany OK between 1953 to 1958 Julie

Re: Taft orphanage

WannaBButch — 2010-06-08 08:41:21Z

Okay so since I posted this message I found out it was called Taylor's School for Boys on NE 23rd street in Okc. I found several news paper articles but nothing in reference to what I need or an exact location. If anyone has any info please let me know.

sarayarbrough@gmail.com

Re: Early Oklahoma Orphanage

jimmdowns — 2010-06-06 23:14:31Z

I saw your message re the Sunshine House. I know in the early 1900s, there was a home for unwed mothers in the OK City area which required the moms to adopt out their children upon birth. I do not recall exactly the name of that facility, but it might have been the Sunshine House. My great aunt went there when she was a pregnant teenager, and never did see the son to whom she gave birth.

Re: St. Joseph's - OK City

JulieKlindworth_Kidder — 2010-06-04 01:16:51Z

Hello again, you will need to join facebook than do a search to find us I am on there with my name shown above, so you could find me also. I won't be able to get back to facebook until around the 8th of this month, but once I am back on there it would be nice to write, My internet has a filter on it blocking facebook, so I am changing providers. Please stay in touch... Julie

Re: St. Joseph's - OK City

EllenThompsonDickinson — 2010-06-03 23:00:54Z

Thanks for information, Judy. How do I find the Facebook page?

Re: St. Joseph's - OK City

JulieKlindworth_Kidder — 2010-06-01 23:51:37Z

Hello Ellen I was in St Joseph Orphanage at about 1952 to 1958 My twin sister has a place on face book for people to join and get information. We were not aloud to speak to our brother either. Judy Kidder

St. Joseph's Benedictine - Guthrie

BillAllen369 — 2010-05-31 18:28:34Z

I'm searching for records of a Martha Dora Poston or Posten (or possibly Dortha Poston). b. 8 Mar 1904, m. Oliver P. Stafford in OK, d. 4 Aug 1944 OK. By family oral history, she was "an orphan".

In the 1920 census, page 202, Logan Co, Iron Mound Tsp, I find -
Poston, Dortha A, student, female, white, age 15, b OK, father b WI, mother b MO. (The entries for all students are lined out, but are readable.)

I'm trying to trace this person, and I can find no other records of her. Could she have been an orphan?

"The Benedictine Heights College/Catholic College of Oklahoma for Women operated in Guthrie from 1916 to 1955, when it moved to Tulsa."

Does anyone know if old records of this school are preserved anywhere? Did the Benedictine's run an orphanage there anytime between 1904 & 1920?

Any info or suggestions would be appreciated.

Early Oklahoma Orphanage

DianaKaye2 — 2010-05-20 09:13:01Z

Has anyone ever heard of the Sunshine House? Probably an orphanage in early Oklahoma, maybe even Native American Indian Children.

Re: Catholic Orphanage-Bethany Ok

tomwlucas — 2010-01-12 05:27:36Z

I'm answering a post about St. Joseph's Orphanage and St. Gregory's.
I was at both. They were seperate. St. Joseph's Orphanage/Home (Bethany,Oklahoma) was an Orphanage for children from birth thru the 8th grade. Until the 1960's it was run by Associated Catholic Charities and various orders of Catholic Nuns. St. Gregory's (Shawnee, OK) was a boarding school for high school boys and college men. Now, it is St. Gregory's University of Shawnee Oklahoma. And, it has always been run by the Benedictine Monks.
tomwlucas@hotmail.com

Carmen Orphanage

genedavies — 2010-01-02 01:44:40Z

Trying to find information about this orphanage

Re: Catholic Orphanage-Bethany Ok

clouvarcanga68 — 2009-12-31 02:55:18Z

my parents ran the orphanage through catholic charities for a few years. If
Anyone lived there during the time Joe and Diane Louvar were there, they
think of you all often and would enjoy hearing from you. They cherish the
time they spent there.

Taft orphanage

WannaBButch — 2009-12-22 13:11:44Z

Looking for information on an orphanage in Taft, ok. My grandfather was there sometime between 1940 and 1950. Thanks.

Mabel Walker, 1907-1988

ThomasFogarty1992 — 2009-10-25 19:24:07Z

I am trying to find a record for my great-grandmother, Mabel L. Walker, born December 1, 1907 and died August 8, 1988. She was born in Oklahoma and was adopted, but I don't know anything about her birth or adoptive parents or if she spent time in an orphanage. Her biological father was a Walker, so she would have been adopted under this name. She also was part Indian, so she may have been born or lived on a reservation. I am told that she was sent off as a maid when she was a girl and lived with her adoptive parents until she married Isaac Ketcher at the age of 18. If anyone could find any records of her in an orphanage, it would be of great interest to me.

Re: St. Joseph's - OK City

cashesmattox — 2009-07-27 18:27:47Z

Esther,

Thanks for the reply - I was at St. Joseph's in 1950. I was very young, but I remember the cruelty of the nuns especially. My older sister watched out for me, and took many whacks for me. Do you happen to have any old pics of the orphanage in or near 1950?

Re: St. Joseph's - OK City

tgonzales46 — 2009-07-27 18:20:39Z

Hello i came online to search for a little more information concerning St Joseph's orphanage that was located in Bethany, OK. I actually work in the building that was once the orphanage. We on many occasions have visitors come and look at the orphanage, Many times they were once here as children or like the visitors we had today, their parents were once here. i came across some pictures today of the orphange back in 1910 and began to get curious. I wanted to let you know the building is in fact still standing as well as the chapel and the tower next to the chapel. We welcome visitors if you would like to come and visit. The building is now known as the International Pentecostal Holiness Church headquarters.