Stephens County (in red) is surrounded by the following counties:
	Grady, Garvin, Carter, Jefferson, Cotton, and Comanche Counties.
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	Stephens County, Oklahoma was formed in 1907 from part of territorial Comanche County and part of the former Chickasaw Nation. It was established by members of the Constitutional Convention with the county seat being Duncan. R. J. Allen of Duncan was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention and chairman of the county committee of the convention. He managed to have Stephens County formed as a large county with Duncan lying very near the center. Stephens county contains 891 square miles of land. It is 27 miles wide (north to south) and 33 miles long (east to west). A strip of land 9 miles wide and 27 miles long lying on the western border of the county was originally part of the Kiowa, Comanche, Apache Reservations in Oklahoma Territory, this strip of land lies west of the 98th Meridian. The 98th Meridian divided Oklahoma Territory from Indian Territory. All the land in Stephens County which lies east of the 98th Meridian was formerly part of Pickens County, Chickasaw Nation, Indian Territory. Stephens County takes it's name from John Stephens, a congressman from Amarillo, Texas who strongly supported Oklahoma's push for statehood. The first known permanent white settlement was established by a Mr. Silas (Buck) Fitzpatrick who moved from Fort Arbuckle in about 1865 and established a ranch on the north side of Lake Duncan. Within a couple of years he was joined by his father. The father, Mr. Theodore Fitzpatrick moved from Fort Arbuckle to a location about 2 miles northeast of Duncan on Cow Creek. Here he established a store on the newly formed Chisholm Trail. In about 1871 or 1872 Mr. Theodore Fitzpatrick sold his store to William Duncan. William Duncan was an intermarried Chickasaw, his wife Sally Fraker was a white teacher who had been adopted by the Chickasaw and as such was considered a Chickasaw and entitled to receive land allotments . In 1890 when they learned that the railroad would be coming through land approximately 2 miles from their current location they claimed the land which would become the railroad right-of-way as their allotment land. Thus establishing the town which carries his name, Duncan. In 1892 the Rock Island Railroad opened their line which connected the three major communities of what would become Stephens County, Comanche, Duncan, and Marlow. Marlow community was established in the 1880s and was originally known as Marlow Grove, taking its name from the Marlow family. Marlow has obtained much notoriety on the fact that the founding Marlow brothers were cattle rustlers. Even before statehood the livelihood of the Stephens County area was shifting from ranching and farming to oil production. As early as 1903, a shallow oil well was drilled near Cruces, a small community in the county. By 1918, the Duncan Chamber of Commerce started to plan the construction of a road "west to the oil fields." Duncan, it is said, is the "Buckle in the Oil Belt." ~~**~~ Stephens county was formed from the following pre-statehood territories: Comanche County and Chickasaw Nation, Indian Territory
	Towns and Communities (for full list click here)
	Alma Bray Central High Comanche Doyle Duncan Empire City Loco Marlow Parks Velma
	For a bibliography of sources used in the above history, please click here.

	Cemeteries Communities Newspapers Museums Military Directories & School Annuals County Archives Mailing List Photographs Obituaries County Message Board Query Archives Resources Stephens Co. Links Look-Ups Oklahoma Newspapers On-line Oklahoma Funeral Homes On-line Stephens County Marriages

	OK Bits (obits) Oklahoma Military Oklahoma Photo Gallery Lawmen & Outlaws Oklahoma Marriages Maps - N - More Township Maps OK Reunions OK Funeral Homes OK GenWeb Resources Page Indian/Pioneer Papers OK Land Openings OK Success Stories OK Cemeteries OK GenWeb Archives Oklahoma Surname Registry OK Slave Narratives Native American Research Project Soldiers of the Great War OK/IT GenWeb Message Boards Cook Books Day County, Oklahoma Territory No Man's Land OKGenWeb Facebook Page Unassigned Lands OKGenWeb County Links

	Links to family genealogy web sites documenting Stephens County families. If you have a web site you would like to submit email me at rsvstks@hughes.net
	March 04, 2008 - Davidson Family Tree ~ Vickie Davidson-Charlton's page with information on the Davidson, Wright, Salley and Connor families of Stephens County.
	March 04, 2008 - Ancestors of Everett L. Austin ~ Everett Austin's information on the Austin, Sage, Jones, Woods, Wilkenson, Blackwell, Broom & Gordon families
	November 02, 2007 - Hale family text file submitted by FMooney341
	Oct 27, 2003 - McDade Family Genealogy by septmcdade@yahoo.comseptmcdade@yahoo.com

	A Chronological Listing of "What's New"
	October 10, 2016 - Updated numerous pages and added surveys for Duncan Municipal Cemetery Blocks 40, 41, 42, & 43. Updated Oklahoma Newspapers page and Oklahoma Funeral Homes pages.
	July 22, 2015 - Updated Oklahoma Newspapers page and Oklahoma Funeral Homes page. Duncan Municipal Cemetery Survey for Block 37, 38 & 39 have been added. Corrected the following cemetery listings: Duncan Municipal Cemetery Blocks 15, 29, & 33, and Corum Cemetery. Made additions to Cemetery Additions & Corrections, Military, and Photographs page. Added Photo of Weedn Hospital, Duncan, 1919 and added info to Payne School photo page. Updated links in Stephens Co. Links, Resources and Newspaper pages.
	December 8, 2012 - Updated Oklahoma Newspapers page and Oklahoma Funeral Homes page. Duncan Municipal Cemetery Surveys for Blocks 13-36 have been added, Tucker Cemetery has been re-surveyed and the updated listing added. Folsom-Foster Cemetery has been added. Two new photos added: Loco HS Graduates 1936 and Loco Post Office, courtesy of Judy Reynolds Brabham. New Dixie Cemetery survey contributed by David Engelhardt.
	April 21, 2010 - Updated Oklahoma Newspapers page and Oklahoma Funeral Homes page
	March 9, 2009 - New link to Stephen County Marriages Bk I. Added to the Photographs page, 4 photos of Early Duncan and the Farris Family contributed by Charmaine Riley Holley. Also added to the photographs page, two tombstone photos contributed by Marcia (Donnelley-Dawe) Gibson, these photos are also linked on the Diamond Cemetery page. Two obits with pictures added, submitted by Shelley Lynch, links on the photographs page. Two cemetery corrections made, see log on the Cemetery Additions and Corrections page.
	April 10, 2008 - New links for USGenWeb Archives; OKGenWeb Archives; and Stephens Co. OKGenWeb Archives.
	April 8, 2008 - New Stephens County Oklahoma message/query board linked. New photos added courtesy of Everett Austin: Prarie Dale School 1928, Bray 8th Grade 1936, Bray Class 1938-39, Bray High School Seniors 1940
	March 29, 2008 - Stephens County OKGenWeb page moved off of Rootsweb/Ancestry server to new server and domain. OKGenWeb links current to this date. Added two new funeral homes to the Oklahoma Funeral Homes Online page.
	March 04, 2008 - Page added for Tucker School 1915, photo courtesy of Howard Martin. Links to the Davidson Family Tree page and the updated Ancestors of Everett L. Austin page.
	January 27, 2008 - Dixie Cemetery listing has been added on the cemeteries page. Two new pages have been added that list links for funeral homes and newspapers statewide.
	November 03, 2007 - 1973 Bray "Donkeys" Annual added to the Directories page.  Text file on the Hale family posted, information submitted by FMooney341. Text file on WWII veteran Harold Edward Hall posted, link on the Military page, information submitted by Paula Simpson Byerly.
	May 25, 2007 - 1954 and 1960 Bray-Hi Life School Annual added to the Directories page. Corrected the Loco Cemetery page.
	April 24, 2007 - Link added for Stephens County Obituaries web board. A free web board where contributed Stephens County related obituaries can be posted by any contributor.
	Mail questions, comments and suggestions to Tammy Sharp
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