Pikes in Oklahoma in the early 1900's?

Discussion in Genealogy Forum started by T Pike, Mar 24, 2012
TP
T Pike
I'm trying to find out where my ancestors were likely from but have very limited information about my family tree, nor have I any contact with my family to ask them anything.

My father (Richard Larry Pike) was born in Oklahoma around 1940, he comes from a family of many brothers but none of them we knew because they were all reportedly career-criminals. My father's mother might have been named Margaret or some other name starting with the letter 'M' and died in 1975 somewhere in America. My father's father may have been named 'Leo' Pike however that is speculation. One thing is for sure: we had some unusually bright orange/red hair in our family.

Is there an easy way I can learn my family tree without privacy infringements, or is there a better forum to discuss this in? Thank you.

B
Blumstein
No, this is as fine a place as any to ask how to research your family tree.

It sounds like the only name you are sure of is your father, and if he was born after 1940, then it will be tougher to research this than if he was born before April 1 1940.

Take a look at your birth certificate, it may give your father's age at that time.

Yes, privacy issues will make it more difficult until you can find your father's family to go backwards with, but it can be done.

If your dad was born before the 1940 census, then once it is indexed, you can hunt for him in that, and it will answer a whole lot of questions. But that is a ways off - images are browse only now, you need an address. But if you know where your dad's family was likely to have been in 1940, you certainly could try seeing who is at that address. If it is Pikes, even if your dad was not born yet, then you will be in luck.

If you think Leo Pike was his father, then go ahead and search the 1920 and 1930 censuses for all Leo* Pikes you can find and consider all of them possible family until facts turn up enabling you to rule them out.

This should get you started. I have a bunch of pages with information about finding out more about your ancestors and links to various free resources, including census records. I think the best starting place may be the following. From there, you can jump to the free resources page from the left or top menu (I forget which) as well as when the resources page is linked from various sections.
Related Link:Click Here

TP
T Pike
No, this is as fine a place as any to ask how to research your family tree. It sounds like the only name you are sure of is your father, and if he was born after 1940, then it will be tougher to research more ...
this than if he was born before April 1 1940. Take a look at your birth certificate, it may give your father's age at that time. Yes, privacy issues will make it more difficult until you can find your father's family to go backwards with, but it can be done. If your dad was born before the 1940 census, then once it is indexed, you can hunt for him in that, and it will answer a whole lot of questions. But that is a ways off - images are browse only now, you need an address. But if you know where your dad's family was likely to have been in 1940, you certainly could try seeing who is at that address. If it is Pikes, even if your dad was not born yet, then you will be in luck. If you think Leo Pike was his father, then go ahead and search the 1920 and 1930 censuses for all Leo* Pikes you can find and consider all of them possible family until facts turn up enabling you to rule them out. This should get you started. I have a bunch of pages with information about finding out more about your ancestors and links to various free resources, including census records. I think the best starting place may be the following. From there, you can jump to the free resources page from the left or top menu (I forget which) as well as when the resources page is linked from various sections
Thank you!

Yes, I know when my father was born - as I have just now seen my original Birth Certificate for the first time in my life (I've had horrific Immigration problems in the U.S. my whole life never having a birth-certificate). My father was born after 1 April, 1940 and he is still alive.

But I want NO contact with my parents. I only want to know where our family's genealogy comes from, & sadly my mother's side of the family reportedly only had adopted last names (they claimed to not know their real names).

Any further advice is greatly appreciated.

TP
T Pike
No, this is as fine a place as any to ask how to research your family tree. It sounds like the only name you are sure of is your father, and if he was born after 1940, then it will be tougher to research more ...
this than if he was born before April 1 1940. Take a look at your birth certificate, it may give your father's age at that time. Yes, privacy issues will make it more difficult until you can find your father's family to go backwards with, but it can be done. If your dad was born before the 1940 census, then once it is indexed, you can hunt for him in that, and it will answer a whole lot of questions. But that is a ways off - images are browse only now, you need an address. But if you know where your dad's family was likely to have been in 1940, you certainly could try seeing who is at that address. If it is Pikes, even if your dad was not born yet, then you will be in luck. If you think Leo Pike was his father, then go ahead and search the 1920 and 1930 censuses for all Leo* Pikes you can find and consider all of them possible family until facts turn up enabling you to rule them out. This should get you started. I have a bunch of pages with information about finding out more about your ancestors and links to various free resources, including census records. I think the best starting place may be the following. From there, you can jump to the free resources page from the left or top menu (I forget which) as well as when the resources page is linked from various sections
I forgot to mention; I know my father's date of birth, and that he was born in some small town perhaps relatively close distance (1-2 hours?) from Tulsa Oklahoma (but my Birth Cert. says 'Tulsa' when I believe that to be false).

I also know roughly when & where they were married, but would this information lead me to my father's genealogy?

As the new 1940+ Census website does not seem to have a Sort feature by name or date -what is the best way to search with my limited info?

Thanks for any advice or help.

B
Blumstein
I forgot to mention; I know my father's date of birth, and that he was born in some small town perhaps relatively close distance (1-2 hours?) from Tulsa Oklahoma (but my Birth Cert. says 'Tul more ...
sa' when I believe that to be false). I also know roughly when & where they were married, but would this information lead me to my father's genealogy? As the new 1940+ Census website does not seem to have a Sort feature by name or date -what is the best way to search with my limited info? Thanks for any advice or help
Hi, I understood there were reasons to not ask your dad, am not questioning those.

If your dad was born after April 1, 1940, there is no way you will find him in the 1940 census unless his parents ignored the instructions. The census is supposed to only include people living in the household and born before April 1, 1940, period.

There will eventually be name indexes at various sites for the census, and the only way to find records right now is to browse through the pages by enumeration district.

If you do not have an address, then it is probably too much work until the records for Oklahoma are indexed.

But once they are indexed, you need to know who you are looking for, the names of your father's parents.

In most cases, marriage records provide the names of the parents of both bride and groom and are an excellent place to go to find that information. So, if you know the date and can get a copy of your parents marriage records, then you will have a way to take your father's genealogy backwards.

At that point, you can look for the 1930 census records for your grandparents families. The 1940 census will be interesting, but I think is too much work for most of us to use before it is indexed.

Take the stories from your mom's side with a grain of salt, until you do some heavy duty research, there is no way to know when the name change occurred.

If you have your mom's name and the names of her parents (whether the original or the changed ones) then hunt for them as well. Once the 1940 census is indexed, then you can hunt for any relatives that you do know were alive at that point.

If you are sure of a 1940 address for anyone in the family, you certainly can go ahead and look for the 1940 census for that address. You will need to find the enumeration district and then browse through the pages for that ED.

I have a bunch of information about the 1940 census on the following page, and am updating it daily right now, to reflect which states have been loaded to which sites. Once indexes appear, that will be indicated there as well to the best of my ability.

I understand from reading mailing lists that it is faster to download whole EDs instead of browsing online, but I have not figured out how to do that yet. I may just wait for the indexing because I can accomplish much more with my time right now, doing research in other records.

For example: An elderly cousin wants to know who her great grandparents were - so I am working on finding the marriage records of her grandparents. The 1930 and earlier censuses are actually more helpful with this question than the 1940, because everyone was asked when they got married in the 1900, 1910, and 1930 censuses, that is not true for the 1940 census. In 1940, just a 5% sample was asked a set of more detailed personal questions.

This page also has information about where to get the other censuses for free as well, scroll
Related Link:Click Here

TP
T Pike
Hi, I understood there were reasons to not ask your dad, am not questioning those. If your dad was born after April 1, 1940, there is no way you will find him in the 1940 census unless his parents more ...
ignored the instructions. The census is supposed to only include people living in the household and born before April 1, 1940, period. There will eventually be name indexes at various sites for the census, and the only way to find records right now is to browse through the pages by enumeration district. If you do not have an address, then it is probably too much work until the records for Oklahoma are indexed. But once they are indexed, you need to know who you are looking for, the names of your father's parents. In most cases, marriage records provide the names of the parents of both bride and groom and are an excellent place to go to find that information. So, if you know the date and can get a copy of your parents marriage records, then you will have a way to take your father's genealogy backwards. At that point, you can look for the 1930 census records for your grandparents families. The 1940 census will be interesting, but I think is too much work for most of us to use before it is indexed. Take the stories from your mom's side with a grain of salt, until you do some heavy duty research, there is no way to know when the name change occurred. If you have your mom's name and the names of her parents (whether the original or the changed ones) then hunt for them as well. Once the 1940 census is indexed, then you can hunt for any relatives that you do know were alive at that point. If you are sure of a 1940 address for anyone in the family, you certainly can go ahead and look for the 1940 census for that address. You will need to find the enumeration district and then browse through the pages for that ED. I have a bunch of information about the 1940 census on the following page, and am updating it daily right now, to reflect which states have been loaded to which sites. Once indexes appear, that will be indicated there as well to the best of my ability. I understand from reading mailing lists that it is faster to download whole EDs instead of browsing online, but I have not figured out how to do that yet. I may just wait for the indexing because I can accomplish much more with my time right now, doing research in other records. For example: An elderly cousin wants to know who her great grandparents were - so I am working on finding the marriage records of her grandparents. The 1930 and earlier censuses are actually more helpful with this question than the 1940, because everyone was asked when they got married in the 1900, 1910, and 1930 censuses, that is not true for the 1940 census. In 1940, just a 5% sample was asked a set of more detailed personal questions. This page also has information about where to get the other censuses for free as well, scroll
Thank you for the relentless information, but you just made me realise that the 1940 census does not list any info after 1940. My parents were born just after 1940.

Not that I really had an interest in searching my mothers side of the family (because everyone supposedly were orphans without their real names/illegitimate - but I can get the address of my grandfather (on my mothers side) for 1940 and earlier, but sadly not my fathers.

Will the 1940 census be indexed further than it already is?

Thanks again for your patient info.

B
Blumstein
Thank you for the relentless information, but you just made me realise that the 1940 census does not list any info after 1940. My parents were born just after 1940. Not that I really had an interest more ...
in searching my mothers side of the family (because everyone supposedly were orphans without their real names/illegitimate - but I can get the address of my grandfather (on my mothers side) for 1940 and earlier, but sadly not my fathers. Will the 1940 census be indexed further than it already is? Thanks again for your patient info
The 1940 census will take a number of months to get totally indexed for name searches, so I am not sure what you are asking when you asked about it being indexed better.

You have the links to the FamilySearch and Ancestry versions, as well as my page which I will keep updating with the current status for both images and indexing.

Ancestry has just finished indexing two states - I think Delaware and Nevada, but they are tiny and other states will take more time.

You know, lots of adoptees set out to find out who their birth parents were and succeed at it, so you should not feel so totally hopeless about finding your ancestry on that unknown side.

What you need to start with is your parents marriage certificate. Where there is a will, there is a way, and I hope you will pursue obtaining a copy.

Another option a lot of adoptees and their descendants use is DNA. There is new testing now called Autosomal DNA that means you can test more than just direct male and direct female lines.

It is an expensive gamble, you could end up with zero useful results, but if tracking your mom's side is important to you and you can come up with $200 to do that testing on yourself when there is the next sale at FamilyTree DNA, it will at a minimum give you some sense of your ancestral origins - be they eastern or western europe, the mideast, or whatever. It is another tool. And should a child or grandchild of a sibling of one of your mother's parents get tested (unbeknownst to you), a distant cousin, the results would be pretty obvious, then your challenge would be to piece together facts about locations your mutual ancestors were to see where the dots connect.

Something to think about. It is a gamble, it might not be at all helpful, but if it is helpful, well, then the expense will have been well worth it.

You do not have to share the results with anyone, although that is how you would get the most mileage out of the testing. But the bare minimum is you could find out something about the countries of origin from hundreds of years ago of your ancestors. If you know where one side came from (and I trust you eventually will) then by deduction you may be able to figure out your ethnicity on the other side.

I do have a page about dna on the web, it focusses mainly on YDNA (male line) but there is a section about the Autosomal Testing on the page as well.
Related Link:Click Here

B
Blumstein
I forgot to mention; I know my father's date of birth, and that he was born in some small town perhaps relatively close distance (1-2 hours?) from Tulsa Oklahoma (but my Birth Cert. says 'Tul more ...
sa' when I believe that to be false). I also know roughly when & where they were married, but would this information lead me to my father's genealogy? As the new 1940+ Census website does not seem to have a Sort feature by name or date -what is the best way to search with my limited info? Thanks for any advice or help
FamilySearch has Oklahoma Marriages through 1959. Maybe you can find the marriage there. See related link below.

I do not know if this is an official marriage index, or just from the IGI, but it is still worth checking in case your folks are listed.
Related Link:Click Here

B
Blumstein
I forgot to mention; I know my father's date of birth, and that he was born in some small town perhaps relatively close distance (1-2 hours?) from Tulsa Oklahoma (but my Birth Cert. says 'Tul more ...
sa' when I believe that to be false). I also know roughly when & where they were married, but would this information lead me to my father's genealogy? As the new 1940+ Census website does not seem to have a Sort feature by name or date -what is the best way to search with my limited info? Thanks for any advice or help
It looks like TP may have broken the https url, so here it is again for you to copy/paste:

https://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/show#uri=http://www.familysearch.org/searchapi/search/collection/1709399
Related Link:Click Here