Find Pushmataha County Genealogy Records

Pushmataha County genealogy records are on file at the courthouse in Antlers, the county seat. This county in southeastern Oklahoma was part of the Choctaw Nation before statehood, and some records go back to the territorial period. The Court Clerk keeps marriage licenses, probate files, court records, and land documents. Researchers with Choctaw ancestry will find this area especially rich in genealogy materials. You can search recent court cases online through OSCN, or visit the courthouse to look at older files. FamilySearch has also microfilmed many Pushmataha County probate records, making them available to researchers anywhere in the country.

Pushmataha County Court Clerk

Tina Freeman serves as Court Clerk for Pushmataha County. The office is at 203 S.W. 3rd Street in Antlers. You can call (580) 298-3626 for questions about genealogy records. The staff handles marriage licenses, divorce records, probate cases, and civil and criminal court files. Hours are Monday through Friday, 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM.

Pushmataha County is part of the 5th Judicial District along with Choctaw County. The county was formed in 1907 at statehood, but the area has records that predate that. Probate records start from 1904 and court records from 1905. Marriage records and land records begin from 1907. Birth and death records start from 1908 when Oklahoma began statewide vital records registration. The Choctaw Nation also kept its own records before statehood, which adds an extra layer of genealogy sources for this area.

Copy fees are $0.25 per page. Certified copies cost $1.00 per document on top of the copy fee. Marriage record copies run $5.00. The clerk charges $25 per hour for research after the first 15 minutes. If you know the case number or exact names and dates, the search will be faster and cheaper.

Searching Pushmataha County Genealogy

Start your search at the Oklahoma State Courts Network. Choose Pushmataha County from the dropdown menu. You can search by party name, case number, or date range. The system covers civil, criminal, probate, and family cases. Results show party names, docket entries, and the current status of each case. This is free to use and works well for finding divorce decrees and probate files from recent decades.

For older records, FamilySearch has a valuable collection. They microfilmed Pushmataha County probate records from 1887 through 2008. That date range covers the pre-statehood period when the area was still part of Indian Territory. These probate files include wills, estate inventories, heir lists, and guardianship papers. The FamilySearch wiki for Pushmataha County explains what is available and how to get it.

Pushmataha County has strong ties to the Choctaw Nation. If your ancestors were Choctaw, the Choctaw Nation Archives can help with pre-statehood research. Full blood dockets, allotment records, and estate records from the tribal era are available through various archives. The Dawes Rolls at the Oklahoma Historical Society are another key source for identifying Choctaw ancestors who lived in this part of Indian Territory.

Online Tools for Pushmataha County Research

The OKGenWeb Pushmataha County page has genealogy materials compiled by volunteers. The screenshot below shows this resource.

The OKGenWeb page for Pushmataha County links to cemetery transcriptions, family records, and county history notes. Volunteers have also posted transcribed court records through the USGenWeb Archives project. These transcribed records can save you a trip to Antlers if the document you need has already been digitized.

The Oklahoma Historical Society research center in Oklahoma City has materials covering all 77 counties. Their collections include newspapers, photographs, and manuscripts from Pushmataha County. The Gateway to Oklahoma History portal has digitized newspapers that may contain obituaries, legal notices, and family announcements from Antlers and surrounding towns. The Oklahoma Genealogical Society offers statewide help and can guide you to Pushmataha County sources.

The Antlers Public Library is a local resource worth contacting. They may have local history files and reference materials that are not available online. For land records, the Bureau of Land Management database has federal land patents, and allotment records from Indian Territory can be found through the National Archives at Fort Worth.

Under Oklahoma law, most court records are public. The Open Records Act at Title 51, Section 24A.1 through 24A.33 gives anyone the right to inspect records. Vital records like birth and death certificates are handled by the state through OK2Explore, with restrictions on certified copies under Title 63, Section 1-323.

Cities in Pushmataha County

Pushmataha County includes Antlers, Clayton, Rattan, and several smaller communities. All genealogy records for these towns are kept at the Pushmataha County Courthouse in Antlers. There are no qualifying cities with individual pages in this county.

Nearby Counties

Pushmataha County borders several other southeastern Oklahoma counties. If your family had roots across the region, these nearby counties may have related records.