Family History & Genealogy
Family & Local History Room
The Family History Room houses the premier genealogical and family history collection in Oklahoma. The collection consists of the combined resources of Southwest Oklahoma Genealogical Society (SWOGS), Lawton Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Lawton Public Library. Contributions have also been made by the Daughters of 1812, Southwest Oklahoma Historical Society, other heritage groups, authors, and patrons. There is a full time qualified genealogy librarian, and a part-time library assistant. The Family History Room collection consists of over 26,000 books and periodicals, 150,000 microfiche, and 6,000 rolls of microfilm. It includes all Federal census schedules, local and area newspapers from 1901, Indian-Pioneer History Collection, Indian records, family histories, vital records, Oklahoma Tract Books with surname index, and research reference aids. Family Search, Ancestry, Heritage Quest, Dawes Roll, 1890 Oklahoma Territorial Census, Freedman's Bank Records, Official Records of the Union and Confedeate Armies and Navies, Southern Historical Society Papers, Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion, Indexes to First Landowners of Pennsylvania, and Early Connecticut Vital Records (the Barbour Collection and more) are accessible on the Family History Room computers. The area of emphasis is Oklahoma and the major migration areas from where its people and their ancestors came. The Native American collection focuses on the Kiowa, Comanche, and Apache tribes and contains several important records. The main section of the library also houses other valuable historical reference material.
Digital Memory Center
Bringing the Past Into the Present. Digitize and preserve family photos, papers, cassette tapes, and other memories.
Lawton High School Yearbooks through 1951
Lawton High School yearbooks through through 1951 are available through Digital Prairie's Images of Oklahoma.
A more complete collection of Lawton area yearbooks is available at the library in print.
Lawton High School yearbooks until 2015 are also available on CD for in library use.
1950 Census Quick Tips Video
Tips on how to search for your relatives in the National Archives' 1950 Census website. The National Archives also has a Youtube playlist of videos for genealogists on the 1950 Census.
Genealogy Requests
The Southwest Oklahoma Genealogical Society will do “lookups” in most indexed material in the Family History Room of the Lawton Public Library and offer suggestions for further research when appropriate. Census lookups are not done. Neither the Lawton Public Library nor SWOGS does actual research.
When requesting a lookup please provide names, dates, and places as much as possible and be specific in what you are looking for.
The lookup fee is $5.00 per lookup payable in advance. Please include an SASE.
Mail request, with fee to: SWOGS / PO Box 148 / Lawton, OK 73502
For newspaper lookups including obituaries: please supply the date the article ran or the date of the event (i.e., death date for an obituary). A search will then be conducted up to seven days after the provided date.
The Comanche County Biographical Index
The biographical index is a listing of the local biographies found in various local histories found in the Lawton Public Library Family History Room including the vertical file.
We have this info online but we are still tweaking it. If you see any corrections, please let the Family History Librarian know.
The Comanche County Biographical Index
The biographical index is a listing of the local biographies found in various local histories found in the Lawton Public Library Family History Room including the vertical file.
We have this info online but we are still tweaking it. If you see any corrections, please let the Family History Librarian know.
Native American Obituary Index
This index is a listing of primarily Comanche, Kiowa, Apache, and Fort Sill Apache obituaries with some Caddo/Wichita and Cheyenne/Arapaho obituaries included. The index is early 1900s to 2010. It is not a complete list.
Access World News Newsbank
This comprehensive resource offers hundreds of millions of current and archived full-text articles from over 7,000 news sources worldwide in a single, fully searchable online resource. Updated daily, it includes obituaries, editorials, announcements, sports, and real estate so you can research topics and subjects, find events and milestones, and more. Includes over 30 Oklahoma news sources as well as 2,200 sources from across the United States.
Password: 14 digit Library Card Number
Ancestry
What will you discover in your family tree? It's not just history, it's your history. Learn more about Ancestry.com on the ancestry.com blog.
No Outside Library Access. Available in main library only.
Fold3
Fold3 Library Edition by Ancestry provides convenient access to a growing collection of US military records, including the stories, photos, and personal documents of the men and women who served. It contains millions of records from world-class archives, many of which are exclusively available on Fold3.
Password: library card number (example: 29056001000000)
Lawton Constitution Through Access World News
Search the Lawton Constitution archives from 1985 – today. Find full-text articles on local news, issues, events, people and much more from current and archived issues. Includes obituaries, editorials, announcements, sports, real estate and other sections. Available from inside the library or from home.
Password: 14 digit Library Card Number