Lawton & Comanche County Genealogy

Comanche County was opened for settlement in August, 1901. It was carved from the Kiowa-Comanche-Apache Indian Reservation and covered the present counties of Comanche, Tillman, Cotton and the western strips of Stephens and Jefferson. The method used to distribute the land was by lottery. Lawton was a government townsite and was opened on August 6, 1901 with the sale of town lots by auction.

In 1906 the remaining area of the KCA Reservation, known as the Big Pasture, was also opened for settlement. The method used for this opening was by sealed bids. Prior to the 1901 opening, the Indians were each given an allotment of 160 acres. When the Big Pasture was opened, those Indians born after the 1901 allotment were given an allotment in that area.

In 1907, Tillman county was formed and with the formation of counties in Indian Territory at Statehood, the two above mentioned areas were placed in the new counties of Stephens and Jefferson. Cotton county was formed in 1912, leaving the present day boundary of Comanche county.

Fort Sill Army Post was established at the base of the Wichita Mountains in 1869. Since the establishment of Lawton in 1901, Fort Sill and Lawton have worked together to maintain a spirit of cooperation for the common good of both the civilian and military populations. Originally located several miles apart, the two have grown until only a fence now separates the Post from the town.

Lawton is the county seat of Comanche county and other towns in the county are: Cache, Elgin, Fletcher, Sterling, Geronimo, Indiahoma, Chattanooga and Faxon.

We have listed below some items of note in the collection relating to Lawton and Comanche county.

• Comanche County Marriage, Records on microfilm, 1901-1951
• Comanche County Divorce, Records on microfilm, 1901-1928
• Comanche County Probate, Records on microfilm, 1901-1929
• Comanche County School Census Index Cards on microfilm, 1918-1968
• Comanche County School Census Enumeration Books on microfilm, 1918-1936
• Comanche County Military Discharge, Records on microfilm, 1919-1940
• Comanche County Military Discharge Index on microfilm, 1919-1935
• Lawton Ritter-Gray Funeral Home, Records on microfilm, 1908-1994
• Lawton Highland Cemetery, Records on microfilm, 1901-1994
• Lawton Monument Company, Records (tombstone) on microfilm, 1935-1957
• Old Elgin Cemetery, Records on microfilm, 1902-1990
• Fletcher Cemetery, Records on microfilm, 1904-2000
• Fletcher United Methodist Church, Records on microfilm, 1903-1962
• Fletcher First Baptist Church, Records on microfilm, 1906-1936
• Fletcher Christian Church, Records on microfilm, 1905-1912
• Lawton First United Methodist Church, Records on microfilm, 1901-1958
• Lawton Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church, Records on microfilm, 1902-1959
• Lawton First Presbyterian Church, Records on microfilm, 1901-1965
• Lawton First Baptist Church, Records on microfilm, 1902-1999
• Arthur Lawrence Card File Collection
• Cache newspapers on microfilm, 1904-1914 (not complete), 1963-1969, 1978-1988
• Chattanooga newspapers on microfilm, 1904-1929
• Elgin newspapers on microfilm, 1905-1921
• Faxon newspapers on microfilm, 1904-1911, 1914-1918
• Fletcher newspapers on microfilm, 1905-1915, 1922-1934
• Geronimo newspapers on microfilm, 1906-1912
• Indiahoma newspapers on microfilm, 1911-1915
• Lawton newspapers on microfilm - all extant early day newspapers
• Lawton Constitution newspaper on microfilm - 1904 to present
• Sterling newspapers on microfilm, 1902-1905, 1909-1922
• St. Clair Funeral Home, 1911-1925
• Collection of local high school and college yearbooks (not all years)
• Collection of Lawton City Directories back to 1903 (not all years)
• Fort Sill, Okla. Post Returns on microfilm, 1869-1917