GUIDE TO CATHOLIC RECORDS ABOUT NATIVE AMERICANS IN THE U.S.
Volume 2: Midwest United States
Oklahoma: OK-4

St. Mary Church
101 East Street Southwest
Ardmore, OK 73401

Phone: 580-223-0231
Email: See website (contact us)

 

History: St. Mary Church, Ardmore, Carter County, Oklahoma, has been a predominantly non-Native American parish in the Chickasaw Nation and in the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City (Archives: Oklahoma City, Oklahoma).

1890-1895	Oklahoma City diocesan priests at St. Elizabeth’s, Purcell, attended to Ardmore station (Choctaw, Chickasaw)
1895-1897	Oklahoma City diocesan priests at St. Patrick’s, Norman, attended to Ardmore station
1897	Became a parish; a church was constructed on lands donated by Dick McLish, Chickasaw Nation chairman
1897-present (few Natives)	Diocesan priests established and administered St. Mary/ Our Lady of Prompt Succor Church

History: St. Agnes Academy and Boarding School, Ardmore, was located at St. Mary Church, Ardmore.

1898-1932 (no longer Native)	Sisters of Mercy (now Oklahoma City, Oklahoma) (Archives: Belmont, North Carolina) established and staffed St. Agnes Academy for Girls (Choctaw, Chickasaw), Ardmore
1915-1921 (closed)	Sisters of Mercy established and staffed St. Agnes Boarding School for Boys (Choctaw, Chickasaw), Ardmore
1932	Native students no longer attended St. Agnes became tribal funds for their tuition payments became depleted

Oklahoma City diocesan priests at St. Mary's attended to the following Native American (Choctaw, Chickasaw) missions and stations in the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations:

1900-1912 (transferred to Blessed Sacrament, Coalgate)	Tishomingo station (Chickasaw), Johnston County
1902-1912 (became a parish)	St. Catherine Mission (Choctaw), Durant, Bryan County
1904-1910 (closed)	Paul’s Valley station (Choctaw, Chickasaw), Garvin County
1904-1912 (transferred to St. Catherine's, Durant)	Caddo station (Choctaw), Bryan County
1908-1915 (closed)	Wynnewood station (Choctaw, Chickasaw), Garvin Oklahoma

 

Holdings of Catholic records about Native Americans: 

Inclusive dates: 1897-ongoing; bulk 1897-1932

Volume: Several volumes 

Description: The records at St. Mary’s Church are described by record type, since they were not organized according to a classification scheme when reviewed by a Marquette University archivist, 1980.

 

/1 Sacramental records

Inclusive dates: 1897-ongoing; bulk 1897-1930s

Volume: Many records within multiple volumes

Description: Records for St. Mary Church, its Native American missions and stations, and the St. Agnes schools; baptisms, 1897-ca. 1930s, marriages, 1899 ca. 1930s, deaths, 1898-ca. 1930s, first communions, 1910-ca. 1930s, and confirmations, 1902-ca. 1930s

 

/2 School records

Inclusive dates: 1898-1932

Volume: Unknown

Description: St. Agnes schools

 

/3 Parish cemetery map

Inclusive dates: ca. 1890-ongoing

Volume: 1 page

Description: Presumably includes some Choctaw and Chickasaw Indian parishioners.

 

Unless otherwise noted, the repository on this page holds (or held) the records described here and they are not held at the Marquette University Archives.

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