Arkansas Records Details and Resources

RECORD HIGHLIGHTS
Statewide vital records include birth and death records from 1914, evidence of marriage records from 1917, and evidence of divorce records from 1923. Check in the city or county for any vital records created prior to statewide registration. Request copies of divorce decrees or marriage licenses from the county court that issued the original documents; consult the Acts of Arkansas for legislature-granted divorces. For more information, see the Arkansas Department of Health website http://www.healthyarkansas.com/certificates/certificates.html.

A number of Arkansas counties have lost some records to floods or fires. Investigate surviving records, resources in parent and neighboring counties, and records of territorial, local, state and federal jurisdictions. These are some of the Arkansas sources available through the Family History Library (FHL) and/or the Arkansas History Commission:

• Territorial sheriffs’ censuses, 1823 (Arkansas County), 1829 (various counties)
• Territorial and state tax lists for various counties and years
• Territorial Papers of the United States (National Archives microfilm M721) and Territorial Papers of the United States Senate (M200) for Orleans, Louisiana, Missouriand Arkansas territories; State Department Territorial Papers, Missouri (M1134)
• Records of depositors, Little Rock branch of the Freedman’s Savings and Trust Company (FHL microfilm 928573)
• 1911 census of Confederate veterans in Arkansas
• Confederate pension applications
• Records of the Arkansas Confederate Home, 1890-1963, searchable at http://arkansashistory.arkansas.com/documenting/confederate_homes.asp

CENSUS RECORDS

• 1820 Census of the Territory of Arkansas (Reconstructed) by James Logan Morgan (Arkansas Research, 1992)
• Arkansas 1850 Census Every-Name Index by Bobbie Jones McLane and Desmond Walls Allen (Arkansas Research, 1995)

IMMIGRATION RECORDS

• Cherokee Emigration Rolls, 1817-1835 transcribed by Jack D. Baker (Baker Publishing Co., 1977)

LAND RECORDS

• Arkansas Land Patents, Eastern Arkansas (Clay, Craighead, Crittenden, Cross, Greene, Lee, Mississippi, Monroe, Phillips, Poinsett, and St. Francis counties): Granted through 30 June 1908 by Desmond Walls Allen and Bobbie Jones McLane (Arkansas Research, 1991)
• Arkansas Military Bounty Grants (War of 1812) compiled by Katheren Christensen (Arkansas Ancestors, 1971)

MAPS

• Arkansas Atlas & Gazetteer (DeLorme, 1997)
• Arkansas Township Atlas: A History of the Minor Civil Divisions in Each Arkansas County by Russell Pierce Baker (Arkansas Genealogical Society, 1984)
• Arkansas Township Digest: Minor Civil Divisions, 1820-1990 by Desmond Walls Allen (Arkansas Research, 1994)
• The Atlas of Arkansas edited by Richard M. Smith (University of Arkansas Press, 1989)
• Historical Atlas of Arkansas by Gerald T. Hanson and Carl H. Moneyhon (University of Oklahoma Press, 1989)

MILITARY RECORDS

• Arkansas 1911 Census of Confederate Veterans transcribed and edited by Bobbie J. McLane and Capitola Glazner (B.J. McLane,C. Glazner, 1977-1981)
• Arkansas Confederate Veterans and Widows Pension Applications compiled by Frances Terry Ingmire (F.T. Ingmire, 1985)
• Arkansas’ Damned Yankees: An Index to Union Soldiers in Arkansas Regiments by Desmond Walls Allen (D.W. Allen, 1987)
• Arkansas’ Mexican War Soldiers by Desmond Walls Allen (Arkansas Research, 1988)
• Arkansas’ Spanish American War Soldiers by Desmond Walls Allen (Arkansas Research, 1988)
• Arkansas Union Soldiers Pension Application Index compiled by Desmond Walls Allen (D.W. Allen, 1987)
• Compendium of the Confederate Armies, 11 vols., by Stewart Sifakis (Facts on File, 1992-1995)
• Confederate Arkansas: The People and Policies of a Frontier State in Wartime by Michael B. Dougan (University of Alabama Press, 1976)
• First Arkansas Confederate Mounted Rifles by Desmond Walls Allen (Arkansas Research, 1988)
• Forty-Fifth Arkansas Confederate Cavalry by Desmond Walls Allen (Arkansas Research, 1988)
• The Fourteenth Arkansas Confederate Infantry by Desmond Walls Allen (Arkansas Research, 1988)
• History of the Twenty-Seventh Arkansas Confederate Infantry by Silas Claiborn Turnbo, edited by Desmond Walls Allen (Arkansas Research, 1988)
• Index to Arkansas Confederate Pension Applications compiled by Desmond Walls Allen (Arkansas Research, 1991)
• Index to Arkansas Confederate Soldiers, 3 vols. by Desmond Walls Allen (Arkansas Research, 1990)
• Rugged and Sublime: The Civil War in Arkansas edited by Mark K. Christ (University of Arkansas Press, 1994)
• The Seventh Arkansas Confederate Infantry by Desmond Walls Allen (Arkansas Research, 1988)
• Thirty-Eighth Arkansas Confederate Infantry by Desmond Walls Allen (Arkansas Research, 1988)
• The Twenty-Seventh Arkansas Confederate Infantry by Desmond Walls Allen (D.W. Allen, 1987)

PROBATE RECORDS

• Index to Wills and Administrators of Arkansas from the Earliest to 1900 edited by Mrs. James Harold and Mrs. Edward Lynn Westbrooke (Vowels Print Co., 1986)

VITAL RECORDS

• Arkansas Death Record Index, 4 vols. by Desmond Walls Allen with the Arkansas State Department of Health (Arkansas Research, 1996-1999)
• The Arkansas Gazette Obituaries Index, 1819-1879 by Stephen J. Chism (Southern Historical Press, 1990)
• Arkansas Marriage Notices, 1819-1845 by James Logan Morgan (Arkansas Research, 1992)
• Arkansas Marriage Records by James Logan Morgan (Arkansas Research, 1994)
• Arkansas Newspaper Abstracts, 1819-1845 by James Logan Morgan (Arkansas Research, 1992)
• Arkansas Newspaper Index, 1819-1845: Index to Obituaries, Biographical Notes and Probate and Chancery Notices from Arkansas Newspapers, 1819-1845 by James Logan Morgan (Morgan Books, 1981)
• Guide to Vital Statistic Records in Arkansas: Volume II, Church Archives from the Arkansas Historical Survey Project, Work Projects Administration (Historical Records Survey)
• Index to Sources for Arkansas Cemetery Inscriptions compiled by the Daughters of the American Revolution, Prudence Hall (DAR, 1976)

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From the Family Tree Sourcebook
Also available: the State Research Guide Book, State Research Guides CD and The Researcher’s Guide to American Genealogy.