Arkansas Genealogy Search

Arkansas family history starts late in the vital records and early in the courthouse. The state did not register births and deaths until 1914, but its counties, formed from 1813 onward, kept marriage, deed and probate books from the start, and the Arkansas State Archives in Little Rock holds nearly all of them on microfilm with free research by mail. Arkansas was a public land state, so federal land patents from the Little Rock, Batesville, Washington and other land offices record the first owner of most farms.

The Archives also holds the Confederate pension applications and the 1911 Confederate veterans census, both rich in family detail, and the Arkansas Digital Archives puts many collections online free.

Official sources on this page were checked on September 25, 2026.

Arkansas statewide genealogy links

• Arkansas State Archives and LibrariesArkansas Archives and Libraries Search
• Catalog of Arkansas Resources and Archival TreasurersDocumenting Arkansas Archives
• USGenWeb Archives ArkansasSearch USGenWeb Archives
• Arkansas Gravestone RecordsGravestone Cemetery Records

Arkansas began statewide birth and death registration in 1914, with Little Rock and Fort Smith keeping records from 1881, and the Arkansas Department of Health's Vital Records office holds the certificates. Birth records become public after 100 years and death records after 50, and the State Archives holds the public death certificates with an index. Marriage records were kept by each county clerk from the county's founding, and the Archives holds a statewide marriage index, and divorce records sit with the circuit clerk of the county.

• Arkansas Vital RecordsBirth, death, marriage and divorce certificates from 1914, checked September 25, 2026
• Arkansas State ArchivesPublic death certificates, marriage index and county records on microfilm, checked September 25, 2026
• Arkansas Vital Records guideHow to order certificates and what is public

The State Archives holds Confederate pension applications filed from 1891 onward, the 1911 Confederate census, Arkansas's World War I and World War II service records, county tax lists from the 1820s, land office tract books and the state's sheriff's censuses of 1823 to 1829. The Arkansas Digital Archives site carries free digitized collections, and the federal censuses for Arkansas begin in 1830. The Butler Center for Arkansas Studies at the Central Arkansas Library System in Little Rock holds photographs, manuscripts and an obituary index, and the Northeast Arkansas Regional Archives in Powhatan holds records for the northeast counties.

• Arkansas State ArchivesFree digitized Arkansas records, pensions and photographs, checked September 25, 2026
• Bureau of Land Management General Land Office recordsFederal land patents for Arkansas from 1820 onward, checked September 25, 2026
• National Archives genealogy researchFederal census, military and immigration records, checked September 25, 2026
• FamilySearch Arkansas research guideFree indexed Arkansas records and images, checked September 25, 2026

Arkansas county clerks hold marriage licenses and probate records, circuit clerks hold deeds, mortgages and civil and criminal case files, and in the ten counties with two judicial districts each district keeps its own books. Courthouse fires destroyed early records in Chicot, Craighead, Crittenden, Scott and other counties, so the State Archives' microfilm and the federal land records are the substitutes. Most circuit clerks now post deed indexes online through the state's county records vendors.

• Arkansas County Public RecordsCounty and circuit clerk offices for all 75 counties
• Arkansas Court RecordsCircuit court case and probate searches

These federal and national sources complement Arkansas's state-level records. They are the authoritative sources you should cross-check when Arkansas state records are incomplete or out-of-state activity matters.

NARA, National Archives The federal government's primary archive. Holds the U.S. census (1790, 1950), ship passenger lists, naturalization records, military service files, and land entry files.

FamilySearch Free online genealogy platform operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Digitized microfilm copies of many county and state records worldwide.

Library of Congress, Local History & Genealogy The LoC's research guides, city directories, newspapers, and Civil War records, most accessible free online through loc.gov.