Arkansas Genealogy Records

Many people today are interested in learning more about their past and their ancestors. As a result Genealogy is one of the most common terms in search engines on the World Wide Web. For those who are new to the world of Genealogy, there are many ways one can find information regarding their ancestors. Some of the most common forms of public records used for genealogy are: For Birth Records In the State of Arkansas, birth records are under the control of the Vital Records Department of the Arkansas Department of Health and date back to 1914. For Death Records Arkansas has death records dating back to 1914. Some older records exist as well as far back as 1881. These death records are held by the Department of Health in the Vital Records Office. In addition, the Arkansas History Commission keeps a list of the names of the deceased from 1914-1949, but does not have actual death records. For Obituaries Arkansas obituaries are mostly divided up by county, so to begin your search, attempt to determine which county your loved one resided in when they passed away. Once you have determined that, you can begin checking databases such as the Ashley County Ledger, which has all of their listings online from as far back as 1965 to the present day. Bradley County GenWeb has thousands more listings online from as far back as 1884 that appeared in the now defunct newspaper The Arkansas Methodist. Lawrence County listings can be found in the Lawrence County Online Index. This listing service also has listings from the Jones Sun Newspaper from 1997 onwards. The Craighead County Genealogy Society offers access to listings that appeared in the Monette Weekly Newspaper during the 1960s and the Pine Bluff Public Library has listings from the local Pine Bluff newspaper from as far back as 1866. This listing service also has Jefferson County listings from that far back as well. Arkansas obituary records can also be found at Prairie County USGenWeb and through other small local papers throughout the state. As more and more counties update their systems, listings from farther and farther back will become available. For Marriages For Arkansas marriage records, you can either go through the county offices or go to the state archive of vital records. The vital records department is bound by Arkansas Statute 20-18-305 concerning who is eligible to order marriage records