Ashley County, Arkansas Genealogy

United States Arkansas  Ashley_County Guide to Ashley County Arkansas genealogy. Birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, family history, and military records.

County Courthouse
Ashley County Courthouse 215 E Jefferson Street Hamburg, AR 71646 Phone: 870.853.2020 County Clerk has marriage, probate, and land records from 1848. Clerk Circuit Court has divorce records.

Parent County

 * 1848--Ashley County was created 30 November 1848 from Chicot, Union and Drew Counties.

County seat: Hamburg

Boundary Changes
See an interactive map of Ashley County boundary changes at N2Genealogy.

Neighboring Counties

 * Bradley
 * Chicot
 * Drew
 * Morehouse Parish, Louisiana
 * Union
 * Union Parish, Louisiana
 * West Carroll Parish, Louisiana

History Timeline
Emphasis for this timeline is on events that affected migration, records, or record-keeping. Unless otherwise mentioned, the events below were gleaned from Ashland County - The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture [http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=746


 * The area that is now Ashley County contained farming settlements dating back thousands of years.
 * The mound at Lake Enterprise, near Wilmot, is possibly the oldest mound in Arkansas, belonging to the Archaic Period (9500—650 BC).
 * By AD 1700, the area had no permanent villages.
 * 1818 - The Quapaw ceded what would be Ashley County to the United States government.
 * 1826 - When U.S. surveyor Nicholas Rightor entered the Arkansas Territory, he found settlers who had come to a land that they found to be abundantly fertile and in which game and fish were plentiful.
 * 1848 - November 30 - Ashley County was organized.
 * 1855 - By this time, many farms were producing cotton, corn, wheat, potatoes, and livestock. Timber was rafted down the Saline River.
 * Ashley County experienced solid growth in the years leading up to the Civil War. From a population of 2,058 in 1850, the county had grown to 8,590 in 1860. The Civil War interrupted this growth, so that by 1870, the population had dropped to 8,042.
 * Congress’s 1867 passage of “An Act for the More Efficient Government of the Rebel States” divided the South into five districts and implemented martial law in 1868.
 * 1868 - When the Fourteenth Amendment was passed, Arkansas refused to ratify it.
 * 1890's - The beginning of what was to become one of Arkansas’s most important economic developments: the wood products industry.

Maps

 * Family Maps of Ashley County, Arkansas (land patent maps) at HistoryGeo.com ($). Free surname search.

Civil War
Men from this county served in the 3rd Regiment, Arkansas Infantry (Confederate).

Captain Calvin L. Collier. They'll Do To Tie To by, USAF (Little Rock, Arkansas: Civil War Round Table Associates, 1959) p. 10

Marriage

 * 1848-1920 - Ashley County Marriage Books AA-T Index 1848-1920 in International Genealogical Index at FamilySearch - free.
 * 1913-1951 - Arkansas County Marriage Books AA-T, 1-18 Index 1913-1951 in at FamilySearch - free.

Family History Centers

 * Introduction to LDS Family History Centers

Websites

 * USGenWeb project. May have maps, name indexes, history or other information for this county. Select the state, then the county.
 * Ashley County, Arkansas Genealogy and Family History (Linkpendium)
 * Ashley County, Arkansas Genealogy and Family History (Linkpendium)