Sharp County, Arkansas Genealogy

United States

Arkansas

Sharp County

 

Guide to Sharp County, Arkansas ancestry, genealogy and family history, birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, family history, and military records.

County Facts County seat: Ash Flat Organized: July 18, 1868 Parent County(s): Lawrence Neighboring Counties Fulton  • Independence  • Izard  • Lawrence  • Oregon (MO)  • Randolph See County Maps Courthouse Location Map Adoption This page is available for adoption

County Information

Description

The county was named for Ephraim Sharp, a state legislator from the area. The County Seat is Ash Flat and was founded July 18, 1868. It is located in the northeast area of the state.

County Courthouse

Sharp County Courthouse
P.O. Box 307
Ash Flat, AR 72513
Phone: 870.994.7338
Sharp County Website

County Clerk has probate, divorce, court and land records from 1880

Sharp County, Arkansas

Information for this chart was taken from various sources, often containing conflicting dates. This information should be taken as a guide and should be verified by contacting the county and/or the state government agency.

Known Beginning Dates for Major Records
Birth*	Marriage	Death*	Court	Land	Probate	Census
1914*	1880	1914*	1880	1880	1880	1830
*State birth and death records began in 1914. Limited compliance until 1920's

Record Loss

1880 Fire on January 20, 1880 destroyed all the county records. Marriages dated prior to the fire may be found in the Sharp County Record newspaper. For suggestions about research in places that suffered historic record losses, see: Burned Counties Research in the FamilySearch Research Wiki. Arlene Eakle, When the Records are Gone in the Tennessee Genealogy Blog. Michael John Neill, Burned Counties in Family History Circle.

Boundary Changes

1868--Sharp County was created 18 July 1868 from Lawrence County.  County seat: Ash Flat For animated maps illustrating Arkansas county boundary changes, "Rotating Formation Arkansas County Boundary Maps" (1813-1925) may be viewed for free at the MapofUS.org website.

Populated Places

For a complete list of populated places, including small neighborhoods and suburbs, visit Hometown Locator. The following are the most historically and genealogically relevant populated places in this county:

Cities
Ash Flat (county seat) Cave City	Cherokee Village Hardy	Highland Horseshoe Bend
Towns
Evening Shade	Sidney	Williford
Unincorporated communities
Ben Gay	Ozark Acres	Poughkeepsie
Townships
Big Creek Cave (Cave City) Cherokee (most of Cherokee Village, small part of Highland) Davidson East Sullivan Hardy (most of Hardy) Highland (most of Highland) Jackson (Williford)	Lave Creek Lower North Morgan North Big Rock North Lebanon Ozark Piney Fork (Evening Shade) Richwoods (part of Ash Flat, small part of Horseshoe Bend)	Scott South Big Rock South Union Strawberry Upper North Washington West Sullivan (most of Sidney)

History Timeline

Emphasis for this timeline is on events that affected migration, records, or record-keeping. Unless otherwise mentioned, the events below were taken from the Arkansas County page on the website, The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture.

Resources

Cemeteries

Cemeteries of Sharp, Arkansas online and in print
Tombstone Transcriptions Online	ARGenWeb USGenWeb Archives Tombstone Project Arkansas Gravestones Cemetery Records by Interment Billion Graves
TombstoneTranscriptions in Print (Often more complete)	Family History Library WorldCat
List of Cemeteries in the County	Findagrave.com Billion Graves Arkansas Cemeteries by epodunk Cemetery Records by Accessgenealogy
See Arkansas Cemeteries for more information

Census Records

Historical populations
Census	Pop.	%±
1870	5,400	—
1880	9,047	67.5%
1890	10,418	15.2%
1900	12,199	17.1%
1910	11,688	−4.2%
1920	11,132	−4.8%
1930	10,715	−3.7%
1940	11,497	7.3%
1950	8,999	−21.7%
1960	6,319	−29.8%
1970	8,233	30.3%
1980	14,607	77.4%
1990	14,109	−3.4%
2000	17,119	21.3%
2010	17,264	0.8%
Source: "Wikipedia.org".

Local Histories

Local histories are available for {{{1}}} County. They may include biographies, church, school and government history, and military information. Click for a brief Timeline History of the county. For more about local histories, see Arkansas Local Histories.

Maps and Gazetteers

Click a neighboring county
for more resources

• Maps of Arkansas (1813-1925)
• Family Maps of Sharp County, Arkansas Genealogy (land patent maps) at HistoryGeo.com ($). Free surname search.

Military Records

Civil War

• 1861-1865 - Arkansas Civil War Service Records of Union Soldiers, 1861-1865 at FamilySearch — index
• 1890-1963 - Arkansas Confederate Soldier Home,1890-1963 at FamilySearch — index and images
• 1891-1939 - Arkansas Ex-Confederate Pension Records, 1891-1939 at FamilySearch — index and images
• 1901-1929 - Arkansas Confederate Pensions, 1901-1929 at FamilySearch — images only

Newspapers

Finding More Arkansas Newspapers Additional newspapers abstracts can sometimes be found using search phrases such as Sharp County, Arkansas Genealogy newspapers in online catalogs like:

• WorldCat
• FamilySearch. Do a Sharp County, Arkansas Genealogy Place-name search for these and other records in the FamilySearch Catalog (For instructions see, FamilySearch Catalog Place-name Search).
• Fayetteville Democrat at Ancestry.com ($)
• Fayetteville Daily Democrat at Ancestry.com ($)
• Daily Fayetteville Democrat at Ancestry.com ($)
• Northwest Arkansas Times at Ancestry.com ($)
• Courier Times at Ancestry.com ($)

Probate Records

Online Probate Records

• 1783 – 1998 Arkansas Wills and Probate Records 1783-1998 at Ancestry.com — index and images $
• 1817 – 1979 Arkansas Probate Records 1817-1979 at FamilySearch — images
• Probate Records 1869-1967 Sharp County portion of the collection: Arkansas Probate Records, 1817-1979: Arkansas Probate Records, 1817-1979 FamilySearch Historical Collections (Free, browse images)
  • Includes Accounts 1869-1901; Fee books 1883-1914; Probate records 1880-1885; Wills 1874-1967.

Vital Records

See also How to order Arkansas Vital Records

Birth

Birth Records reveal
Yes or Maybe ⇒	Y	M
Name of Child
Birth Date and Place
Parent's Names
Mother's Maiden Name
Parent's Ages
Father's Occupation
Current Residence
Name of Doctor or Midwife

In 1877, a few county and city clerks started keeping birth and death records.

In 1914, the state law required all county clerks to record births and forward them to the state.

• Arkansas Births and Christenings, 1812-1965 at FamilySearch. (Free, index only)
  • Small file, but worth searching. Most entries were user-submitted.

See also: • Arkansas Online Genealogy Records, • How to Find Arkansas Birth Records and • Arkansas Vital Records—Birth.

Marriage

• 1779-1966 - Arkansas, United States Marriages at FindMyPast — index $
• 1860 - 1976 - Arkansas Church Marriages, 1860-1976 at FamilySearch — index and images
• 1879 - 1923 - Sharp County Marriage Index 1879-1923 in International Genealogical Index at FamilySearch - free.
• 1880 - 1968 - Sharp County Marriage Index, Southern District Books J-L Index (1880-1947), Northern District Books [1]-10 Index (1893-1968) in Arkansas, County Marriages, 1837-1957 at FamilySearch - free.

Research Facilities

Family History Centers

Family History Centers provide one-on-one assistance and free access to premium genealogical websites. In addition, many centers have free how-to genealogy classes.

• Introduction to Family History Centers

Websites

• ARGenWeb. Free. Data may be submitted by individuals or complete transcriptions
• USGenWeb Archives. Free. Data may be submitted by individuals or may be complete transcriptions
• RootsWeb resources. Free. Data may be submitted by individuals or may be complete transcriptions
• Linkpendium. Free. Click links. Some sites they link to may have fees ($)
• CyndisList. Free. Click links. Some sites they link to may have fees ($)
• FamilySearch Catalog - The FamilySearch catalog contains descriptions and access information for all genealogical materials (including books, online materials, microfilm, microfiche, and publications) in their collection.  Use Historical Records to search for specific individuals in genealogical records