Arkansas Marriage Index - FamilySearch Historical Records

What Is in This Collection?
This collection includes an index to marriage records from the Arkansas Vital Records Division, Arkansas Department of Health, for the years 1933 to 1939. The index is provided by Ancestry.com. Many marriages recorded in the South, are separated by race in volumes, books, or registers. Be sure to check to determine if you have the right set of marriage records.

What Can These Records Tell Me?
The index includes the following information:


 * Name of bride and groom
 * Bride's parents
 * Groom's parents
 * Ages of bride and groom
 * Calculated birth dates for the bride and groom
 * Marriage date and place
 * Reference ID - Page/Volume/Entry/Certificate Number

Coverage Map
To see a coverage map of FamilySearch's holdings of Arkansas marriages, click here.

How Do I Search the Collection?
To begin your search it is helpful to know at least some of the following:
 * The names of the bride and groom.
 * The place where the marriage occurred.
 * The marriage date.

How Do I Analyze the Results?
Compare each result from your search with what you know to determine if there is a match. This may require viewing multiple records or images.

For tips about searching on-line collections see the on-line article [FamilySearch Tips and Tricks].

What Do I Do Next?

 * Whenever possible, view the original records to verify the information and to find additional information that might not be reported. These pieces of information can lead you to additional records and family members.
 * In case you need to find this record again later, copy the citation below in the Citing This Collection section. It's always a good idea to keep your citation on a Research Log. This is an important tool to help keep track of what you have and have not found.  Family search wiki has a  Example Research Log that you can download and use.
 * Print or download a copy of the record, or extract the genealogical information needed.

I Found the Person I Was Looking For, What Now?

 * Use the age to calculate a birth date and to find other records such as birth, christening, census, land and death records.
 * Use the information to find additional family members. Witnesses or bondsmen were usually relatives.
 * Repeat this process with additional family members found, to find more generations of the family.
 * Church Records often were kept years before government records were required and are a good source for finding ancestors before 1900.

I Can’t Find the Person I’m Looking For, What Now?

 * Try viewing the original record to see if there were errors in the transcription of the name, age, residence, etc. Remember that there may be more than one person in the records with the same name.
 * Collect entries for every person who has the same surname. This list can help you identify possible relations that can be verified by records.
 * If you cannot locate your ancestor in the locality in which you believe they lived, then try searching records of a nearby locality in an area search.
 * Standard spelling of names typically did not exist during the periods our ancestors lived in. Try variations of your ancestor’s name while searching the index or browsing through images.
 * Remember that sometimes individuals went by nicknames or alternated between using first and middle names. Try searching for these names.
 * Pay special attention to how the name should have been pronounced and try variations on the pronunciation.
 * Search the indexes and records of Arkansas, United States Genealogy.
 * Search in the Arkansas Archives and Libraries.

Citing This Collection
Citing your sources makes it easy for others to find and evaluate the records you used. When you copy information from a record, list where you found that information. Here you can find citations already created for the entire collection and for each individual record or image. Collection Citation:

Record Citation (or citation for the index entry): Top of Page