Crawford County, Arkansas Genealogy

United States Arkansas  Crawford County

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

County Courthouse
Crawford County Courthouse 300 Main Street Van Buren, AR 72956 Phone: 501.474.1312 County Clerk has marriage and probate records from 1877; Clerk Circuit Court has court and land records from 1877 and divorce records.

History

 * History of Crawford County at Ancestry.com ($)

Parent County
1820--Crawford County was created 18 October 1820 from Pulaski County. County seat: Van Buren

It was named in honor of William H. Crawford, President Monroe's Secretary of the Treasury.

Boundary Changes
Parts of the county were taken for various new counties:


 * Washington 27 October 1828
 * Pope 2 November 1829
 * Scott 5 November 1833
 * Franklin 19 December 1837
 * Sebastian 5 January 1851
 * In 1828, part of the Osage and Cherokee Territory was added to the county.

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.

Record Loss
1877 On March 23, 1877, the courthouse was destroyed by fire and all records up to that time were destroyed except those of the treasurer and a few deeds and mortgages.

Places/Localities
Town/city records in the FamilySearch Catalog



Populated Places
Alma | Cedarville | Chester | Dyer | Kibler | Mountainburg Mulberry | Natural Dam | Rudy | Uniontown | Van Buren

Neighboring Counties
Adair County, Oklahoma •  Franklin  •  Madison  •  Sebastian  •  Sequoyah County, Oklahoma  •  Washington

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 Crawford County page on the website, The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture.


 * 1818-1828 - Much of the future county was within a Cherokee reservation and therefore unavailable to American settlers..
 * 1820 October 18 - When originally created, Crawford County encompassed a large part of Indian Territory and all or part of five present-day counties—Scott, Sebastian, Franklin, Washington, and Pope.
 * 1840 - Approximately 4,000 people had arrived, and settlements sprang up all over the mountains, valleys, and the river valley.
 * 1850 - Iimmigrants and freight could enter the county by traveling the State Road (Wire Road) from the north, paralleling the western boundary, from Springfield, Missouri, to the Arkansas River.
 * 1862 - The Civil War came early to Crawford County, as did great devastation, deprivation, pain, and suffering.
 * 1874 - As the freed slaves migrated westward, a large population of African Americans settled in the Riverside community near Van Buren.
 * 1870-1880 - Crawford County never experienced phenomenal growth at any one time, but with the advent of the railroads, there came a significant population increase.

Population Timeline
Data extracted from: http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=761
 * 1850      7,960
 * 1860      7,850
 * 1870      8,957
 * 1880      14,740
 * 1890      21,714
 * 1900      21,270
 * 1910      23,942
 * 1920      24,739
 * 1930      22,549
 * 1940      23,920
 * 1950      22,727
 * 1960      21,318
 * 1970      25,677
 * 1980      36,892
 * 1990      42,493
 * 2000      53,247

Biography

 * All of the family biographies from the 1889 History of Crawford County, Arkansas by Goodspeed are available free online on My Genealogy Hound

Cemeteries
Crawford County Cemetery Index -  Crawford County ARGenWeb

Tombstone Transcription Project -   USGenWeb Project

Alexander Cemetry, Alma City Cemetery, Bidville Cemetery, Bolton Cemetery, Bryant Cemetery, Dugan Cemetery, Dyer Cemetery,Fairview Cemetery, Gregory Cemetery, Hall Cemetery, Hillcrest Cemetery, Liberty Hill Cemetry, Love Cemetery, Morrison Cemetery, Rudy, New Cemetery, Newberry Chapel Cemetery, Peters Cemetery, Sarah Grove, Steward Cemetery

Census

 * 1830 Census -  USGenWeb Archives
 * US Federal Census Records - Crawford County ARGenWeb
 * Slave Schedules -  Crawford County ARGenWeb
 * Newton County 1900 Census at Ancestry.com ($)

Church Records
Crawford County Church Index - Crawford County ARGenWeb

Court
Wills and Probate Index -  Crawford County ARGenWeb

Guardianship

 * Probate Records 1874-1929 Crawford County portion of the collection: : Arkansas Probate Records, 1817-1979 FamilySearch Historical Collections (Free, browse images)
 * Includes Administration bonds 1877-1909; Administration bonds 1877-1908; Minute index 1877-1929; Minutes 1877-1895; Wills 1874-1929.

Land and Property
The state of Arkansas began giving out land grants in Crawford County as early as 1840's, but land transactions as the county level are only microlfilmed and available after 1877.

Local Histories
Biography Index -  Crawford County ARGenWeb

Disaster/Epidemic Index -  Crawford County ARGenWeb

Family Group Sheets Index -  Crawford County ARGenWeb

Crawford County Family Website Index - Crawford County ARGenWeb


 * History of Benton, Washington, Carroll, Madison, Crawford, Franklin, and Sebastian Counties, Arkansas. Chicago, IL, USA: Goodspeed Publishing, 1889. Online at: Ancestry.com ($)
 * History of Crawford County, Arkansas. By Clara B. Eno. Van Buren, Ark.: Press-Argus, 1950. Online at: Ancestry.com ($)

Maps

 * Maps of Arkansas (1813-1925)
 * Crawford County Map Index  -  Crawford Coiunty ARGenWeb

Military
As a wildly rural western territory until the middle of the 19th century, Arkansas and her counties were not embroiled in military happenings until the Civil War. Military records for Crawford County are at state and federal levels.

Revolutionary War

 * A Census of Pensioners for Revolutionary or Military Services: With their Names, Ages, and Places of Residence, as Returned by the Marshalls of the Several Judicial Districts, Under the Act for Taking the Sixth Census]. 1841. Digital version at Google Books. 1967 reprint: 973 X2pc 1840. [See Arkansas, Crawford County on page 191.]
 * Rejected or Suspended Applications for Revolutionary War Pensions. Washington, D.C., 1852. Reprinted by Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1969, and 1991. Reprints include "an Added Index to States." 973 M24ur; digital version at Ancestry ($). [Includes veterans from this county; Arkansas section begins on page 439.]
 * Pension Rolls -  Crawford County ARGenWeb

Civil War
Arkansas seceded from the Union on 6 May 1861. The Civil War brought destruction to Crawford County, as two early battles in 1862 ravaged the region. Though technically a Confederate state, many of the small farmer residents in Arkansas (especially in the north) were Union sympathizers. While there were 48 infantry regiments for the Confederate Army (plus considerable numbers of cavalry and artillery battery units), there were 11 Union infantry regiments, four cavalry regiments, and two artillery batteries.

Civil War Records for Arkansas are available on Fold3 ($).

United States Colored Troopsof Crawford County, Arkansas this site gives history and information on burial and a Headstone Project.


 * - 19th Regiment, Arkansas Infantry (Dawson's) (Confederate)
 * - 34th Regiment, Arkansas Infantry (Confederate), Company E
 * - 35th Regiment, Arkansas Infantry (Confederate), Company G
 * - Witherspoon's Battalion, Arkansas Cavalry (Confederate)


 * Men from Crawford County served in the 1st Regiment Arkansas Infantry (Union)
 * Men from Crawford County served in the 5th Regiment, Arkansas Militia (Confederate)undefined
 * Men from this county served in the 3rd Regiment, Arkansas Cavalry (Union), Company E


 * 1861-1865 - at FamilySearch — index

Newspapers
Submitted Crawford County Obituaries -  USGenWeb Archives Project

Newspaper Article Index -  Crawford County ARGenWeb

Probate Records
Online Probate Records
 * 1783 – 1998 Arkansas Wills and Probate Records 1783-1998 at Ancestry.com — index and images $
 * 1817 – 1979 at FamilySearch — images
 * Probate Records 1874-1929 Crawford County portion of the collection: : Arkansas Probate Records, 1817-1979 FamilySearch Historical Collections (Free, browse images)
 * Includes Administration bonds 1877-1909; Administration bonds 1877-1908; Minute index 1877-1929; Minutes 1877-1895; Wills 1874-1929.

Taxation
Tax Lists - Crawford County ARGenWeb

Vital Records
See also How to order Arkansas Vital Records

Marriage

 * 1877-1951 - Crawford County Marriage Books A-Z, 1-7 Index 1877-1951 in at FamilySearch - free.
 * 1877-1921 - Crawford County Marriage Books A-I Index 1877-1921 in International Genealogical Index at FamilySearch - free.

Genealogy Societies and Libraries
List of Arkansas Archives, Libraries, Publications, Historical &amp; Genealogical Societies

Crawford County Genealogical Society P.O. Box 276 Alma, AR 72921 Open on Tuesday and Thursday, 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM.

Crawford County Historical Society 929 East Main Street Van Buren, AR 72956-4317

Northwest Arkansas Genealogical Society P.O. Box 796 Rogers, AR 72757-0796 Serving the Arkansas Counties of Benton, Carroll, Madison and Washington

Phone:: (501) 273-3890

State Arkansas Genealogical Society P.O. Box 17653 Little Rock, AR 72222

Arkansas Historical Association 416 Old Main, University of Arkansas History Department - Ozark Hall 12 Fayetteville, AR 72701

Phone: (479) 575-5884 (479) 575-2775 dludlow@uark.edu

Arkansas History Commission One Capitol Mall Little Rock, AR 72201 Trash or Treasure? Phone: (501) 682-6900 (501) 682-6916 state.archives@arkansas.gov Ark-ives Arkansas Historical Society 422 South Sixth Street Van Buren, AR 72956  Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society Tamela Tenpenny-Lewis, President, Little Rock Chapter P.O. Box 4294 Little Rock, Arkansas 72214

Family History Centers

 * Introduction to LDS Family History Centers