Arkansas Church Marriages - FamilySearch Historical Records

United States Arkansas

What is in the Collection?
This collection will include an index and images of selected church marriages for the years 1860-1976. Many of the records are from Columbia and Woodruff counties. The collection may also have some other types of records mixed in. The records are in German and English

What Can these Records Tell Me?
Church Marriage records may contain the following information for both bride and groom:
 * Name
 * Age
 * Birth year
 * Birth place
 * Parents’ names
 * Marriage date
 * Marriage place
 * Marital status
 * Race
 * Previous spouse

How Do I Search the Collection?
To begin your search it is helpful to know at least some of the following:
 * The name of your ancestor.
 * The date of marriage.
 * The county where marriage took place.
 * The name of the intended spouse.
 * The names of relatives who may have served as witnesses to the marriage.

Fill in the requested information in the initial search page. This search will return a list of possible matches. Compare the information in the list to what you already know about your ancestor to determine if it is the correct person. You may need to compare several persons in the list before you find your ancestor.

Search by Name by visiting the Collection Page:

View images in this collection by visiting the Browse Page then: ⇒ Select the “County, Town” category ⇒ Select the “Church and Parish” category ⇒ Select the “Record Type and Year Range” category

For tips about searching on-line collections see the on-line article FamilySearch Search 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.

I Found Who 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 Who 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 as well.
 * 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):

Image Citation: