Clay County, Arkansas Genealogy

United States &gt; Arkansas &gt; Clay County

County Courthouses
According to History and Traditions of Clay County , compiled by Robert T. Webb, edited and indexed by Frank Cochran, the people moved the county seat from Corning to Boydsville in 1877. Most of the people lived in the eastern part of the county and it was difficult to travel through the bottoms to Corning. Changing the county seat did not change the difficulty of crossing the bottoms, but only transferred it to the people in the Western part. In 1881 the county was divided into two districts with Boydsville the Eastern county seat and Corning the Western county seat. In 1888 the people voted to move the eastern county seat to Piggott.

Early History of Clay County Seats

Western District Courthouse History

Parent County

 * 1873--Clay County was created 24 March 1873 from Randolph and Greene Counties. County seat: Piggott

Record Loss
The Western District courthouse burned in 1881 with total record loss.

The Eastern District courthouse burned on January 11, 1893 with total record loss.

Neighboring Counties

 * Butler County, Missouri
 * Dunklin County, Missouri
 * Greene
 * Randolph
 * Ripley County, Missouri

Cemeteries
Partial Listings - none are complete

Allen Allmandinger Bethlehem Black Blooming Grove Bond Brown Brownie Cantwell Corning Crockett Cummings Gilchrist Gravel Hill Green Hall Hardin Hill Hillsboro Hitt Hosea Johnson #1 Johnson #2 Leonard Liberty Hill Little Flock Mary's Chapel Masterson Mitchell Moark Mound Myer Hill New Hope Nimmons Parks Piggott Purcell Redenbo Richwoods Rock Springs Rogers Saint Bernard Salem Scatterville Travillian Underwood Williams Williams Winston Woodland Heights

Churches
Hopewell Baptist Church, near Reyno

Court
(Western District) Clay County Clerk's Office Western District 800 W 2nd St Corning AR 72422 870-857-3480

(Eastern District) Office of the County Clerk PO Box 306 Piggott AR 72454-0306 870-598-2813

Maps
Township Maps

Newspapers
Piggott Times PO Box 59 Piggott AR 72454

Clay County Courier 810 N Missouri Ave PO Box 128 Corning AR 72422-0128

Clay County Democrat PO Box 366 Rector AR 72461

Societies and Libraries
Clay County Genealogical &amp; Historical Society

Corning Library 613 Pine St Corning AR 72422 870-857-3453

Piggott Library 316 W Main Piggott AR 72454 870-598-3666

Rector Library 121 W 4th St Rector AR 72461 870-595-2410

Web Sites

 * USGenWeb project. May have maps, name indexes, history or other information for this county. Select the state, then the county.