Garland County, Arkansas Genealogy

United States

Arkansas

Garland County

 

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

Arkansas Online Genealogy Records

County Facts County seat: Hot Springs Organized: April 5, 1873 Parent County(s): Saline Neighboring Counties Hot Spring  • Montgomery  • Perry  • Saline  • Yell See County Maps Courthouse Location Map Adoption This page is available for adoption Downtown Hot Springs, Garland County, Arkansas

County Information

Description

The county was named for Augustus H. Garland, Governor of Arkansas, United States Senator and Grover Cleveland's Attorney General. It is located in the central of the state.

County Courthouse

Garland County Courthouse
501 Ouachita Avenue
Hot Springs, AR 71901
Phone: 501.622.3610
Garland County Website

County Clerk has marriage and probate records.
Clerk Circuit Court has divorce, court and land records

Garland 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	1874	1914	1874	1873	1877	1830
*State birth and death records began in 1914. Limited compliance until the 1920s

Record Loss

1905 - On February 25, 1905 a fire damaged or destroyed everything except tax books of 1904. Some records have been reconstructed as much as possible, particularly deed and mortgage books. For suggestions about research in places that suffered historic record losses, see: Burned Counties. By Michael John Neill at 24-7 Family History Circle. When the Records are Gone. By Arlene Eakle at Arlene Eakle's Tennessee Blog. Burned Counties Research in the FamilySearch Research Wiki.

Boundary Changes

1873--Garland County was created 5 April 1873 from Saline County. County seat: Hot Springs 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
Hot Springs (county seat)	Fountain Lake	Mountain Pine
Towns
Lonsdale
Unincorporated communities
Bear	Jessieville	Royal
Census-designated places
Hot Springs Village Lake Hamilton	Piney	Rockwell
Townships
Hale Hot Springs	Lake Hamilton	Whittington

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

• 1682-1762 - France claimed all of Arkansas.
• 1762 - France ceded Louisiana (including the area that became Garland County) to Spain.
• 1803 April 30 - Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte and U.S. President Thomas Jefferson agreed on the Louisiana Purchase. For about three cents an acre, the future Garland County became part of a U.S. territory.
• 1818 August 24 - The Quapaw ceded the land around Hot Springs to the United States.
• 1860-1865 - The county was never occupied by Union troops, but almost the entire population fled to Texas and Louisiana. The citizens feared not only the soldiers but the renegade bands that would terrorize and destroy much of the county.
• 1873-1900 - Tremendous change occurred in the county.

Resources

Cemeteries

Cemeteries of Garland, Arkansas online and in print
Tombstone Transcriptions Online	Findagrave.com ARGenWeb ARGenWeb 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 Cemetery Records by Accessgenealogy FamilySearch Places
See Arkansas Cemeteries for more information

Census Records

Historical populations
Census	Pop.	%±
1880	9,023	—
1890	15,328	69.9%
1900	18,773	22.5%
1910	27,271	45.3%
1920	25,785	−5.4%
1930	36,031	39.7%
1940	41,664	15.6%
1950	47,102	13.1%
1960	46,697	−0.9%
1970	54,131	15.9%
1980	70,531	30.3%
1990	73,397	4.1%
2000	88,068	20.0%
2010	96,024	9.0%
Source: "Wikipedia.org".

Church Records

List of Churches and Church Parishes

• FamilySearch Places
• 1875-1899 - Nebraska, Church Records, 1875-1899 at FamilySearch — index- How to Use this Collection

Episcopal

• 1878-1942 - St. Lukes Episcopal Church, Hot Spring, Baptism Index 1878-1942. Batch C586801 at FamilySearch - free.</ref>
• 1878-1895 - St. Lukes Episcopal Church, Hot Spring, Marriage Index 1878-1895. Batch M586801 at FamilySearch - free.

Methodist

• 1874-1887 - First Methodist Church Baptism Index 1874-1887. Batch C586791 at FamilySearch - free.</ref>
• 1876-1884 - First Methodist Church Marriage Index 1876-1884. Batch M586791 at FamilySearch - free.

Local Histories

Local histories are available for Garland County. They may include biographies, church, school and government history, and military information. For more about local histories, see Arkansas Local Histories.

• Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Pulaski, Jefferson, Lonoke, Faulkner, Grant, Saline, Perry, Garland and Hot Spring Counties, Arkansas. 1889. Chicago ; St. Louis : Goodspeed Pub. Co. Online at: FamilySearch Digital Library, Hathitrust, Internet Archive; At various libraries (WorldCat).

Maps and Gazetteers

Click a neighboring county
for more resources

• Maps of Arkansas (1813-1925)
• Family Maps of Garland County, Arkansas Genealogy (land patent maps) at HistoryGeo.com ($). Free surname search.
• FamilySearch Places:Cities and Towns- How to Use FS Places

Military Records

Civil War

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

Newspapers

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

• WorldCat
• FamilySearch. Do a Garland County, Arkansas Genealogy Place-name search for these and other records in the FamilySearch Catalog (For instructions see, FamilySearch Catalog Places 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- How to Use this Collection
• Probate Records 1877-1927 Garland County portion of the collection: Arkansas Probate Records, 1817-1979 : Arkansas Probate Records, 1817-19799 FamilySearch Historical Collections (Free, browse images)- How to Use this Collection
  • Includes Probate records 1877-1890; Wills 1890-1927.

Social Security Records

• 1935-2014 United States Social Security Death Index at FamilySearch - How to use this collection; index. Also at Ancestry, findmypast, Fold3, GenealogyBank, MyHeritage, and Steve Morse. Click here for more information.
• 1936-2007 U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007 at Ancestry ($) — index, click here for more information.

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- How to Use this Collection
• 1874 - 1931 - Garland County Marriage Books A, C, I-K, M-Z, 2-4, 28-61 Index 1874-1931 in Arkansas, County Marriages, 1837-1957 at FamilySearch - free.- How to Use this Collection
• 1874 - 1921 - Garland County Marriage Books A-C, I-K, M-Z, 2-4 Index 1874-1921 in International Genealogical Index at FamilySearch - free.
• 1917-1969 Arkansas, Marriage Certificates, 1917-1969 at Ancestry.com - index and images ($)

Death

• 1914-1969 Arkansas, Death Certificates, 1914-1969 at Ancestry.com - index and images ($)
• 1935-1961 Arkansas, Death Index, 1935-1961 at MyHeritage - index and images ($)

Divorce

• 1923-1969 Arkansas, Divorces, 1923-1969 at Ancestry.com - index ($)

Voter Records

• 1868-1910 - Arkansas, County Voter Registration Records, 1868-1910 at FamilySearch — index and images- How to Use this Collection

Research Facilities

Archives

Listed below are archives in Garland County. For state-wide archival repositories, see Arkansas Archives and Libraries.

Family History Centers

Family History Centers provide one-on-one assistance, free access to center-only databases, and to premium genealogical websites.
FamilySearch Affiliate Libraries have access to most center-only databases, but may not always have full services normally provided by a family history center.

• Family History Center and Affiliate Library Locator

Local Centers and Affiliate Libraries

• Hot Springs Arkansas Family History Center

Libraries

Listed below are libraries in Garland County. For state-wide library facilities, see Arkansas Archives and Libraries.

Societies

Listed below are societies in Garland County. For state-wide genealogical societies, see Arkansas Societies.

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. 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

This website requires a paid subscription for full access.